Tag Archive: Coffee

Fighting Human Trafficking In Maine With Coffee

May 30, 2021

MAINE, Maine — Federal authorities say Maine is considered a “source” state for human traffickers from Boston and New York, who prey on women and children struggling with poverty, family turmoil, sexual abuse, or drug addiction.

An estimated 200 to 300 people are trafficked for sex every year, according to a study commissioned for the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

A Windham man hopes to empower consumers to help fight human trafficking in our state by tapping into the country’s multi-billion-dollar ground coffee market.

As a father of two, Anthony McKeown will never forget how he felt when he saw images of child victims of human trafficking.

“It just gnawed at me, it just gnawed at me,” McKeown said.

According to the U.S. State Department, more than half of criminal human trafficking involves children and a very very small percentage of these children are rescued.

Read the full story by Vivien Leigh on News Center Maine.

She was trafficked as a child. Now this survivor fights back through coffee.

August 22, 2019

Sanford, Florida (CNN) From the drinks to the décor, everything about Palate Coffee Brewery is warm — and not just because it’s located in sunny central Florida. Some 1,200 miles south of Boston, it’s reminiscent of a famous hangout where everyone knows your name.

“I always say it’s like ‘Cheers,'” says Palate co-founder and co-owner Tina Kadolph. “It’s a place where people can go and feel safe and they’re cared about.”

Kadolph, who describes herself as a “survivor warrior of child sex trafficking,” dreamed up Palate as a café with a mission. All the baristas are volunteers, and all profits — even tips — go to fight human trafficking and help survivors.

“The person who buys our coffee is not just buying a cup of coffee,” Kadolph explains. “They’re making a community difference, a global difference, an individual difference, in lives.”

For Kadolph, it’s the kind of support she wished for growing up.

“I have always longed to help other people because of my childhood. I didn’t have help,” she adds. “I know what it feels like to have nothing and to have no hope.”

To read the full article by Julia M. Chan and watch the video on CNN: Click Here