SANFORD, Fla. – The United States is ranked as one of the top countries of origin for human trafficking survivors, according to the most recent report by the U.S. State Department.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline reports Florida is third in the nation for reported cases.
News 6 hit the road to ZIP code 32771 in Historic Downtown Sanford and found one business owner who is doing something to help.
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Tina Kadolph opened Palate Coffee Roasters in 2015 as a way to help fund her nonprofit, Love Missions Global.
“I felt a nudge from God, that this is what we were supposed to do,” Kadolph remembered. “We started looking for a place and came to Sanford. I thought we should be on First Street but we kept getting pulled back here.”
Kadolph and her husband Carl settled on a space on 2nd Street. Profits from each sale go towards Love Missions Global which helps support survivors of human trafficking.
Love Missions Global sponsors education and awareness campaigns, mission trips, and other survivor services including safe houses.
“We’ve had Love Missions since 2000,” Kadolph said. “I knew what it felt like not to have food, not to have parents that took care of me. I knew those things. And I knew if I could possibly do anything, that’s where my heart would be, to help people and let them feel loved and encouraged and that anything is possible.”
Kadolph, a survivor herself, is proof that survivors can find success.
“At the age of four, my mom trafficked me,” Kadolph said. “I didn’t know what it was. That was my life. That was normal to me. It didn’t have a name.”
Kadolph met her husband, Carl, when she was 20 and her life changed.
“He took this girl that was traumatized and didn’t trust anyone and showed me love,” Kadolph remembered. “Honestly it took three years for me to believe that he wasn’t going to end up abusing me in some way. And so we’ve been married 40 years in January.”
Now Kadolph is a successful businesswoman. The couple opened Elevate Her Boutique in a storefront around the corner from Palate earlier this year.
The boutique features art, crafts and gifts made by human trafficking survivors, at-risk women and local artists. More than half the sale price goes back to the artist.
“It’s therapeutic,” Kadolph said. “They’re making something and they get to see the final product that they made. But they’re also in a boutique that makes them feel value and they have worth and that people want to buy their things. They love that.”
Elevate Her Boutique is located at 200 S. Park Ave. They are open Thursday through Sunday.
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