Wednesday nights teeming with acoustic performances, afternoons filled with fair trade coffee and tea made by volunteers, chatter about action, and selfless donations given to a good cause. This is the vision that General Manager Sean Matthews has for the Freedom Cafe: a nonprofit cafe dedicated to aiding in the fight against human trafficking.

Across the globe, there are over 2.5 million people being bought, sold and transported for exploitation each year. Human trafficking is the buying and selling of humans into slavery for exploitation. Victims often experience intense abuse.

On average, for every 800 people trafficked, only one person is convicted, according to the United Nations.

The goal of the Freedom Cafe, located at 10 Mill Road, is to end what is now the worlds fastest growing crime industry. The cafe is located in the basement of Fusion Community Church. The three main coordinators are Matthews, Chaplain Bryan Bessette and UNH senior and outreach coordinator Mike DAngelo.

Fusion teamed with Chi Alpha UNH, a chapter of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries USA, to produce and start the cafe. While starting in the ministry, they want to grow out of the ministry.

(Theres) a separation there, Matthews said. Were just trying to be (a) cafe.

The idea was thought of over the summer, taken off of a sister Chi Alpha chapter at UMass Amherst. There, the cafe has yet to open.

A lot of us are very passionate about (ending) human trafficking, Bessette said. In their opinion, the issue kept coming up, and we all like to drink a lot of coffee, he said.

Back in Durham, Fusion Community Church received a grant from The Assemblies of God and Chi Alpha alumni donations. These funds allowed the cafe to properly sustain its upstart.

We wanted to build a center where its not just something we talk about, its something we take action on, Matthews said.

Originally posted here:

At nonprofit cafe, a case for freedom