Nonprofit MY Project USA hosts grand opening at Pay-Forward Cafe in Hilltop

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Nonprofit organization MY Project USA celebrated the start of a new venture with the grand opening of their new “Pay-Forward Cafe” inside the Hilltop Youth Empowerment Center on Sullivant Avenue.

All of the profits made at the cafe will go back into the Hilltop community. It will offer a mix of Mediterranean, Pakistani and other food, and its hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

“I am beyond humbled, beyond excited," said Zerqa Abid, the Executive Director of MY Project USA. "Of course this will cost money, of course we will rely on donations from the community. We want the community to order food here.”

Abid said the ribbon-cutting felt like a dream come true. A major motivation to create the cafe was when she found out around 30% of sex trafficking incidents occured on the west side of Columbus. The majority of those victims are children who are food insecure. she said.

She often makes and delivers meals for neighborhoods in the Hilltop, particularly in the Wedgewood Village Apartments community.

“We took these 700 meals to Wedgewood, and unfortunately, even after we distributed all of them, there were still children standing in line,” Abid said.

Even when she makes hundreds of meals, Abid said it is never enough. Now, the cafe will be a safe place for everyone in the community to get a nutritious meal.

City and state leaders also attended Friday's ribbon-cutting.

Through the cafe, they plan to provide meals for all 200 children in the MY Project USA program, as well as for the elderly and homeless. Abid wants to also use it as a place to train unemployed refugees to find other jobs in the industry.

The cafe is also offering catering, which will help to fund the food they are able to give out to those in need, free of cost.