Editor鈥檚 note: This is part of a series exploring how Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs and small businesses have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and their plans for moving forward.
Maker: Rita Ballenger, owner
Business: Abolition Bakery, a home-produced and volunteer-operated bakery assisting human trafficking survivors in Cleveland
How has the outbreak impacted your business?
鈥淲e鈥檙e not suffering like many other restaurants, because we were always home-produced and we were always volunteer-operated. I don鈥檛 have a lot of overhead that I have to keep up with. I just have to take a wait-and-see approach. Even if I couldn鈥檛 have volunteers here, I could certainly still bake on my own. Even though there鈥檚 very little baking jobs coming in, we鈥檙e still just holding the course. I donated some bakery to the essential workers at the Heinen鈥檚 warehouse. I had a customer come and pick up some bakery, and he told me that he鈥檚 still working and what he did. And I thought, 鈥榥ow there鈥檚 a population of people that nobody knows they exist.鈥� You know, they鈥檙e tucked away in this warehouse, and he told me that they鈥檙e working hard. And I thought, 鈥榯hey need to be encouraged.鈥� I asked him if he鈥檇 like to come and pick up some biscotti for them and he did. It was well-appreciated and we gave them a card just saying thank you for all your hard work.鈥�
Will you look at your business differently moving forward?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see a lot of change, but it鈥檒l be interesting to see how these organizations that support human trafficking survivors, how this crisis has affected them financially and things like that. We can still raise money to support human trafficking survivors even during this crisis.鈥�
What have you been doing to stay creative?
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing a little bit of baking. I鈥檝e taken on some new skills. I went to YouTube university and I learned how to upholster, and I upholstered a window seat cover. Then I even practiced making some cloth masks that I may donate. It鈥檚 a little bit frustrating because a lot of the supplies aren鈥檛 available, like elastic.鈥�
