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Kylie Bowers
Oxford Stories
kmbower1@go.olemiss.edu
A Southaven business owner uses proceeds from some coffee sales to fund an organization that fights sex trafficking.
Tina Tatum owns two of the most popular coffee shops outside Memphis called Coffee Central. She started the business in March of 2019 in Southaven. Shortly after the success of the first, she opened another in Hernando in October.
However, the story that led to the creation of the businesses started more than six years ago. Tatum’s husband is a former special agent with the FBI now retired who had begun receiving calls from individuals, churches, and rescue groups seeking his skills and experience in combating sex trafficking in the Memphis area.
Tatum began researching sex trafficking statistics and learned the average age of girls lured was 12, the age of her daughter at the time. She said she couldn’t sleep at night and began praying with her husband. They later founded R3 the Movement. The three Rs stand for reach, rescue and redeem.
R3 is a nonprofit organization created to help abolish slavery through a collaboration of resources. It specifically helps people affected by sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, and labor trafficking.
Reach means working for advocacy, awareness, prevention, outreach, and as a voice for the voiceless.
Rescue means being the hands and feet to reach and rescue people. They work to provide operational support for rescue, investigations and training, support for local agencies, and they fight for better legislation.
Redeem stands for supporting God’s process of redeeming people. They work with survivors until they are restored physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Most people who visit Tatum’s coffee shops don’t know that a percentage of sales support R3 the Movement. Tatum’s main goals for creating Coffee Central were having good coffee, establishing a safe place to reach the community, and to becoming a place of hope.
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