SC man shows you can ‘go from prison to a business owner’

ANDERSON, S.C.

Chris “Zimbe” Smith has carried his inmate ID from Kershaw Correctional Institution in his wallet due to the fact he was unveiled in 2016.

The 39-12 months-aged appears to be like at his mugshot on the card each and every working day.

“It reminds me, that I will never go back again there yet again,” he stated.

Smith sat in the shade previous thirty day period in entrance of a brick a few-small business strip on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Murray Avenue. It is home to Zimbe Puppies, a hotdog restaurant he owns with his brother Chad Martin.

“I got to continue to keep going … to clearly show individuals that you can basically adjust your life,” he claimed as he waved to neighbors passing by April 6.

In the course of the sunny afternoon, regulars and new people arrived to the slide-up window to buy all kinds of cooked goodness and to come across neighborhood.

The journey that took Smith to this spot was a difficult one but one he’s proud to share.

Many years in the foster treatment technique led him through highs and lows. In his afterwards teenage a long time, he was adopted by Chad Martin’s moms and dads, a loved ones he retains on to dearly.

A collection of sentencing took him out of prison six several years ago and gave him a possibility at a refreshing get started, he stated.

Following work fell through due to the fact of businesses observing he had a legal file, Smith saw a hotdog cart for sale on an app and determined to get it.

He began selling hotdogs outdoors a fuel station creating as many as he could. A person day he even gave up, but the neighborhood just would not allow him.

“People were conversing about them hotdogs,” Smith mentioned.

So he saved creating them.

Then chili.

Then cheeseburgers and deep-fried corn.

Then shrimp and grits.

From weekends to Sunday dinners to each working day, the community stored coming again for far more hotdogs.

And in 2020 that meant 11,000 much more, Smith said.

“I want to see other Black young children, and other Black folks, say, ‘I ain’t bought to be out right here on these streets’,” Smith reported. “You can really go from jail to a business operator.”

And so when the option came ahead to open shop at Murray Avenue, he begun his new venture.

His cafe has been the source for unique gatherings like final month when he created meals for the “We Outside” local community party.

Community events have impacted the nearby neighborhoods for many years.

When Maurice Martin DJ’d at an event at Westside local community in 2020, he was encouraging community customers to vote and which is when he understood Smith did not know he could vote after becoming in a correctional establishment.

“That’s when his eyes got huge,” Martin recalled of Smith. “I have chance to voice my opinion on paper?”

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, felony disenfranchisement helps prevent tens of 1000’s in South Carolina from voting. State legislation suggests convicted felons unfastened their right to vote but can get back that suitable after they have finished the probation or parole that accompanies their conviction.

Martin wants absolutely everyone in the region to know they have a voice in voting, he stated.

“We experienced a voter registration two many years back there (Zimbe Puppies) it introduced the neighborhood with each other,” he mentioned. “It’s generally a location you can appear alongside one another as a device.”

Moreover hurdling re-entry duties like voting, Smith sees a great deal of men and women battling to get out of the jail cycle especially because discovering operate is hard.

“People never deal with you equivalent when you got a background,” he stated. “You obtained to be powerful enough not to go back.”

And strong he was.

Zimbe Puppies proceeds to be a area where neighbors get over hotdogs covered in chili or fried fish and tacky grits speckled with sausage.