After Year Of Double Shifts To Buy Food Truck, Thief Steals Hopkins Man's Dream
UPDATE (Feb. 7, 2022) : Mackenson Charles' dream is alive again.
On Monday, Charles told WCCO-TV that a man called him, saying that he spotted Charles' trailer in Minneapolis, not far from Dinkytown.
Charles went to the location and found the trailer. He also met up with Minneapolis police. City officers told him that they received several tips about the trailer after his story aired Sunday night.
Charles says he now hopes to open his food truck business next month.
Last week, his trailer was stolen. He told WCCO-TV's Kirsten Mitchell that he worked double shifts for a year at his security job to be able to afford it.
Charles's dream is to bring a taste of his native Haiti to the Twin Cities.
HOPKINS, Minn. (WCCO) -- A Hopkins man is having to start from scratch after the trailer he was going to turn into a food truck was stolen.
Mackenson Charles planned to open his business in March, but that dream is now on pause.
For Charles, cooking is not just a passion -- it's a dream.
"Growing up and seeing my grandmother and mom doing the same thing, and I always wanted to have my own restaurant," Charles said.
He was born in Haiti, and moved to Miami when he was 14. He has lived in Minnesota for a year with his kids and fiancée.
"One of the things that I've noticed about Minnesota … you guys doesn't really have Haitian food in here, so that was gonna be a big thing for this community," he said.
Charles says he worked double shifts at a security company the past year to purchase this trailer which was soon to be a food truck.
"I had the stove in there, the vent, the refrigerator, I was pretty much set and ready to go," he said.
He planned to call it "Taste of Miami."
"I recently became a U.S. citizen, it's all a dream come true," Charles said.
But his dream was taken last week. His trailer was parked in front of his apartment building when he went to work on Thursday, but it was gone when he returned.
"A lot of people out there, they, you know, they going out there taking people's stuff and not understanding it's not the stuff you taking," Charles said. "It's the dream you take with you."
It's not the first time he's been a victim of a crime. About seven months ago, he says someone stole his catalytic converter.
Despite the setback, Charles isn't giving up on the chance to pass down a family tradition years in the making.
"If I have to work double again for another year, that's what I'll do," Charles said.
Anyone who sees the trailer or has information about its whereabouts is asked to call Hopkins Police.