Couple envisions King Street Cafe as resource in addiction battle

Katie and Corey Olsen freely admit their idea of turning the old King Street Cafe into a community resource to help those battling addiction is a giant leap of faith.

But that’s OK: The Olsens have plenty to spare.

The couple is currently in the midst of renovations to the former private residence which later became a restaurant. The business at 207 S. King St. closed during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown and has sat unoccupied ever since.

Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of work to be done.

But the Olsens — both of whom have been in lifelong recovery from substance use for the last 14 years — are up to the task.

“At this point, we’re truly walking by faith and not sight, even with our wallets,” said Katie.

That’s the way it is with labors of love, which is what this project clearly is.

“One of the premises of getting sober is in order to keep what you have, you have to give it away,” said Corey. “God doesn’t want us to just take care of ourselves. His greatest commandment is to love one another.”

At this point, the couple isn’t exactly sure what form that love will eventually take, but they envision offering therapy, peer support counseling, and harm reduction on-site.

The Olsens are partnering with the Burke Health Department and other community organizations to seek funding — so far, the couple has footed the entire bill — putting together a board of directors and preparing to apply for nonprofit status.

Eventually, they hope to provide a respite house for those in recovery, though not at this location.

Dr. Katie Varnadoe, the county’s Director of Behavioral Health, said the facility has the potential to positively affect the way the county deals with overdoses, because patients could be treated there instead of the emergency department at the hospital.

“It’s a very exciting thing, because if Katie’s and Corey’s vision comes to fruition, they will be in a spot that can really help us,” said Varnadoe. “We’re always in the top 10 in the state in ED visits for overdoses, but this is a place where paramedics could respond, patients could be medically cleared, and they would have immediate access to peer support.”

Varnadoe said the Olsens’ own life experiences have made them uniquely qualified to help others battling addiction.

“I think they have the perspective of not only understanding what treatments are needed, but they have a vision of what this community needs to be for their children,” Varnadoe said.

That perspective was hard-won for both of the Olsens.

Katie, 34 and a Morganton native, was swallowed up by the oxycontin deluge of the 2000s. “I found myself going from straight-As and the swim team to getting arrested and losing everything,” she said.

Her first visit to rehab turned out to be enough to do the trick. Katie got sober and then threw herself headlong into her college studies, eventually earning a master’s degree in social work from Arizona State University.

While Katie’s first try at rehab was successful, Corey, a 45-year-old native of Milwaukee, Wis., struggled for a decade with his cocaine addiction before finally kicking it. He was caught up in a vicious cycle of relapsing and then kicking himself for what he perceived as failure.

Then, he met Katie.

She needed a math tutor to get through trigonometry, and Corey, a math whiz who made an A in the class, volunteered to help. At first, she was suspicious of his motives, but she gave him a chance.

Katie passed the class, and the two — who discovered they had attended the same recovery facility, though not at the same time — have been together ever since.

“Katie was the one who helped me beat that cycle,” Corey said. “I had a relapse at the beginning of the relationship, and she said to me, ‘brush it off. Stand up. You’re the same person you were yesterday, you just used a little bit. Let it go and move on.’”

The couple moved to the area in 2016 and began raising a family. They co-own a business, Gateway Human Services on South Sterling Street in Morganton, with Katie’s father.

Last year, their unlikely love story earned top honors in a People magazine contest. The Olsens were featured in the magazine and won a free Mexican vacation.

The only thing left on their checklist was finding a way to help others, and they discovered it in February when they bought the former restaurant.

“It’s really cool as someone that survived, to come back this many years later and see the movement and the passion toward recovery,” said Katie.

“I’m humbled and thankful to be working alongside people who have been doing this for a long time and are making a huge impact.”

Marty Queen is the senior reporter for The Paper. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 or marty@thepaper.media.