WILMINGTON, N.C. — North Carolina is among the 10 states with the most sex trafficking cases reported. That’s why organizations that can identify and help trafficked victims are so essential — organizations like A Safe Place.
The Wilmington-based A Safe Place hosted its annual A Day in the Life fundraiser luncheon on Thursday at the Wilmington Convention Center. Members and supporters were able to enjoy a meal, hear stories and poems from survivors, and support the organization with monetary donations — donations that A Safe Place said will bring hope, safety and healing.
A Safe Place board secretary Molly Johnson has been with the organization trying to provide that healing since its inception in 2012. She joined because because sex trafficking is an issue that she knew could have hit closer to home.
“I am a mother, a single mother of two daughters that are grown now, but when I got involved in A Safe Place it was because I had two daughters at home who very easily could have been trafficked, as several of the survivors, they fit the same profile,” Johnson said. “So I wanted to do my part in spreading awareness and helping other girls from being trafficked.”
While her girls grew up safe, every day she hears from girls who didn’t. Johnson shared a story with the audience about a woman named Jackie who she was with while she cooked her first meal ever after being taken at a young age.
“It was like being with a child,” Johnson said. “Jackie was 28 years old, but she was grabbing things off the shelves — can I get that, can I get this — and I quickly realized that she was stunted at the age of her trauma, which likely came long before she was trafficked.”
Nearly 400 in the audience listened to stories just like Jackie's as part of the event to help A Safe Place reach its $50,000 fundraising goal.
“Those funds go to support the girls that are in our emergency shelter for things like toiletries that are needed, paying the bills, as we all know pricing is going up,” Johnson said. “And it costs money to house the girls that are in our emergency shelter and also to have all the outreach services that we provide, so all of that goes right back into helping the girls that are in our program.”
By the time the hourlong event was over, the group was already a quarter of the way to its goal in texted donations, and others contributed to the Wish Table, which would provide necessary upgrades to the emergency shelter, including windows, doors and security systems.
Together, those donations will help keep A Safe Place … safe.
To learn more about A Safe Place, visit its website.
To access the National Trafficking Hotline, click here.