On Thursday, supporters hope a small red ‘X’ makes a big difference.
“Modern day slavery is happening in every community, in every state, in every nation. And that is a selling of individuals for either sex labor or labor trafficking,” Becky Rasmussen, executive director of Call To Freedom, said.
Rasmussen and The Network are two groups pushing the End It Movement to end modern day slavery.
“We don’t want it in our state, we want to help victims that are impacted, by human trafficking, and if we all work together, we can all make an effort to end human trafficking in South Dakota,” The Network’s Krista Heeren-Graber said.
“And I think this is an important way to show those that are in it right now or are survivors of human trafficking, that we believe in them and that we are committed as a community to bring awareness to this so it no longer affects others,” Rasmussen said.
Joint training sessions between the groups are common to help educate the community on signs of trafficking and what we can do to prevent it.
“And we want to support trafficking victims and we want to stop it in our state. We want to end it,’ Heeren-Graber said.
Rasmussen says businesses and individuals should stand up today to stop the world’s fastest growing crime.
“This might seem like a small way to get involved by putting a red X, but this tells the community that we believe that it’s happening, and those that are in the situation, that we want to help them and believe in their story,” Rasmussen said.
