Soroptimist International of Bend will hold a candlelight vigil, in downtown Bend, to draw attention to the advocacy to stop human trafficking on Wednesday, January 11, the National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness. The vigil will be from 5:30-6:30pm, outside, in front of Belatazza and Mockingbird Gallery on Wall Street.
The candlelight vigil is free and open to the public to hear Nita Belles, SoroptimistInternational of Bend member and Managing Director of In Our Back Yard, speak on human trafficking in Oregon, the nation and around the world. The vigil will conclude with the reading of a poem written by a female survivor of trafficking.
Human Trafficking is the new face of modern-day slavery. The face may be invisible, but knowing the signs will help bring these faces into the light. Victims of human trafficking are found in private homes, on city streets, places of business, along highway rest stops and in places of commerce where the products we consume are collected or produced by bonded labor (an individual forced into labor to repay a debt that grows faster than their ability to pay). Nita Belles, states, “The loss of even one person into trafficking deserves our urgent attention and action, yet the reality is that there are 27 million slaves worldwide. In America alone, over 100,000 children are trafficked yearly. This atrocity has to stop.”
Nita Belles | 541-948-6428 | nita@inourbackyard.org
OR
Jan Swander | 541-815-4173 | j.m.swander@gmail.com
