Will benefit fight against human trafficking
Residents looking to spend some time in the crisp winter air should don their tackiest Christmas sweater and head to Monsanto Park in Luling on Saturday for a 2-mile run that will raise funds to fight human trafficking.
The run is set to start at 9 a.m. Racers will travel on the River Road levee for two miles before returning to the park. Prizes will be given to two male and two female winners.The event was organized by Hahnville High School student Hollie Comardelle for her senior project.
“I knew it was going to be in December, so I wanted to do a theme,” Comardelle said of the tacky Christmas sweater run. “My mentor for this project is Sandy Johnson, who is part of a group called Pacers Fitness. She helped me a lot with setting the whole thing up.”
Comardelle is not sure what to expect in terms of attendance, but said “the more the merrier.”
Proceeds from the run, which cost $15 to register for on race day, will benefit the A21 Campaign, an organization that works to stop human trafficking.
“I wanted to raise funds for something that’s a good cause, and I wanted it to be unique,” Comardelle said. “I really enjoyed writing my senior paper on human trafficking and I learned a lot about it.”
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) said they have received reports of 9,298 unique cases of human trafficking over a five-year period.
The three most common forms of sex trafficking reported to the hotline involved pimp-controlled prostitution, commercial-front brothels and escort services. Labor trafficking was most frequently reported in domestic work, restaurants, peddling rings and sales crews.
U.S. citizens were victims in nearly 41 percent of sex trafficking cases and 20 percent of labor trafficking cases received by the NHTRC.
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