Metro Detroit nonprofit protects trafficking victims amid pandemic

PONTIAC, Mich. – As many businesses struggle to weather the pandemic, nonprofits are also fighting to stay afloat.

SEPT. 30, 2020: Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 124,687; Death toll now at 6,762

It’s not how or why a woman finds herself as a sex worker that matters -- it’s only important that she is being abused and forced to sell her body and soul and must be rescued.

When a woman is saved from trafficking, they need to find a place to find themselves and be brought back to life. Hope Against Trafficking, a nonprofit based out of Pontiac, is one of those places.

RELATED: Hope Against Trafficking creates safe space for victims in Southeast Michigan

Fighting and saving survivors of human trafficking is difficult work to begin with without a pandemic.

From entry to exit, the long crawl from surviving to thriving costs a minimum of $30,000 dollars per woman.

And while COVID-19 threatens so much for all of us, it’s programs like these that also join the list for life support.

For more information, watch Paula Tutman’s full video in the player above.

Hope Against Trafficking is a nonprofit organization which benefits from tremendous volunteers and community involvement. If you’d like to help, click here.

A masquerade gala is planned for Saturday, Oct. 3. Find more information about the event here.


About the Author:

Paula Tutman is an Emmy award-winning journalist who came to Local 4 in 1992. She's married and the stepmother of three beautiful and brilliant daughters. Her personal philosophy in life, love and community is, "Do as much as you can possibly do, not as little as you can possibly get away with".