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For three weeks every September, one of the largest art events in the world, ArtPrize, takes over the city of Grand Rapids. More than 400,000 people visit this city to embrace creativity and vote on which art piece deserves the cash award. During this time, hundreds of people walk the streets, creating the perfect opportunity for us to inform our community on the topic of human trafficking. The streets of downtown Grand Rapids become our platform for raising awareness about the prevalence of this injustice in our area.

Part of this heightened awareness includes Women At Risk, Int’l (WAR, Int’l) co-hosting a community-wide S.O.A.P. Project (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution), founded by anti-trafficking advocate and survivor, Theresa Flores, on September 10, 2016. Flores, who grew up in the suburbs of Detroit in the 1980s, was trafficked out of her own home without her parents knowing at the age of 15 by a classmate and his cousins. The pain of this injustice driving her, Flores started the S.O.A.P. Project to reach out to women and girls who desperately need to escape the sex industry but lack the resources to do so.

S.O.A.P. is a project that includes wrapping bars of soap in labels that have the national human trafficking hotline number (1-888-373-7888) printed on them. Hotels are hotspots for trafficking. Victims and customers are easily hidden amongst those who come and go from their many rooms. The labeled bars are distributed to local hotels to be placed in bathrooms, creating the opportunity for victims to seek necessary help. Along with these bars, posters of missing children are handed out to hotel staff members, encouraging them to report any suspicious activity that could occur at their place of employment.

We invite you to join WAR, Int’l on September 10 to help wrap and distribute the bars of soap. You’ll have the opportunity to hear from our WAR, Int’l President Becky McDonald, law enforcement officials, and Theresa Flores herself. You’ll also be invited to join us on outreach as we drive around to hotels in our area to offer them these labeled, complimentary soaps. The cost for the afternoon is just $10, which covers your lunch.

Join us in making the most of ArtPrize this year by creating circles of protection and becoming modern-day abolitionists for women at risk in the greater Grand Rapids area. We have an opportunity to be advocates and catalysts for change this year. Mark your calendars and join us for the S.O.A.P. Project 2016. Registration for this event is required prior to September 10, and can be found on our website at warinternational.org.

During ArtPrize, we will also be partnering with the exhibit titled “Stories in Blue,” by Stephanie Sandberg. This piece will use various creative elements to tell the stories of trafficking survivors. If you cannot attend our SOAP event, please consider visiting the exhibit in its entirety during ArtPrize, from September 21 through October 9.

Date: 9/10/2016
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: WAR, Int’l Headquarters
Cost: $10 to cover the cost of lunch

Women At Risk, Int’l Headquarters
2790 44th St. SW
Wyoming, MI 49519
(616) 855-0796

Register Here!

President and Founder of Women At Risk, International, Becky McDonald, recently spoke at Cornerstone University for their 2016 Commencement ceremony. Sharing her personal stories from more than three decades of international ministry experience, Becky shared the heart behind WAR, Int’l with students, and encouraged them to care for others in their affliction. Becky reiterated that no matter what degree students pursued at Cornerstone University, all students can become safe places for the wounded within our society. To view her speech, please click on the video below.

As believers in Christ, we believe in the power of prayer. We believe that prayer breaks strongholds and can set the captives free. On Thursday, May 5, 2016, our country will participate in the 65 th Annual National Day of Prayer. This year, the event will be in conjunction with nearly 45,000 other groups from across the nation. Whether you participate in the day of prayer each year, or this is the first time you’ve heard about it, the National Day of Prayer is a phenomenal opportunity to humbly bring our requests to the Lord with thousands of other people in the United States.

The goal of this day is to pray collectively for our nation. At this time in our country’s history, there is much prayer needed, but there is also much to be thankful for. When it comes to human trafficking, our country has made great strides to see justice brought to women and men engulfed in the chains of slavery. But, we have a long way to go.

As you find yourself praying for our country, whether during your morning prayer routine or specifically on May 5, we encourage you to lift up the least of these within our borders. Pray for the women coerced into prostitution, the pimps, the “johns,” and the traffickers. Pray for law enforcement officials – that they would be attentive to the needs of trafficking victims within their individual precincts. Pray for policy makers and senators who work tirelessly to see freedom brought to the oppressed. Pray for medical professionals who are sometimes the first line of defense in the fight against trafficking. Pray for moms and dads, working hard to provide for their children in safe, loving environments. Pray for the Church, that women and men would begin to sound a battle cry for trafficking victims.

As we head into an election year, we also encourage you to pray for a leader who cares about human rights issues, like human trafficking. The National Day of Prayer is an opportunity for us, as believers, to lay our requests at the cross, knowing that our hope is in the Lord, and not in man.

We will be on our knees for those who deserve justice this National Day of Prayer, and every day before and after May 5. We invite you to join us in lifting men and women to lives of dignity and hope this month.

For more information about the National Day of Prayer, please click here.