CLC Hosts ‘Red Sand Project’ to Bring Awareness to Human Trafficking

On Wednesday, Central Lakes College in Brainerd partnered with the likes of the WeARE Clinic and Sexual Assault Services to host the Red Sand Project with the hope of raising awareness about human trafficking.

With the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women approaching on May 5, the Red Sand Project is shedding light on a global epidemic many aren’t even aware of.

“At least for me, it wasn’t a very well known issue of, really, until I started working here and became aware of this with the efforts that the college does at bringing awareness to just the prevalence of this issue and really what human trafficking encompasses,” said CLC Social Worker Kellee Rossina.

According to the Polaris Project, there are over 40 million human trafficking victims around the world, and roughly 75% of them are women and girls. The Red Sand Project asks supporters to pour red sand in between sidewalk cracks, representing the victims who’ve fallen through the cracks of human trafficking.

“I think the biggest thing that everybody can do is educate themselves on the topic, how prevalent it is,” stated Rossina. “You know, looking at different, maybe, warning signs, we live in an area that has a lot of tourism. Sometimes that can be a location or situations where it could be more likely that somebody is being trafficked, somebody is in a vulnerable situation.”

One misunderstanding many have on the topic of human trafficking is the belief that it’s only prevalent in more populated areas.

“It’s about raising awareness,” emphasized Megan Bistodeau, CLC Director of Accessibility Services. “And so knowing that it’s happening in our communities and it’s happening in Minnesota, and it’s not something that just happens in bigger cities. It’s affecting the people in our community.”

Yet another reason it’s important, organizations like CLC show their support for what the Red Sand Project does.

“This is my third year that I’ve been here for this event, and it’s, I think, steadily growing every year,” added Rossina. “And I’m hoping that that will continue the more – especially with the community. Law enforcement has definitely had a stronger presence over the last few years. So it’s been great to just see, you know, that more people are aware of this cause and are doing their part to support it.”