Jacksonville Gives 2018

J6 Sunday, November 11, 2018
jacksonville gives Rethreaded
A CARING VOICE
RENEWING HOPE
Opportunities created
for humantrafficking
survivors
By Jean Sealey
Special for the Times-Union
“We walk together and
support each other
through the highs
and lows because
that is what changes
community for the
better. That is the
community we seek
to create every day
at Rethreaded. When
people become part
of Rethreaded, they
become part of a
community that seeks
to give life and create
opportunities.”
Kristin Keen
Founder and president
Rethreaded
HOW TO GIVE
Rethreaded
820 Barnett St.,
Jacksonville, FL 32209
(904) 438-8109
rethreaded.com
General Inquiries: info@
rethreaded.com
Events: jason@rethreaded.
com
Every dollar donated goes
to helping restore chocie
for survivors of human
trafficking.
Go to rethreaded.com/
pages/donate.
Also, you can support
women locally and globally
through purchasing
survivor-made gifts available
at rethreaded.com.
Rethreaded hosts a
monthly meeting to
introduce members of
the community to its
mission and its methods.
At noon on Sept.
20, about 20 men and
women gathered in a
conference room at
Rethreaded’s production
facility and gift
shop. Co’Relous Bryant,
Rethreaded’s partnership
development manager,
called the meeting to
order.
“We are not shy about
the topic,” he said.
“The topic is human sex
trafficking.”
Human sex trafficking,
as everyone must
know, is a problem in
third-world countries
where women and
children are held against
their will and forced into
prostitution or adult
entertainment.
Bryant continued.
“In Jacksonville.”
Human trafficking in
Jacksonville?
According to the
National Human
Trafficking Hotline
based on 2017 data,
Florida ranks third in the
nation (after California
and Texas) with 604
human trafficking cases
reported in the state.
Jacksonville ranks
48th on the list of cities
nationwide. Trafficking
Founder and President Kristin Keen is in the Grace Scarf display area of the gift shop inside Rethreaded, located on
Barnett Street in Jacksonville. [DEDE SMITH/SPECIAL]
can be for purposes of
sex (prostitution and
sex entertainment)
or forced labor. Men,
women and children can
all be victims of human
trafficking.
Rethreaded’s founder
and president, Kristin
Keen, lived and worked
for five years in Kolkata,
India.
“My first year there, I
listened to the stories of
women caught in the trap
of the area's sex trade,”
she said. “I wanted those
women to know that
they have value. An estimated
10,000 women
are reportedly victims
of human trafficking
there, and 30 percent are
underage.”
Keen helped co-found
a business that would
provide a safe place for
these women.
Today, that company
— Sari Bari — is
a thriving business in
Kolkota, employing more
than 120 people who
create blankets and other
cloth products using traditional
Indian fabrics.
Sex trafficking is a
form of modern slavery
that exists globally.
What makes a woman
vulnerable to exploitation
varies.
A woman may become
romantically involved
with someone who then
manipulates her into
prostitution. Another
may be lured by the
promise of a job dancing
or modeling. Yet another
has an addiction to drugs
and desperately needs
money or her trafficker is
her supplier. Runaways
are vulnerable and young
children have few if any
ways to escape.
When Keen came back
to Jacksonville, she saw
a need here to be able to
offer women options and
a way out.
See RETHREADED, J17