Gearing up for the annual Walk for Freedom on Oct. 14 are volunteers from The Rescue House Rebbecka (left), Linda, Viola, Director Katina Stith, Teresa, Shereen and Marisol. Photo by Jane Kathleen Gregorio
As part of a global fundraising and awareness campaign to shed light on human trafficking, The Rescue House of South Texas is hosting its fourth annual Walk for Freedom on Oct. 14 at Cole Park in Corpus Christi.
“This event is intended to inform people here in the Coastal Bend that there is such a thing called human trafficking and that we are here to show our support for the victims and stand up against human slavery of anyone,” said Katina Stith, director of The Rescue House, a local refuge for victims of human trafficking. “We also will provide information recognizing the signs so people can protect their own families, loved ones and neighbors.”
Participants can register online at rescuehouseofsouthtexas.com or at the venue on the day of the walk. The $25 registration fee includes a T-Shirt, a “Be Her Voice” bracelet and water.
Sign-in takes place at 9 a.m., and the 2½-mile walk begins at 9:45 a.m. in front of the Cole Park Amphitheater, 1527 Ocean Drive.
The Rescue House of South Texas was established in 2013 by Pastor Bil and wife Jessica Cornelius after hearing a speech by Christine Caine, founder of A21, an international anti-human trafficking nonprofit. The Cornelius couple began to search for ways to help victims in the Coastal Bend.
“They learned that after human trafficking victims were rescued by law enforcement, there was a shortage or lack of safe places where they could find refuge,” Stith said. “Pastor Cornelius and his wife established The Rescue House to fill this gap and to aid victims on their road to freedom and recovery.”
A kidnapping survivor herself, Stith spent 18 years in ministry, helping others who were victims of slavery and abuse. After working with the anti-human trafficking movement in California, she joined The Rescue House of South Texas in January 2014. She currently serves as director.
“In moving here, one of the first things was to establish awareness regarding the safe home,” Stith said. “It’s not just having the house but also running the house. What does that entail? What do we need? Also, we had to come up with ways to bring awareness to the community and to teach people to recognize the signs and letting them know there’s a place for victims to take refuge.”
Four stages in helping a victim of human trafficking are Rescue, Restore, Rebuild and Re-entry, Stith continued.
“We are in the ‘rescue’ part,” she said. “We partner with other long-term care facilities, often in different states. The money we raise from events like the Walk for Freedom is used to transport survivors to the next part of their life, which is the restoring and rebuilding stage.”
Other ways to help include donations of toiletries, grocery store gift cards, socks, shoes and undergarments. Groups and organizations may contact Stith about speaking at their meetings on the topic of human trafficking to help raise awareness.
“Modern-day slavery remains a billion-dollar industry because it is hidden from the public and authorities,” she said. “It is a big misconception that it only happens overseas. Many people here locally do not see that it’s happening in their own communities.”
Stith defined human trafficking as including “any acts of exploiting or compelling people to do labor or sex acts through the use of force, fraud or coercion, where human beings are controlled and manipulated.”
Since the first Walk for Freedom in 2014, support has grown each year to 150 participants last year over 30 in the first one.
“The more people hear about human trafficking in this community, the more they want to come out and and help fight it,” Stith said. “Maya Angelou said, ‘When you learn, you teach,’ and because I’ve learned so much from my experiences, I want to teach others that their ‘now’ doesn’t have to be their ‘future.’ At The Rescue House, we want to help not only free the victims but help them rebuild and rediscover their own destiny in life.”
For more information on the The Rescue House of South Texas and the Walk for Freedom on Oct 14, call (361) 500-6363. Also, visit rescuehouseofsouthtexas.com or the Facebook page @rescuehouseofsouthtexas.
