‘Hope in a Handbag’ Raises $82K
by Robert Mitchell
Hope in a Handbag, a new fundraiser benefiting The Salvation Army’s LIGHT Project in Western Pennsylvania, raised $82,000 to help survivors of human trafficking.
The money was raised at a spring luncheon at the Montour Heights Country Club near Pittsburgh. The event featured a silent auction with a chance to buy a variety of donated handbags, including new and vintage selections from designers like Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
“It was a pretty successful event,” said Tabitha Ceryak, director of the LIGHT Project. “It definitely exceeded our expectations. We sold out of every single purse and made a lot of good connections.”
Ceryak said the proceeds will be used for rental assistance, furniture, bus passes, cellphones, and sometimes court fines for people caught up in human trafficking and helped by the LIGHT (Leading Individuals Gracefully out of Human Trafficking) Project.
Not an isolated issue
The LIGHT Project is dedicated to educating the public and providing vital support to survivors in Pittsburgh and The Salvation Army’s surrounding 28-county Western Pennsylvania service area. Pittsburgh, at the confluence of three rivers and other transportation hubs, sees the trafficking problem up close.
“It’s a problem everywhere,” Ceryak said. “Lately we’ve seen more of a demand for labor trafficking assistance. Before it was sexual trafficking, but it seems labor trafficking is more of the need right now.”
Ceryak said some undocumented immigrants coming to the United States are promised jobs, housing, and green cards by traffickers, but the reality is often very different. They are sometimes forced to work long hours while sharing housing with several other people, and the promised documents never materialize.
Those who reach out to The Salvation Army for spiritual help can find that too, Ceryak said. Survivors are connected to the corps nearest to them.
The Salvation Army’s Western Pennsylvania Division said The Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report by the United Nations International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration estimates 50 million people are enslaved across the world today.
The LIGHT Project, since its inception in 2018, has served 230 survivors of both labor and sex trafficking in Western Pennsylvania. The LIGHT Project served 124 individuals last year alone, including 91 survivors of sex trafficking and 33 from labor trafficking. Ceryak and three others make up the program.
A long history of caring
“Individual case management is probably the biggest step toward [establishing] a human trafficking victim’s self-sufficiency,” Ceryak told SAconnects magazine last year (“Shedding LIGHT on Human Trafficking”). “That’s when we can offer assistance and guidance that can impact lives immediately. Housing is important, but with case management, we can pay carpenter union dues for a man who was labor trafficked, so he can find legitimate work.
“We partner with local organizations so a family can receive mental health counseling. We find important documents for a sex trafficking survivor, so she can qualify for assistance from the city.”
The LIGHT Project also goes out with The Salvation Army’s Emergency Disaster Services each week to feed the unhoused in Pittsburgh and meet those looking for food.
The Salvation Army has historically been at the forefront of fighting human trafficking since the 19th century in London. Salvation Army founders Catherine and William Booth advocated to raise the legal age of consent and the minimum age to work in factories.
The Salvation Army operates 40 anti-trafficking programs across the nation, including the LIGHT Project.
For immediate support, call the 24/7 National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888, or text “befree” (233733) to get connected across the United States.
Click here for more information on the LIGHT Project.
