St. Francis Lights Up in January to End Violence
GRAND ISLAND, NE—CHI Health St. Francis, in conjunction with Willow Rising, is bringing awareness to human rights issues during National Human Trafficking Prevention and National Stalking Awareness month.
St. Francis will light up red each Monday evening during January to signify lives that are falling through the cracks due to human trafficking and modern slavery. The color red, associated with the Red Sands project, will also be featured in several awareness events led by Willow Rising including a community observation on Jan. 15.
On Friday evenings during the month the hospital will light up blue in support of stalking awareness and prevention.
St. Francis and Willow Rising provide vital resources, support and care to victims of violence across the region. Advocating through public policy, community-based initiatives and education, they also work to build awareness and prevent future violence.
“Health care providers are uniquely positioned to identify and protect victims of violence. Even in central Nebraska, encounters with human trafficking and domestic violence are all too common,” says Amelia Swanson, director, St. Francis Emergency Department. “We hope to raise awareness, so that others may join us and take action against these devastating public health issues.”
Visit Willow Rising’s facebook page to participate in this month’s events and to learn more about building awareness and preventing human trafficking and stalking in our communities.
National Human Trafficking Prevention Month
January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, a presidentially designated observance that raises awareness about human trafficking and empowers the public to take action to prevent and respond to it.
Globally, an estimated 50 million individuals are being trafficked or living in modern slavery, whether in forced marriages, forced labor, or for sexual exploitation. In 2023, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 113 signals from Nebraska. From those calls, text and emails, 23 cases with 33 victims were identified. The cases predominantly involved sex trafficking of adult females.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/human-trafficking-prevention-month
https://humantraffickinghotline.org/
National Stalking Awareness Month
January is National Stalking Awareness Month, a month dedicated to raising the understanding of stalking.
The Stalking Prevention Awareness Resource Center (SPARC) reports an estimated 13.5 million people are stalked annually in the U.S. Nearly 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men have experienced stalking victimization at some point in their lifetime. Stalking is often committed by someone the victim knows and stalking by an intimate partner is the most common and dangerous type.
Yellow is the color of the stalking awareness ribbon, however blue is the color used in most of SPARC’s prevention messages. Blue is also the official color of Human Trafficking Awareness. https://www.stalkingawareness.org/
https://www.thehotline.org/
CHI Health’s Commitment to Violence Prevention
CommonSpirit, parent organization to CHI Health and one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S., introduced the United Against Violence initiative in 2008. Recognizing that violence is a public health issue, the organization works to address and prevent the epidemic same as any other serious issues impacting health and wellbeing in the communities they serve.
Willow Rising
Willow Rising, based in Grand Island, is a non-profit agency providing 24-hour emergency and supportive services for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault while working to reduce the number of future victims through education and prevention. Willow Rising 24-hour Crisis Line: 308-382-8250 (phone) 308-833-0025 (text)
Red Sand Project
Molly Gochman first launched the Red Sand Project in 2014, after realizing the depths human trafficking and modern slavery continues to be a contemporary reality. She recognized that to begin finding a solution to such a widespread challenge, increased public awareness and engagement would be essential. Gochman initiated the first Red Sand Project action in Miami, where she filled the cracks of sidewalks in and around the Art Basel Miami Beach pavilion with red sand. The approach was symbolic, with the grains of sand representing those individuals who fall through the cracks—whether the cracks of our social, economic, and political systems or those of our personal consciousness. Today, Red Sand Project actions have been done in all 50 states and in 70 countries, with more than one million participants.