Schuylkill hosts red sand ceremony to raise awareness

“Just as cracks in pavement go unnoticed, so do many victims of human trafficking,” said Stefanie Wenrich, anti-human trafficking advocate for the Sexual Assault Resource and Counseling Center. Wenrich said human trafficking is an epidemic that can happen anywhere “due to the lack of awareness in identifying the crime.”

The county is using a $250,000 STOP grant, awarded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, to help identify and eradicate human trafficking. The county is in its first year of the two-year grant. Under the grant, county District Attorney Mike O’Pake, Schuylkill Women in Crisis and the Sexual Assault Resource and Counseling Center have joined forces.

Tuesday, supporters of the initiative gathered in front of the Schuylkill County Courthouse, at the county’s Bicentennial Monument, to participate in a “Red Sand” ceremony to recognize the World Day Against Trafficking. Participants poured red sand into cracks between bricks and sidewalk sections, to remind survivors that they have not been “lost between the cracks.”

“This is the first step,” said Schuylkill County Detective Tom Robin, who is a retired Pennsylvania State Police criminal investigator, hired by the county under the grant. “The initial step is educating people, and we look forward to the first arrest and prosecution.”

In addition to participants from SARCC, the county commissioners, District Attorney Mike O’Pake, and representatives from Schuylkill Women in Crisis and Pennsylvania Career Link — the Educational Data Systems for Youth program — participated, as well as members of the general public.

Victims of human trafficking need to be connected with resources, said Ali Perroto, CEO of SARCC.

“We are advocates,” Perroto said. “We support the victims of various kinds of crimes.”

“Often the victims of human trafficking don’t identify (themselves) as victims,” she continued. “That’s because the traffickers use coercion and other means to make them feel it’s their fault, or they threaten to tell their parents or kids at school what they’ve been doing.”

Amy Newton, communications director for Schuylkill Women in Crisis, said that victims of human trafficking may be runaways or homeless, and “vulnerable” to that type of predation.

“There have to be follow-ups and referrals to make sure they’re getting services,” Newton said. “And there have to be thorough investigations and arrests — it makes a huge difference when we have a DA who is on board to get to the source of crime.”

O’Pake said he is all in.

“Human trafficking needs to be brought to the forefront,” he said. “Bring it to the forefront and bring it to a close.”