News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
An interactive art exhibit is coming to Spencer City Park on Monday to raise awareness about Human Trafficking.
Van Buren County Schools Coordinated School Health Director Kelly Lewis said high school students participated in Tennessee’s first Red Sand Project, bringing it back to the county. Lewis said anyone who comes to participate will get red sand to spread in the sidewalk cracks, symbolizing the victims of human trafficking that fell through society’s cracks.
“We can stand up against something like this that is going on,” Lewis said. “That we can take a stand and that we can just grow our own awareness and education, just be more aware of the things that are going on and not be blind to the possibility that those might actually be going on here in Van Buren County.”
Lewis said the students are passionate about this simple, yet impactful display. She said students want to show the local community that human trafficking is not just an urban problem, but a rural problem that can happen right at home.
Lewis said the county health department will be in attendance to help with education on the signs of human trafficking. Van Buren County’s Red Sand Project will begin at 7:00 PM.
“When we live in a small community like Van Buren County sometimes we think we’re protected, that we’re safe from some of the things that we think go on only in larger cities or other parts of the country,” Lewis said. “Human trafficking, there have been cases of it in every county in Tennessee.”
Lewis said high school student leadership first participated in 2019 at the Tennessee Teen Institute, where the Tennessee Department of Health provided human trafficking education.
“They were encouraged to take the projects back into their communities and to do Red Sand Projects in communities across the state,” Lewis said. “To Build awareness of the growing problem of human trafficking.”
This will be the second Red Sand Project that Van Buren County’s high school students have put on. During the week of July 25-31, The Tennessee Department of Health Reproductive and Women’s Health team, along with partnering organizations will do human trafficking awareness efforts across the state.
