Crisis Aid aims to help trafficking survivors

Sex trafficking is a major concern, and it's happening right here in Missouri, said Crisis Aid founder Pat Bradley at a benefit luncheon Friday.

In 1995, Bradley found out about sex trafficking, or forced prostitution as it was then known, while on a mission to Africa. There, a minister told him about a red-light district in the city where hundreds if not thousands of girls were being trafficked.

Bradley said he met one girl who was interested in getting out, and he was able to make that happen.

"She was 16 years old. She'd been there for five years, and all of her possessions fit in a plastic shopping bag," Bradley said.

He didn't know what he was going to do or how he was going to get her to safety, Bradley said, but he managed it, with some help.

A few months later, he went back, and brought out more girls. Later, he went back and brought more girls out. He kept going, expanding efforts into another country, where he set up a more permanent home to help give rescued girls a chance to begin to recover.

In 2008, Bradley said, he met with the FBI to discuss sex trafficking in the United States. "At that time, I knew about the problem with foreign girls getting brought to this country, but I had no conception, no idea, about American girls," he said. Bradley was "floored" by the statistics, too: At the time, only 49 beds in the entire country were devoted solely to the survivors of sex trafficking, he said.

And, when he entered his home ZIP code online to see for himself how many girls were being advertised for sale, he said, "it was just pages and pages. I couldn't believe it."

At the time, too, the only option for law enforcement officials was to detain rescued sex-trafficking survivors.

Thus, the idea for Crisis Aid Home was born.

It took four years of fundraising to build the facility, Bradley said, but since it opened its doors in St. Louis in 2012, 190 girls have gone through the program -- 17 in 2019 alone.

Behind that statistic are 190 stories, 190 people who now have better lives, Bradley said.

Overseas, the organization works directly with the girls, Bradley said, and in St. Louis, Crisis Aid works closely with law enforcement to avoid missteps that could cost police years of work.

That collaborative work with St. Louis County police department's special investigations unit has helped more than 100 girls on an outpatient basis, Bradley said after the program.

The focus is on safety and healing, and trafficking prevention, Bradley said -- identifying those who are vulnerable, and providing support through safety planning, mentoring and other initiatives.

Overseas, a vocational center Crisis Aid built trains girls, some of whom don't have basic literacy, vital skills to be employable right where they live, Bradley said.

In St. Louis, the goal is to provide tools for the rescued girls to receive education -- high school equivalency, college courses, job training.

"Remember this, giving up is not an option, because there are still girls waiting," Bradley said. "There's a 16-year-old girl tonight, going to her closet, choosing a dress that she thinks will help her get more male clients tonight, so she can meet her quota, so her pimp doesn't beat her. She's waiting for us. If we give up, she'll never get out. But if we keep the course, one day she'll be free. I've seen it happen."

But this is expensive work, Bradley said. In the United States, regulations must be met, and these facilities must be staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Bradley said the house in St. Louis has 22 bedrooms, and right now, they're able to operate 8.

"It's strictly a matter of money," Bradley said.

And Crisis Aid has a full-time staff presence in the police department in St. Louis County, Bradley noted.

Polly Holten, member of the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau, a Crisis Aid partner, who is also on the Crisis Aid Lead Team in Cape Girardeau, said trafficking is a very real problem, and it's here, now. She said donations are a big help, and training is available to medical personnel and law-enforcement officials who want to know how to identify trafficking survivors.