Eight Days of Hope looks to educate about human trafficking

PONTOTOC, Miss. (WCBI)- Human trafficking doesn’t just happen in faraway places like New York, or Los Angeles.

It happens right here in Northeast Mississippi. And Saturday concerned citizens gathered at the National Headquarters of Eight Days of Hope to formulate a plan to help victims in our area. Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson was one of the speakers, and he said there have been several sting operations here to catch men who wanted to harm young girls. Eight Days of Hope President and CEO Steve Tybor says there is a huge need to provide safe havens for these victims.

“There’s only six hundred beds in America and think about this there are 13-thousand animal shelters, ain’t nothing wrong with that, but there are only six hundred beds for someone who’s been rescued from sex trafficking. Our hope the goal today is to get the word out that the need is huge and how we the church need to respond and that’s part of our announcement,” said Tybor.

Tybor says Eight Days of Hope plans to help construct a brand 20-bed facility in the area next spring as part of their new partnership with Grace and Mercy Ministries. He says Human Trafficking is the second largest crime in America after drugs.