COMMUNITY
BY BEN THOMPSON
WOODLANDS THE WALK: 2 - MILE WALK
A21Walk for Freedom Annual event aims to end human trafficking
Ziman, one of the local walk hosts. The Woodlands event will feature other tracking-focused organiza- tions and live music in addition to the -mile walk. The Woodlands walk host Bonnie Thiessen said the program is family-friendly and open to commu- nity members of all ages. “When we bring people to this event, it is a great way for families to start conversations with their kids, because that’s part of the prevention, too,” Thiessen said. The event in The Woodlands attracted more than people to walk through the Town Center, and Thiessen and Ziman set a goal of , attendees this year. They said that gure, around % of The Woodlands population, represents the approxi- mately % of tracking victims who are ever rescued. “This is an ugly subject … and brushing it under the carpet is not going to help it, so face your fears, stand up and be counted,” Ziman said.
T he A Campaign’s Walk for Freedom in The Woodlands will be one of hundreds of events held by A around the world Oct. featuring an organized walk against slavery. The local organizers of the free awareness and fundraising event, which kicks o in Northshore Park, said they hope the walk can provide context and education for people who may not know the scope of modern slavery. According to A —which stands for the abolition of human tracking in the st century—mod- ern slavery is a billion criminal industry involving millions of victims globally, with a large footprint in the Greater Houston area. Funds raised for the October walk benet A ’s global campaign and tracking victim assis- tance programs. “There’s a lot of people in The Woodlands who think that human tracking is not a problem in The Woodlands when it is. Certainly in Montgomery County, it is,” said Diane
GOAL:
1,000 WALKERS
$10,000 FUNDRAISING GOAL:
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A21Walk for Freedom Northshore Park, 2505 Lake Woodlands Drive, The Woodlands Oct. 19, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Free www.a21.org/the-woodlands
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1. Participants in the A21 Walk for Freedom aim to raise awareness about human trafficking. 2. About 100 people participated in the local 2018 walk.
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The Woodlands edition • September 2019
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