The Scarlet Rope
Article by Anna Cooper
The U.S. State Department reports that there are an estimated 24.9 million victims of human trafficking around the world. In the U.S., a child is bought or sold for sex almost every two minutes. In the State of Tennessee, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has reported that human trafficking is the second-highest rising crime in our state. So what’s being done? How can we help the survivors of human trafficking? How can we help to reduce this crime and protect the vulnerable members of our society? What can be done and how can we be proactive?
We were asked that question by the grandmother of a 15 year-old who had been taken, “How can we help her if we get her back?”. Besides the heartbreak that was behind that question was a face bewildered by the hopeless feeling of not knowing how to help. There is a group of people who are trying to help in West Tennessee.
In March of 2015, the Scarlet Rope was established in Jackson, Tennessee, thanks to citizens who were concerned about trafficking. Julanne Stone is the Executive Director of the Scarlet Rope Project. She said, “It all began with the conversation just among concerned citizens in our community. Do we have sex trafficking? If so, what does it look like? Who is it affecting? All of those things, and so, there was one lady by the name of Debbie Currie, who actually went to law enforcement and just said, ‘Hey, is this here?’ They said, ‘Absolutely.’ So through her, some other people, and law enforcement, the Scarlet Rope Project was formed. At that time, it wasn't a nonprofit or anything. It was just a group of people wanting to help women who were caught in this situation.”
Stone got involved not long after, “I came in right in the very beginning as a volunteer. I'm a registered nurse. I was working as a nurse and volunteering with this organization. After volunteering with them for about a year, we realized the depth of the trauma and the destruction that happens to these women that are caught up in it and so we really wanted to learn more about it and learn about better services to provide for them.”
It was after learning about what was happening in their very own city, that they really felt the need to grow the Scarlet Rope so they could not only help more people right where they are, but also help people all over West Tennessee.
Stone laid out the timeline, saying, “At the very beginning we did not have our own home.” In fact they were using a transitional facility in Jackson, and that ended up working pretty well, because, as Stone explained, “We really learned about the best practices and networked with other agencies throughout the United States about best practices for this and how to apply for our nonprofit status.”
The name of the organization is Biblical in nature. ScarletRopeProject.com explained, “Our name comes from the story of Rahab in Joshua 2. The scarlet rope in the story reminds us that, despite our mess, God still wants to redeem us and use us for his Kingdom. Just as Rahab is discovered to be in the linage of Christ, we desire the same for the survivors of sex trafficking.”
The Scarlet Rope’s mission is to “provide a safe place of healing and restoration to survivors of sex trafficking.” Stone explained that their goal is “to be a resource for those looking for a way out and also to do education and awareness” in the surrounding community.
On their website the Scarlet Rope lists their Principles of Care: Worthy of Love, Christ Oriented, Trauma Informed Care, Holistic & Individualized program, and Empowerment through a Strength Based Approach. Each of these principles help the volunteers illustrate to the women in the care of the Scarlet Rope Project, that help is here for them anytime the need arises. There’s been a learning curve, but Stone explained, “What I have learned coming into this, knowing nothing about sex trafficking, but just walking alongside survivors and hearing those lived experiences, is that victims survivors of trafficking come from various backgrounds. Every socioeconomic class is affected or can be affected by this. You know, we've had women that come in with a fourth grade education that grew up in sheer poverty, all the way up to women who have gone to college, have master's degrees, or have been in the military. But the bottom line is that with every survivor that's walked through our doors, they had a vulnerability that a trafficker preyed upon and then flipped it.”
So what can you do to help the Scarlet Rope Project?
Since the Scarlet Rope Project is a local non-profit organization, it’s important to remember that since this started as a grassroots organization—they need our help with funding. Stone mentioned that, “We do fundraisers throughout the year. We just did Crawfest in April and raised $77,000.”
To raise that much money, Scarlet Rope needs a lot of volunteers too. Right now, the Scarlet Rope Project is also working on building their own facility. All of this means that they need people just like you and me to work with them to help not only with the projects they're working on, but also with their operation costs. Stone made sure to mention that “We have really good partnerships in the community and in the surrounding area, with dentists, doctors, lawyers, financial people that offer us their services, and so that's another way that we have cut our costs for providing services to survivors, through people that are donating their talent talents and time as well.”
The Scarlet Rope Project sees survivors from all over West Tennessee, but they are also a part of a network of agencies trying to help the survivors of sex trafficking. If you’re interested in getting involved, please check out their website: scarletropeproject.com or shoot them an email at SCARLETROPEPROJECT@GMAIL.COM.
There is a ton of information availible to the public about sex trafficking on the Scarlet Rope Project’s website, and they are also avalible to come a give a presentation about the topic. If you or someone you know is in need. Please call the Scarlet Rope Project today: 347-455-1656.