A newly formed group whose aim is to rescue young victims of sex trafficking in Southeast Asia will host a fundraiser in downtown Warsaw today.
Money will go toward rescue efforts and facilities that will serve as the home for children rescued in Southeast Asia who cannot be returned to their families due to risks of retrafficking, according to Melissa Rone, one of the founding members of the organization, Unreined A.
Unreined A is a non-profit group that came together earlier this year after a convergence of likewise interests aligned in a meeting in Sacramento, Rone said.
The group seeks to focus on the dismantling of large sex trafficking rings in Southeast Asia that prey on extremely young children.
Investigators for the group work undercover to gain enough information and partner with local authorities to help break up the ring and rescue the children.
The group will work with individual survivors and are relying on a hospital, health clinic and drug rehab facility led by health care professionals in Indonesia, Rone said.
“To date, we have assisted in successful operations in Gambia and Cambodia reaching 10-year-olds. Our long-term goal with fundraising is to be able to reach, rescue and care for the youngest of these – the 6-year-olds enslaved in sex trafficking."
Southeast Asia, Rone said, is the worst of the worst, where children as young as 6 are being used as sex slaves.
A lot of those children can’t go home because if they do so, they’ll be re-trafficked. “A lot of times, it’s the families that put them in that situation,” Rone said.
“If we were to send them home, they end up right back in the situation,” she said.
Rone is from Ohio and moved to the area in 2002 and has worked in marketing for several orthopedics and currently works for Da-Lite Screen. She said she gained an interest after reading several books about sex trafficking.
Tonight, North Buffalo Street, across from the Kosciusko County Courthouse, will be blocked off to accommodate fundraiser activities that include a large tent, two bands and an interactive art show and food from three restaurants.
Tonight’s event is geared toward adults 21 and over and runs from 6 to 11 p.m.
There is a $5 cover. Tickets will be available to purchase food from participating restaurants, Noa Noa, One Ten Craft Meatery and Rua.
Entertainment will be provided by The Goat's Beards and Apple Scruff.
