By: Gabriel Carvalho
Project StreetLight is a non-profit organization serving the great Nashville area. The organization is primarily focused on helping victims of human trafficking, and raising concern on how important it is to be aware and to fight this issue. In fact, human trafficking has the second biggest crime rate in the State of Tennessee.
Alysson Avalon, the founder and executive director of the organization, believes the way to work with those people is to change how they perceive things and how their thoughts become their reality. She stated that people who are struggling with self love and care, or have family problems are the ones that are most vulnerable and at a higher risk.
Additionally, according to Avalon, human trafficking is different then what the media shows. It’s rare to have cases where people are kidnapped by a random person; however, in most cases people are kidnapped by somebody the victim knows. This is the main reason why most parents believe it won’t happen to their kids.Therefore, family and friends should be aware if the person is drifting away from everyone, especially if they mention that they met someone new.
The conversation continued on and discovered that Project Streetlight is currently working on creating a learning garden. Along with this, Avalon stated that one of their most important activities is agriculture. Through agriculture, victims can have the feeling of accomplishment, which gives them hope.
This project also helps to teach people how to cook nutritious food and learning how to use everything they harvest from their garden. Avalon added that a lot of low income people get food donated to them, but they don’t know how to use most of it, so this project helps to teach them how to improve their diets. In fact, this helps to benefit the victim’s mental health.
Project Street Light is always looking for volunteers and donors. For more information on this important project and how to help, visit: https://projectstreetlight.org/
