PELLA, Iowa — Last year, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 200 calls for help in Iowa.
A new organization based out of Pella, The Lighthouse Foundation, will guide survivors through their trauma and teach them to be on their own eventually.
Founder Brittany Sowder is hoping that her story will help others heal. At 14 years old she was asked by a man at a grocery store if she wanted to be a model.
“The first time that I did the so-called modeling job, it wasn't a modeling job,” Sowder said. “I was in a room in an apartment with another guy that had come, and he forced me to wear clothes that I didn't want to wear, and then raped me.”
She was sex trafficked all across Iowa and Illinois. At one hotel in Chicago, an undercover police officer busted the sex trafficking ring she was at, freeing Sowder at 15.
When she got out, Sowder ended up in the foster care system and was eventually adopted by Ruth Eley.
“When I found out trafficking was happening in Iowa to our Iowa youth, that was a very strong wake-up call,” Eley said.
Now 32, Sowder wants to empower other human trafficking survivors through The Lighthouse Foundation. The organization will provide counseling, job and housing resources to survivors and educational presentations about trafficking to schools.
“Coming out of it, there’s just a lot of sadness and a lot of not understanding where you fit in the world,” Sowder said.
It's a proud moment for Eley who acted as a beacon of hope for her daughter during her darkness.
“It brings happy tears to my eyes,” Eley said. “I’m choked up because she's come so far.”
The organization is looking to raise $1,500 to cover expenses associated with achieving nonprofit status and building a website. The goal is to be up and running by the end of next year.
The Lighthouse Foundation is hosting a human trafficking awareness event at First Church in Pella on Jan. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. It will include a panel of guest speakers sharing their stories of survival.