YWCA Wins Big in Giving Hearts

New Awareness for Human Trafficking Fight

The YWCA launched a heartwarming campaign in time for Giving Hearts Day, telling potential donors about their need to replace the entire heat pump system for the shelter.

At a donation drive that got them enough money for 20 of 47 heat pumps needed, that’s part of their success.

But here’s the hard, cold fact underneath the warm-and-fuzzy campaign:  23 YWCA women and teens who needed that warmth and shelter were confirmed as victims of human and sex trafficking by shelter workers.

Another 48 were suspected victims who weren’t ready to confirm, or couldn’t, said Executive Director Erin Prochnow.

The high rate of human trafficking in North Dakota and Minnesota women and children is quickly becoming the region’s worst-kept secret.

“365 days a year, 24 hours a day, that’s created more than 16,000 nights of shelter since we opened,” Prochnow said.

KVRR would love to show you the two dedicated units that opened for human trafficking victims. But privacy laws won’t allow that. That’s because just 4 days after the units opened last week, the units were full.

“We wanted to make sure the space was as safe and secure as possible, within the limits of funding possibilities, before the units opened,” Prochnow said.

The extra security of the units isn’t just critical for women fleeing pimps. The dedicated units also provide protection for other victims in the shelter.

Shelter workers say recruitment to “the life” has been a serious concern within the YWCA walls.

“We were seeing victims being sent in here by their abusers, to try to get other victims trafficked out of the shelter….victims who were other vulnerable women,” Prochnow said.

Shelter workers do what they can to protect the women in the shelter from being recruited, but they aren’t always successful, said Prochnow.