NEW BERN, N.C. (WNCT) – Over 300,000 children in the United States are human trafficked. True Justice International is bringing awareness, support and resources to continue their mission of helping combat this crime.

“We have a safe house as well as two outreach centers,” said Traci Klein, True Justice International Director. “So we do a restoration, we have a restoration home that serves survivors it’s up to two years, but it could be more depending on what they need.

“It’s a three-phase program and is one hundred percent free to them. We work on addiction and trauma recovery for survivors.”

Human trafficking is known to be modern-day slavery as traffickers control victims for various acts against their will. An estimated 40 million people worldwide are trapped in modern-day slavery. The New Bern and Onslow County-based nonprofit has been serving survivors since 2014.

“As of November first, 2022, we served 144 survivors, and we’re just one organization in North Carolina,” said Klein.

The hope from Friday’s event is to raise enough funds to open a second home that will focus on the first 90 days of helping with trauma and addiction survivors suffer from.

“And we can take the girls right off the street with the active addiction because when the traffickers are using them, drugging them up, using them for drugs, then in order to help them, we have to get them to detox first,” Klein said. “But there’s no room in the detox centers, so we want to be able to offer that which would be the first phase.”

For more information on True Justice, visit True Justice International’s website.