BEAUMONT — A silent walk in Beaumont Saturday got their message across loud and clear. The A21 "Walk For Freedom" is a global effort to raise awareness and money in the fight against human sex trafficking.
The event has taken place for the past five years, but Carrie Herring joined forces with her church, Trinity Beaumont, to put on Beaumont's first ever walk.
Herring has been passionate about ending human trafficking for over five years now, after watching a documentary. She participated in a walk last year, but decided to host her own event here in Beaumont this year.
"Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not happening," said Herring.
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Andrew Wilson is the senior pastor at Trinity. He said they were happy to help Herring pursue her passions.
"We're happy to help her promote the vision and the heart that God's given her to help liberate the captives, like Jesus talks about in Luke 4:18," said Wilson.
Herring said the silent walk advocates for the estimated 40.3 million men, women and children that fall victim to trafficking every year.
"As you're walking down the street, as you're holding your sign, cars are stopping, they want to know, like what are you doing, just getting people talking lets people know that if trafficking is happening in Beaumont then we're here to stop it," Herring said.
Eileen Neiford is one of the many that joined in on the walk Saturday morning. She worries for her grandchildren's safety.
"Before you were kind of on the internet, people groomed you. Now they just take you," Neiford said.
Alexandria Hunt also joined in on the walk with her 11 and 13-year-old daughters, Arianna and Ciarah. She first became passionate about ending sex slavery 11 years ago.
"It could be my daughter, it could be my sister, it could be my mother, it could've been me, this happens to so many women," said Hunt.
Herring, Hunt, and many others who walked agree that sex trafficking could happen to anyone, and it's happening everywhere, but it's our job to stop it.
"If you see something that seems kind of off kilter or doesn't seem right but you think, 'Oh, it's probably nothing,' it's probably something, and you should say something about it," Herring said.
If you missed the walk, but would like to help out you can make a donation here.
Their goal is to raise $2,500 dollars by October 31.