Joy International’s The Barefoot Mile Walk gives community members the chance to raise money and awareness of child sex trafficking.
The nonprofit also helps rescue children who have been sex trafficked.
The fourth Barefoot Mile Walk is 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 20, at Friendship Park. To register, visit www.joy.org. Donations are also accepted there.
Arizona Barefoot Mile Director Fausta Hirn said Joy International’s founder, Jeff Brodsky, learned of sex trafficking and immediately wanted to do something about it.
“A lot of times these girls’ captors take their shoes so they can’t run away — (Brodsky) has vowed to not wear shoes,” Hirn said.
“He (also) has felt compelled to make sure that he was one, bringing awareness to the situation and two, saving as many of these girls as he can. So, Joy International and Barefoot Mile were born from that.”
Brodsky vowed to not wear shoes on July 19, 2010, for a year. After that time, he couldn’t change. He’s been barefoot for almost 14 years.
“Just recently, I want to say within the last year, Joy International was given the opportunity to sponsor and actually have their own safe home for the young ladies in Nepal,” Hirn said.
“It’s called Mukti — Mukti means freedom in Nepalese — and basically what this home is doing currently is they have 27 young ladies. And the job is to give them a safe place, take care of them, rehabilitate them, take care of their attorney’s fees, and just give them a different way of life so that they can go on and live productive amazing lives.”
Hirn predicts that this year’s walk will be the biggest of the last four years due to visibility.
“The more that the years go on, the more people are hearing about it and the more that we can do to make sure that we’re doing our part in bringing awareness, helping stop some of this and help save these girls,” Hirn said.
She added that sex trafficking happens around the world, including the United States and even Arizona. That’s why the walk is important.
“It’s a mile — you don’t have to be barefoot — but it’s basically us all coming together in solidarity to just bring awareness,” Hirn said. “And then afterward, it’s fun, people can have a picnic, we have a kids area for kids to play and activities. And we have a DJ out there and food out there. So, it really is not only just bringing awareness but an opportunity for the community to also come together in solidarity.”
The fundraising goal for the walk is $30,000. Hirn noted that they didn’t hit the goal last year but is “confident” that they will this year.
It is important, Hirn said, that people look outside themselves, understand that these things are happening in their communities and around the globe, and realize that they can make a difference in the world.
Joy International and the Barefoot Mile Walk were started by Jeff Brodsky after he became more aware of sex trafficking. Brodsky hasn’t worn shoes in almost 14 years to raise awareness as captors take their victims’ shoes to prevent them from running.
“We have an opportunity to make an impact and a difference in these kids’ lives by making sure that we raise funds to take care of them, rehabilitate them and give them a better life,” Hirn said.
“The end goal, obviously, would be that we would bring awareness to it in such a way that this would not happen anymore, but we just want to make sure that the people that do these things understand that there are people out here that are fighting against it. And maybe there will be a stop to a certain extent. It’s just the fact that it even exists is horrible, but I think more people need to know about it. And I think the more people know about it, the less it’s going to happen.”
Hirn said that although getting together on a Saturday and walking might seem small, it doesn’t take much to make an impact.
“If everybody did their part and we just got people out to the walk and everybody did what they could do, we could really make a big impact,” Hirn said.
“And I think the other thing, too, is if it’s something that somebody may not be able to support financially, we all know people, so we can all spread the word to everybody else to get the awareness out there and the need out there so that we can make a bigger impact.”
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Kylie Werner, West Valley View Staff Writer , www.westvalleyview.com
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Tags: joy international, the barefoot mile walk, avondale walks, fausta hirn, avondale events, avondale sex trafficking awareness walk
