Volunteers on Saturday labeled bars of soap and distributed them to nearly 150 hotels in the area of Columbus, Ohio, ahead of the Arnold Sports Festival next month, WSYX reported.
It’s called the S.O.A.P. (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) Project, which is a hands-on effort to combat sex trafficking among children at large events and in communities.
Each bar of soap has a red sticker that provides the National Humane Trafficking Hotline number (1-888-373-7888).
According to soapproject.org, outreaches are scheduled around major events such as the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four. The idea behind the project is to reach out to visitors and hotel guests at the places where minors could be victims, WSYX reported.
“This happens in every single hotel,” said S.O.A.P. Project Director Theresa Flores, who is a survivor herself. “I was trafficked when I was 15 years old. I didn’t even know I was a victim of human trafficking.”
As of last year, according to the S.O.A.P. Project, more than 100,000 volunteers have labeled and given out over 1 million bars of soap nationwide.
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