Kimberly Walden was deeply moved when she met a victim of sex trafficking in person and heard her story of abuse. She said, “That shook me to the core. I did not realize the problems taking place in this country.”
So in 2015, Walden established the GLM2 Foundation, Inc., with the goal of building a safe, long-term rehabilitation facility in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) specifically designed to help victims of sex trafficking rebuild their lives and learn how to be self-sustaining, independent adults.
Walden explained, “When you [a victim] come from the short-term facility, GLM2 wants to offer you a success plan where it’s a two-year commitment. A five-year cap. We want to employ you as soon as you get there through e-commerce.”
Walden created a business plan to build 20 duplexes on a horse farm. She said, “It’s going to cost a little over $13 million, but that’s with a five-year sustainability.”
She said, “Each half of the duplex will have three bedrooms, two baths where children can be under the same roof with their mothers. Or if they’re individuals, they’ll have their own bedroom in the duplex. But this way we’re [helping] to get them off government assistance, … off of food stamps and the desperation to search for shelter. … Plus you’re building their self-esteem and self-worth.”
Walden believes that creating homes for these women is a critical step in the healing process. She said, “Because we criminalize the victims, they have felonies, and, if you have a felony, it’s very difficult to find a job – even more difficult to find a place to live.
She continued, “[GLM2 will] also put them in an escrow program. After the first year, they will start paying rent back into the facility. And in exchange for a rental history, they basically get to practice life skills in a safe environment, have their children with them … [and] have a place to do it safely. And by the time they graduate we’ve actually set them up to own their own home.”
A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service states, “Many of the health and social needs of trafficking victims stem directly from their experience with trauma and the brutal reality of unremitting threats or actual physical and sexual violence. Meeting these needs, in particular providing mental health treatment and trauma-informed services, is not without challenges.”
“What we have to address is the trauma,” Walden said. “In layman terms, the human brain has basically your two hemispheres. … The right side is the creative side. Your left is the analytical side, and the left side is what houses the communication skills, as well.
“When people have gone through trauma, they can’t express things verbally because … it shuts down your communication skills. So they have all of these emotions and they need to be able to express them, but they don’t know how to do that verbally. They literally can’t because the hemispheres of the brain are not communicating with each other.”
Walden said, “So what we’re wanting to do is to have equine therapy, music therapy, art therapy, gardening, cooking. Anything that’s creative starts actually healing the trauma on the right side of the brain. And, as the trauma starts to heal, the left side of the brain starts to light up again which mean they can actually talk about it again. So the non-verbal therapies are really what begins the healing process.”
In order to build this safe haven for survivors of sex trafficking, Walden has been seeking grants and corporate sponsorships and organizing community fundraisers.
She said, “For a business plan, you want to make sure that you’re not just going after that first year. We want to be able to sustain, and so we’re putting ourselves out into the community.
One such event is the Courage to Rise Fun Run on June 22, in downtown Augusta, Ga. Registration begins at 8 a.m. at The Augusta Market on 15 Eighth Street. This 4K fun run/walk beings at 9 a.m. and follows a route along Riverwalk Road. Dogs are welcome at this event.
If you would like to participate in the fun run/walk or donate to the GLM2 Foundation, Inc., visit the website glm2.life.
