HONESDALE, PA — An event that was part of the Red Sand Project was held on January 31, outside the courthouse. Michele Minor Wolf, executive director of the Victims’ Intervention Program, said that participants poured “red sand into the cracks of the side walk to symbolize the marginalized and oppressed people who often ‘fall through the cracks’ and are over-stepped.”

According to the organization’s website (redsandproject.org), the Red Sand Project is a participatory artwork that uses sidewalk interventions, earthwork installations and convenings to create opportunities for people to question, to connect and to take action against vulnerabilities that can lead to human trafficking and exploitation. “Red Sand Project installations and events have taken place in all 50 United States and in more than 70 countries around the world.

More than 215,000 Red Sand Project toolkits have been requested and/or used by people and groups of diverse backgrounds—from students through educators, businesses through outreach organizations, concerned citizens through celebrities.

Human trafficking remains a huge problem, locally and globally, with 40,300,000 people enslaved in the world today; 80% of those are female and 50% are children.