Did you know that 90 percent of women want to leave the sex trade, but don’t have access to jobs and a new life? Rethreaded, a local nonprofit that creates jobs for human trafficking survivors, has helped over 64 women in direct employment at their Jacksonville-based company in production, inventory, sales, marketing, and finance as well as 100 women in their preemployment program.

A charity event for Rethreaded will be held on Thursday, November 5^th from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at Tringali Barn at Heritage Farms, located at 7310 US Highway 1 South in St. Augustine. Admission is $10 and includes a raffle entry to win two roundtrip tickets on Southwest Airlines. Tringali Barn is sponsoring the event along with MasterCraft Builder Group, Burkhardt Distributing Company, One Twenty Three Burger House, and Carmelo’s Pizzeria. The public is encouraged to come out and support Rethreaded by purchasing their locally-made wares including leather goods, jewelry, and more. There will be complimentary beer, wine, and food on-hand as well as live music. A local, anonymous donor will be matching every dollar raised at the event.

“2020 has been a year that has stretched Rethreaded in all aspects,” explained Kristin Keen, Founder of Rethreaded. “During the pandemic, phone calls to the human trafficking hotline have increased by 40 percent. We made the decision to bring seven new women into Rethreaded back in August despite economic uncertainty. With this awesome party that Chris and his team are throwing, every penny earned will go to ensure that these seven women plus the eight survivors employed before will have everything they need to continue their journey towards healing.”

“I’ve known Kristin for several years now and know how passionate she is related to this mission,” said Chris Shee, owner of Tringali Barn at Heritage Farms. “Rethreaded is widely known in Jacksonville, but not so much in St. Johns County. Part of my mission with Rethreaded is to make sure they get more exposure in St. Johns County so they can not only be more sustainable, but also able to grow and help more women. I’ll continue to host this event for as long as Kristin will allow me.”

ABOUT RETHREADED: Rethreaded takes upcycled materials, such as cotton t-shirts and donated leather airplane seats from Southwest Airlines, and turns them into one-of-a-kind accessories. Each product is handcrafted in Jacksonville, Florida by a survivor of human trafficking. To learn more about Rethreaded and to browse their handmade products, head to rethreaded.com or visit their storefront at 820 Barnett Street in Jacksonville (open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm). Follow on Facebook at @rethreaded and Instagram at @rethreadedinc