The public is invited to a free program on Sunday in Jefferson about human trafficking happening in Iowa.

Stacy Besch is with Team Iowa and will be showing the documentary “Gridshock: A Film About Sex Trafficking in Iowa” by Vanessa McNeal. Besch tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the film will explain what human trafficking is, the individuals that are involved, defining what a “John” is called, and breaking down the laws that are in place and how prevalent this is in Iowa. Following the documentary, Besch points out that she will talk about human trafficking incidents that happened in rural areas, what people should be looking for, action steps to deal with those situations and going over the “weeds in the garden.”

“And a lot of people are kind of wondering what that means, but the garden is our children, and how do we protect them from being suffocated by the weeds? Well, we need to address them, and then pull them out by the roots because that’s the only way to get them to quiet growing back.”

Besch explains that Sunday’s program will be her 140th as she describes what surprised her the most as she first started giving these presentations.

“I came from the Johnny Gosch days. So I thought human trafficking was all about abduction, and the creepy white van, and the drug-rundown houses. And that is so small, that is such a small percent of where that’s coming from. So my eyes were completely open to where it’s coming from.”  

Sunday’s program begins at 7pm at the Greene County High School auditorium.