Seeds of Hope Fundraiser
Seeds of Hope held its first fundraising event on April 28th in Los Altos in Manuel Antonio. The event was attended by over 70 people, the majority being local business owners. Seeds of Hope is an organization that is working against Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking. Seeds of Hope is raising money to open the first shelter in the area for girls that have been exploited sexually.
Penny Williams the President of the NGO and Claire Brackmann the director of Seeds of Hope spoke about 50 girls in the Parrita area that are being exploited on a weekly basis and how they have begun working with 8 of these girls in a project called Tica Toes. Tica Toes is handmade foot jewelry made by the girls in order to have other means of supporting themselves. When asked about their dreams one 15-year-old girls wrote, “My dream is to be a Psychologist to help people who are abused and exploited… there are moments when I live with men for money to pay for me. It affects my life and I want to do something with my life. All of the time I hurt. He kisses me and I don’t want to live. I don’t want to exist and I hurt all the time.”
All of the food was delicious and donated by Issimo, Victoria’s, Agua Azul, The Fall’s, La Luna of Gaia, and Rancho Leon. Seeds of Hope would like to say thank-you to these wonderful restaurants, we couldn’t have done it without their help. If you are looking for a great restaurant, we highly recommend them. Seeds of Hope would also like to thank Corey Butler for donating his musical talents. He is playing at several local locations, definitely go and see him play. Finally, a big thank-you goes out to MiniPrice Store and Ronnie’s Place for donating the wine and beer.
Through all of these generous contributions, Seeds of Hope was able to raise over $4,000! Thank-you to everyone who attended and made it a wonderful evening.
For more information on Seeds of Hope visit their website at http://seedsofhopehome.org or email them at [email protected].