When Beth Messick began to learn about human trafficking in 2015, she wondered why women caught in the cycle of prostitution, addiction and homelessness would not seek out organizations created to help them.
Messick took to the streets to find the answer.
“I heard about a woman on the streets in Greenville, (South Carolina),” says Messick, who had worked with women who experienced childhood sexual abuse.
The woman was in a neighborhood near a now-closed elementary school. Messick’s father was principal there for nearly 40 years.
“I told my husband, Ron, ‘I’m going to go find this girl,’” She told him that she would go, with or without him. “He went with me,” Messick