Students can attend Flores event for free

VW independent/submitted information

As the date for Theresa Flores’ Niswonger Performing Arts Center event, which includes her history with human trafficking and its effect — on a scale both large and small — draws near, efforts have been put into place to expand the reach of Flores’ incredible message.

Due to the generosity of an anonymous benefactor, tickets for Theresa Flores at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, will be free for students.

Survivor and author Flores travels the U.S. sharing her story of trafficking and being a sex slave while living in an upper-middle class suburb of Detroit, Michigan. At 15 years of age she was drugged, raped, and tortured for two long years — kept in bondage and forced to pay back an impossible debt as a sex slave — all the while living at home and attempting to keep her family safe.

Flores’ organization, TraffickFree, builds awareness about domestic sex trafficking and sexually exploited children in the U.S. Its purpose is to educate students, parents, professionals, and motel owners and staff on the red flags of trafficking and how to identify a victim.

The organization works in partnership with other organizations to rescue missing adolescents from being a human trafficking victim. Equally important, TraffickFree helps survivors heal from the trauma of being trafficked, and empowers them to become productive citizens.

Learn more about Flores and her fight to stop human trafficking by reading her best-selling memoir, The Slave Across the Street.

Along with Presenting Sponsors Dale and Sarah Burden, Supporting Sponsors for the event include Walmart, Paulding Putnam Electric Cooperative, and Midwest Electric. The 2017-18 Season Sponsors are Chuck and Karen Koch, StateWide Ford Lincoln, and Van Wert Federal Savings Bank.

Tickets for the Flores speaking event at the Niswonger can be purchased through the Box Office from noon to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 419.238.6722, or 24/7 online at NPACVW.ORG. Tickets will not be required for attending students.

The Niswonger Performing Arts Center is located at 10700 Ohio 118 on the southwest edge of Van Wert.