The Inter-Mountain photo by Bayli Helmick City officials and representatives from local agencies gather recently as the city of Elkins declares January as National Stalking and Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

ELKINS — Agency leaders and Elkins city officials were on hand recently for two proclamations that declared the month of January as National Stalking and Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

Representatives from Women’s Aid In Crisis and the Randolph-Tucker Children’s Advocacy Center said the proclamations will help shed light to the issues of stalking and human trafficking in the community.

Sara Fincham, interim director of WAIC, said she hopes to bring light to the national #MeToo social media movement against sexual harassment while also having a local focus.

Members of WAIC and the RTCAC all wore black to the reading of the proclamation, to show their support of the #MeToo movement.

“There is a national movement going on right now, regionally and geographically. Some of that applies to us and some of it we need to shape and mold to bring to a local conversation,” Fincham said.

During the reading of the proclamation Thursday, Fincham presented statistics on the impact that stalking has on the population. She said studies show 61 percent of female victims and 41 percent of male victims of stalking are targeted by a current or former intimate partner.

In 2017, the proclamation declared by the City of Elkins was for National Stalking Awareness month. With the rise of human trafficking affecting West Virginians, this year, both WAIC and the RTCAC proposed to add Human Trafficking Awareness to the proclamation for January.

Margot Evick, executive director of the RTCAC, read the proclamation of Human Trafficking Awareness Month, in hopes of raising awareness about the subject.

“Human trafficking is such a big issue,” Evick stated. “We wanted to make sure to start fighting that fight.”

Evick reported in her proclamation that the National Human Trafficking Hotline received approximately 100 calls per day in the previous year.

In March 2017, West Virginia passed its first anti-trafficking legislation, moving toward awareness and prevention.

WAIC and the RTCAC representatives frequently join together to bring awareness to the community about issues that affect individuals locally, and they promote prevention education.

For Stalking and Human Trafficking Awareness month, both the RTCAC and WAIC are hosting the event, “Food, Film, and Facts,” scheduled Jan. 25 at the Elkins YMCA.

The event will display the effects of human trafficking through the showing of the film, “The Abolitionists,” from 2016. After the showing of the film, community members will be able to see how this problem affects both the state and the local community through a professional panel discussion.

The event will include food from El Gran Sabor.

Evick encourages all community members to attend the event to broaden their understanding of the problem and find ways that they as individuals can make a positive impact against human trafficking.

“Come and join us and find out what is going on in our community and nationwide,” Evick said, encouraging anyone interested in attending to come to the event. “Learn a little bit about how to identify human trafficking and what you can do individually.”