GRANDVIEW, Mo. — A Kansas City area business is hoping to amplify the voices of human trafficking survivors with the skills to make a career as creators.
Nikkie Affholter is the owner and founder of Tirza Design. Her store is a one-stop shop for supporting causes close to the metro.
Survivors of human trafficking and sexual exploitation craft many of the items in her shop.
“I just saw the need for the exit-out strategy for when they were leaving,” Affholter said. “To find a job that was not just an entry-level job that was trauma-informed, a safe place that had that community.”
Affholter started her outreach with bags of supplies to make earrings. She handed them out to victims as she volunteered for various local organizations.
Denise Lester is the founder and executive director of Rended Heart, which is just down the street from Tirza. The nonprofit sells some items at Affholter's shop.
“It’s such a beautiful partnership,” Lester said. “It’s really a sweet opportunity that we have to collaborate with someone who really cares.”
For more than a decade, Lester has worked with victims, providing clothing and temporary housing.
“People don’t realize how much this is really affecting society in our community and how much the help is needed,” Lester said. “What you see with your eyes is not always the reality of their lives.”
Both Affholter and Lester are using their storefronts as a window into a world many never see.
“Seeing the success firsthand in a personal way with the girls,” Affholter said. “Girls that didn’t know that they could do it, that they could have financial independence on their own while working on their healing.”
—
