Have you ever wondered how deeply personal tragedies can be transformed into powerful missions for change? Meet Sandra Grace, a woman who's turned her harrowing past into a relentless fight against child marriage and trafficking. As the founder and executive director of 'Who Gives this Child', Sandra uses her story not just as a testament to her resilience, but as a compelling call to arms. Sold into marriage at a tender age of 14 by her own mother, Sandra is now leading efforts to raise the marriageable age in North Carolina to 18, through legislative change.
In an insightful conversation with Joanna Patrice Hagarty, Sandra sheds light on the intimate tie between child marriage and human trafficking. Unravel the intricate strategy that 'Who Gives this Child' employs, using short documentaries to raise awareness and shape public opinion. Sandra also divulges her plans to release a book, which chronicles her own experiences, and gives us a glimpse of the collaborations that 'Who Gives this Child' has fostered with organizations like the Lantern Project and Unchained Child USA. This episode is a stirring reminder of the power each of us holds to spark change and protect the vulnerable. Tune in and join the fight against child exploitation.
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JPH:
Hello, this is Joanna Patrice Hagarty and I am on location at the 2023 Holiday Pop-Up Market at the Asheville Mall, sponsored by WWBC and BizRadious. We have 50 local women-owned entrepreneurs here selling their goods and getting their name out there for folks. Joining me now is Sandra Grace. Sandra, thanks for joining us today.
Sandra :
Oh, thank you so much for inviting me. I'm real excited about this.
JPH:
It's such an honor. I know you have a lot to share, so we're going to dive in. It'll be short, but we're going to have to have you back, so why don't you tell us a little bit about the nonprofit that you're here to talk about today?
Sandra :
So I'm the founder and executive director of who Gives this Child, and our mission is to end child marriage and child trafficking in the state of North Carolina and in the United States.
JPH:
How did you get into this work? What inspired you to do this, Sandra?
Sandra :
My mother sold me for $2,700 when I was 14 years old, and then I was forced to marry the man that bought me and I actually ended up. Well, you'll have to read the book. The book is coming out. It's called who Gives this Child? It'll probably be toward the end of 2024, but it'll tell the whole story about what happened.
JPH:
So this is a very personal thing for you, Absolutely Well. I'd love to know a little bit more about what are the goals and efforts of who gives this child is and what you guys are doing right now.
Sandra :
So what we're doing is we're actually creating 30-second and 60-second documentaries to open minds and hearts, to end child marriage and child trafficking. People don't realize that child marriage and child trafficking go hand in hand. Everybody goes. They're either putting a band-aid on helping people. After the fact I want to cut the head off the snake. I want to stop it completely.
Sandra :
And how we're talking about doing that is we're working with North Carolina legislatures, we're working with our congressmen and it is our goal to speak before the North Carolina legislature in 2024 for ratifying the age 18 law, meaning that no one can get married in the state of North Carolina unless they're 18 years old, with proof of residency and proof of age, because right now you don't have to have proof of age or proof of residency.
Sandra :
Wow, now the legislature did amend from age 12 and 14 to 16, and the compensation to us for this was they gave us the Romeo and Juliet law, and the Romeo and Juliet law is that no person can marry anybody more than four years older than the marriage partner, and that is a compensation, but it's not ending child marriage. A man could go, or someone could go, anywhere in the state of North Carolina, because we have 100 counties in North Carolina. They can go in and they can marry a person there. They can go to the next county and marry a person there, go to the next county, marry a person there and never be detected as a polygamist or as a child marriage or anything like that, because the way things are currently set up Wow.
JPH:
I'm just so grateful that there are people like you, who are passionate. I'm curious what the rest of us can do to support you in these efforts right now.
Sandra :
Well, please go to whogivesthischildcom or I'm sorry, it's whogivesthischildorg. We are currently under the Henderson County Community Foundation until we are approved for our own 501-3C. We also have partnered with other organizations like the Lantern Project, unchained Child USA. We're partnering with some of these other groups and also in North Carolina I'm working to partner with other organizations here locally that are actually already supporting the efforts. Like I said, I want to bring awareness. I want people to really start paying attention and we're getting ready to roll out these commercials or these little documentaries, and I think that it's really going to start bringing some awareness. I've got something set up with some local TV channels and everything, and now you.
JPH:
We're here for you.
Sandra :
I love it. So, anyway, let me just be straight up. We need donations, and you know what Some people go. Well, I can't give a lot of money, honey. Any amount matters. We use that money for building the foundation of the organization, for actually getting the documentaries produced and getting them aired. So we're getting ready to really ramp up our social media after the first of the year. We're working on our website. Go to our website, whogivesthischildorg. Give me feedback, let me know. I'm Sandra at WhoGivesThisChildorg. We got this, we got it, we got it.
JPH:
So we're going to go to the website. We got it. We got it.
Sandra :
So you know we need support, and that's what we need the most.
JPH:
Sandra, what a powerful message. We are so honored that there are people like you fighting these good fights, and thank you so much for being present today.
Sandra :
Yeah, thank you, and I'm willing to go anywhere and speak If you invite me to come and speak at your church, your school. We've got two trainings coming up in March March 14th and 15th. The Lantern Project is coming to Hendersonville and Asheville. We're actually going to be doing a training on how to identify predators, what to do if a child is, you know, being stalked online, things like that. So the Lantern Project does a full predator training and we're bringing them here to make that happen.
JPH:
That is amazing, sandra WhoGivesThisChildorg, please go visit. Thank you for being here today and thank you to our listeners. Please be sure to check out bizradious for more great conversations around small and mid-sized businesses, nonprofits, leaders and innovators.