Students at Highline College will be hosting a bake sale to raise money for the Genesis Project, a local non-profit organization that helps female sex trafficking victims out of the life. All proceeds will go to the organization.

Change for Change will be held Monday, May 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Student Union, Building 8, on the second floor.

Victims’ advocates say that roughly 90 percent of victims are forced to sell their bodies by a pimp. Almost no victims enter the trade willingly.

Young women enter the sex trade at 12 to 14 years old. With the average life expectancy for a prostitute at just seven years, many don’t live to be 20.

The Genesis Project is dedicated to rescuing prostitutes, and provides food, clothing, laundry services, hygiene services, and numerous legal services for free.

It functions as a drop-off center for any victims of trafficking in need of help.

Founded in 2011 by a law enforcement officer who was frustrated at the lack of help for prostitutes, the Genesis Project was the first sex traffic-specific comprehensive care and recovery center in the Seattle area.

Further information on the Genesis Project can be found at http://genesisnow.org/. They may be contacted at 206-592-2362 or emailing info@gpseattle.net. To donate to the project, visit http://genesisnow.org/how-you-can-help/.