Rain on a Saturday morning didn't stop several dozen people from marching to stop sex trafficking along the once-notorious Sea-Tac Strip.
Before the City of SeaTac incorporated two decades ago, Highway 99 near the airport was well known for prostitution and drug dealing. It was an area where many of the women murdered by Green River killer Gary Ridgway were picked up.

People from around the SeaTac neighborhood came together Aug. 7 for a fundraising event held by the Genesis Project, a nonprofit agency that aims to serve girls between the ages of 12 and 14 who might get caught up in prostitution and need a safe place to stay.
Christie Thomas chose to work on the issue of sex trafficking last year when she asked Officer Andy Connor of the SeaTac Police Department what the greatest need around the community was.

"He said he was picking up all these girls [for prostitution] and had nowhere else to bring them but jail," she said.
She said that 81 girls were arrested in the SeaTac area for sex crimes last year.

That inspired her to take on the issue within the last year, leading right up to Saturday's fundraising event
Thomas founded the Genesis Project a year ago.

"[We want to] raise awareness that [sex trafficking] is happening in front of people's eyes," she said.
The event kicked off with a march that started at the Corridor, a community center on South 208th Street. Marchers walked back and forth on International Boulevard to South 188th Street. The event also included a live band and food at the Corridor.

Thomas said that the goal of the event was to raise funds to open a 24-hour drop-in center for girls trying to escape the sex trade.
"We want to offer professional help," she said.

She hopes the center will become a fully operational facility with beds, counselors, and other staff that will work to be girls' advocates.
Thomas is still walking in baby steps toward her dream of a fully functional drop-in center. Saturday's event brought in $6,300. The annual budget for the center would $410,000.

That hasn't deterred Thomas though.
"Not quite our goal, but on our way," she said.