SALISBURY — Project Light Rowan has continued its recent upward trajectory, growing from an organization that just over a year ago did not have any paid staff and a tiny office in Rockwell to an organization with three full-time staffers and a new office in the West End Plaza in Salisbury.

In March, the organization received a $1 annual lease from Rowan County for space in the former mall after Commissioner Mike Caskey worked with the organization within the county’s human trafficking study group and learned that the organization needed more space for its operations.

Project Light, which stands for “Let’s Interrupt Growing Human Trafficking,” has already begun to fit the old Bath and Body Works store to its needs ahead of its upcoming Oct. 1 grand opening event.

The front of the old store includes the organization’s office space as well as a play-area for kids that come in with their parents. In the back of the store is a classroom, which Project Light Executive Director Jim Duncan said has already been used multiple times for lessons to area community college trucking students. The old storeroom in the back still has its shelves, which Duncan said Project Light is using to store supplies for safehouses in the area.

The classroom was one of the largest positives of the move, said Duncan, because it allowed the organization to hold the classes in its own space on its own time, without having to worry about finding space and scheduling outside.

Duncan said that county officials gave the organization a choice between multiple storefronts in the old mall, and Project Light chose the old Bath and Body Works because they needed an exterior entrance in case their work day extended past the 5 p.m. closing of the building. He also wanted the exterior door so that anyone who wanted privacy could directly enter their office.

“I was overwhelmed that something could happen like this, coming from where we came from to here. It’s a God thing, it was so unbelievable. I would like to say, the whole staff here, Dave (Langen), who runs the organization here, and his boss Nick (Aceves) and all the way up the chain, everybody has been wonderful. They’ve made my job so much easier,” said Duncan.

Duncan said that beyond just the additional space and capabilities offered by the new space, the move to the county seat has offered them more visibility and credibility.

“I think it’s given us more credibility in the area with folks. We certainly are able to do more by expanding, we couldn’t have expanded our staff there. There was just no more room for anybody,” said Duncan.

Duncan said that the previous office in Rockwell really only had room for his desk and for office manager Madison Saunders’ desk. The new office added space for several new employees, including new director Amy Young.

Duncan began in the organization in 2020 so that Rowan County had a group focused solely on stopping human trafficking in the area. The group was powered solely by volunteers until it received enough funding that it could hire its first paid staffer, Saunders, last year.

Project Light will host the grand opening on Tuesday, with Duncan saying that invited guests and speakers would include Senator Carl Ford, Homeland Security officials from Charlotte, Commissioner Chairman Greg Edds, Elia Gegorek and Livingstone College President Anthony Davis.

Duncan also shared some of the work that the organization has been doing recently, including working as part of the North Carolina Demand Reduction Task Force, which aims to reduce the demand for the services of people being exploited by trafficking. Earlier this year, the organization worked with state officials to become the second state in the nation to make solicitation of prostitution a felony.

Project Light is also working to fill out specialty teams with volunteers that can connect with different communities and industries within the county. Teams include schools, colleges, churches, law enforcement, first responders, NAACP, Latino, municipalities, businesses, hospitals, men’s groups and hotels or motels.

The group is also accepting new partners, or people who help out the organization by making regular donations.

“If I could get a thousand partners, I wouldn’t have to spend so much time trying to do fundraisers. I hate doing fundraisers because it takes so much time. I want to be doing the work, but you can’t do the work without the financing. But, if we had a thousand partners, we wouldn’t have to do so much fundraising and we could just focus on doing the work,” said Duncan.

Anyone who wishes to become a partner with or learn more about Project Light can visit the organization’s website at projectlightrowanht.org, call the office at 704-223-6143 or visit the office between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.