Women’s powerlifting group Colorado Powerchics is hosting a fundraising event to benefit the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado in September at CrossFit Pandora’s Box gym.

“This is a horrible situation,” said Salina Vega owner of Vega Muscle Therapy and founder of Colorado Powerchics. “People don’t realize that it can affect your daughter or your sister or your friend. People don’t realize that it is a big deal here in Colorado.”

Vega notes the large number of massage parlors in the area, as an example. According to Vega, there are 37 massage parlors in Colorado Springs. To put this into perspective, Phoenix, which is about four times bigger than Colorado Springs, has six parlors, she said.

In a report from the Polaris Project, which created a classification system to analyze more than 32,000 cases of human trafficking, there were 2,949 cases related to “illicit massage businesses,” which was second only to cases dealing with escort services.

Vega said she wants to bring awareness to the community and help fight human trafficking. According to her records, she said they raised about $2,100 last year. This year her goal is to at least double that amount. Vega’s vision is for powerful women in Colorado to come together in their sport to raise money for enslaved women and children.

According to their website, the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado was formed at the Human Trafficking Awareness Symposium in September 2008. Since then, the organization has functioned to build a collaboration of organizations and individuals to reduce human suffering caused by human trafficking through awareness, advocacy, rehabilitation and services for survivors.

The fundraiser will include various facets. The first is the silent auction. Several local gyms, including 24 Hour Fitness and Flex Gym, will be offering membership and training packages. Restaurants, nutrition companies, sportswear brands and even hair salons offered to give to the cause.

The powerlifters in the event will register to be placed into specific flights. Then there will be two competitions: deadlifting for reps and the deadlift face-off. In the deadlift for reps competition, lifters themselves, family or friends will pledge an amount of money per rep the lifter can do. Similarly, in the deadlift face-off, lifters, family or friends can also pledge money for their lifter of choice. Lifters in this competition will be matched with a similar competitor and lift back and forth, one for one until someone taps out. All the money will go to the Task Force.

“(Ultimately people are) gonna forget what you totaled, what you squatted, what you benched, what you deadlifted,” Vega said. “That doesn’t matter … there’s a bigger purpose. … I can use my strength and my sport to make an impact on our society and our community – our local community. You could start just there.”

Vega intends to continue this fundraiser yearly and hopes it will grow into a nationwide event, minimizing and eventually eradicating human trafficking.