Kristi House and 450 guests celebrated the 10th Annual Breaking the Silence Luncheon on Friday, April 15, 2016 at Coral Gables Country Club. Guests heard an amazing poem written and recited by one of our trafficking survivors. They heard from Tony Sparks who rescues stolen children all over the globe. They heard from a mom whose son was brutally abused at age 8 but received help from Kristi House and is now a successful, honor roll 17-year-old.

These stories of hope and success from survivors of sexual abuse and sex trafficking were inspiring. They each found the strength, courage and skills to cope with what had happened to them and move on to promising futures.

“With 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys children abused by the time they are 18, this is a scourge that impacts too many of us and our families,” CEO Claudia Kitchens said. “And with more than 400 underage girls for sale in our state in a month’s time, our community stands united in saying no more to children used for profit and pleasure.”

Core to Breaking the Silence is building awareness of Kristi House and the staggering statistic that child molesters are not strangers: in the vast majority of sexual abuse cases, the child and the child’s family know and trust the abuser. For these victims, their childhoods are shattered, their innocence stolen forever. Worse still, the effects haunt them for years, increasing the likelihood of drug and alcohol dependency, eating disorders, teen pregnancy, delinquency, violent crime and debilitating fear.

Kristi House launched Breaking the Silence in 2007 to garner attention and support from concerned and caring individuals and business leaders who can assist in our mission of protecting and healing children from child sexual abuse. Many have joined this effort, sharing our vision of ending child sexual abuse in our community.

Special thanks goes to BDO, our sponsor of this year’s event.

See Photo Gallery of the 2016 Event