• Meet Miss Wyoming. Learn line dancing. Help less fortunate young women.

Along with her family and friends, Miss Wyoming, Adelaide Roberts, from Star Valley, is working to support young women in Colombia who are survivors of human trafficking.  These women are promoting sponsorships and raising funds at the Hoedown Showdown this Friday, April 12 at 7 p.m. in the Alpine Civic Center.

Hoping to support these survivors, the Roberts Family reached out to Libertas International, which is a non-profit that works to assist survivors in Latin America. Tyler Schwab, founder of Libertas International, suggested that their family take a trip to Colombia to provide direct support and educational opportunities for the young women served by Libertas International.  “I’m in,” said Katie Roberts, who is Adeliade’s mother and a professional photographer.

Katie, Adelaide, and Remington (Katie’s older daughter), along with friend Angie Jeske, are taking a trip in May to Colombia to help survivors take the first steps toward continuing their education or starting a career. The ladies plan to provide group therapy sessions, take professional photos, help the girls write resumes, provide them with the necessary supplies and set them on a path of growth and hope.

Initially, the family thought they would be working with 45 girls, but have recently learned that the list of young women needing their support has grown to 90 girls, ranging in age from 2-17.

“We’re trying to give them a real career, a real direction,” said Katie, in an interview with SVI Media. “A lot of them are just in school so if we can give them a backpack with school supplies, that helps. Some are learning about career paths. Some of the babies need diapers and basic needs like that.”

Friday evening, guests will have the opportunity to review the names and ages of these survivors that the team is working to support.  “You can pick one to pray for, to sponsor or maybe to send something to. We really like to be able to connect one on one with a person.”

LIBERTAS INTERNATIONAL AND TYLER SCHWAB ARE FEATURED IN THE DOCUMENTARY BELOW – 

307 Dance Productions has been presenting events for the last few months where guests are invited to attend an evening of line dance instruction, and the organization invites non-profits to create an event around the evening of line dancing.

“I reached out to Krista Hardcastle, who runs the events, and she has gone above and beyond for us because she believes in the cause,” said Katie.  “So, she runs the events. She teaches three or four line dances and then you get a chance to win prizes based on the dancing and she does a great job with great energy and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Guests who bring a donation to the event, such as a school supply item or a baby care item, can enter for only $5. Guests who attend without a donation can enter for $10.  Guests can purchase refreshments, have their picture taken with Miss Wyoming or visit the selfie station, and learn some fun line dance moves.

“Libertasinternational.org is a great place to donate,” Katie added. If donors want to donate directly to the Roberts survivors, they can indicate “Roberts Girls” in the memo that accompanies their donation.

“People can go learn some dancing, get pictures with Miss Wyoming, do some sponsoring and eat some yummy food,” Katie concluded. “This is a chance to help some girls in unfortunate circumstances feel loved while you’re also having fun and getting to know our community better.”