Petaluma swimathon to fight human trafficking

A momentary glance at a roadside billboard has sparked a Petaluma swimmer’s quest to eradicate human trafficking in Sonoma County.

David Dow, 56, a master swimmer and co-owner of a Petaluma design company, saw a sign along Highway 101 earlier this year and figured he must have read it wrong. Human trafficking in Sonoma County? Beautiful Wine Country, home of idyllic rolling green pastures and all manner of sophisticated luxuries?

A couple of weeks later, he saw it again, and it spurred Dow’s investigation into human trafficking: forced prostitution, buying and selling of young girls, the violence and heartache that comes with it.

“The more I learned, the more I realized it was something I didn’t want to ignore,” he said.

Dow approached Verity, which has delivered rape prevention, counseling and other sexual assault support services for more than 40 years in Sonoma County, with a novel fundraising event.

Why not a per-lap fundraiser similar to runs for breast cancer, bike races for multiple sclerosis or similar events? As a swimmer, Dow figured he could enlist his fellow athletes, many of whom swim almost every day of the week.

From 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Dow and dozens of other swimmers will participate in the inaugural “End Human Trafficking One Lap at a Time” swimathon at the Petaluma Swim Center.

Donations - 100 percent of which go directly to Verity - can be made at www.notinourcounty.org.

The group has a goal of $30,000 for the event. Swimmers can join for a set number of laps or time period.

The event didn’t happen easily, as a number of pools turned him down “because of the sensitive nature” of the cause, he said.

“A lot of people would rather pretend this doesn’t exist in this county. It’s easier to turn the other way and go on with your life,” Dow said. “But ignoring the problem doesn’t make it go away, all it does is fester.”

He noted a recent example of a Sacramento woman, being prostituted, who was shot recently at a Santa Rosa motel. The woman, who has a 5-year-old child, is now paralyzed from the neck down.

“There is just something fundamentally wrong about indentured servitude, forced labor and prostitution and people being bought and sold as property anywhere in the world,” Dow said. “But to think it’s happening in hotels along the 101 corridor or the massage parlor that springs up overnight on Petaluma Boulevard. ... It suddenly becomes really real when it’s in your neighborhood, your town, your community, your county.”

Christine Castillo, executive director of Verity, said Dow’s energy has been uplifting.

“What he’s been doing even beyond raising money is informing people,” she said. “He’s really been able to educate people about this. Everything isn’t peaches and roses in Sonoma County. Yes, we do a lot of wonderful things, but we have a bit of an epidemic.

“People are bringing people from other counties to be sold here. Why is there such a desire for it in our county? Who are the purchasers and why? We definitely have a market here. And we shouldn’t.”

Money raised from Dow’s swimathon will help Verity ?provide its rape crisis hotline, sexual assault prevention activities, counseling and training to assist victims, most of whom are young girls and women, she? said.

“Maybe by him doing this, maybe he’ll infect, in a good way, other members of our community to stand up and move forward,” Castillo said, “to say, ‘This is not OK, we’re not going to stand for this.’ ”

You can reach Lori A. Carter ?at 521-5470 or lori.carter?@pressdemocrat.com. On ?Twitter @loriacarter.