"You know there is a lot of hopelessness on Union Avenue and the surrounding areas, and hope deferred is a really tough situation to be in. To not have hope, I mean there is nothing to cling onto," said Doug Bennett.
Bennett is the founder of Magdalene Hope, a non-profit organization that fights human trafficking locally. Experts say Union Avenue is considered the hot spot in Kern County.
"If you look at Union Avenue, it is a two-lane street, not a lot of traffic, but it is small enough that a trafficker can surveil their victims while they are forcing them to sell themselves," said Dustin Contreras, co-director for the Kern Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Every Friday, Bennett and a group of volunteers go out on Union Avenue and hand out backpacks full of feminine products and resources to women working the streets and motels.
"Our studies show that eight out of 10 women out there don't chose to be out there by choice, but are being forced. I have a problem with that," said Bennett.
They also pray for the women and reassure them that if they want help they are there.
"We rescue every woman who calls, who wants help, who wants out, no matter the circumstance of the situation and get her to a safe place," said Bennett.
Bennett is a sense of safety for many of these women. He gives hope to them in some of the darkest situations. He did just that for Candice Shepard -- a survivor of human trafficking.
"When I first got into his car, I remember they bought this blanket from these ladies who made prayer blankets and there was this song that came on the radio," Shepard said. "I used to always say when my grandma passed away, 'Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal,' and the song that came on, it had that part in it, basically saying, 'come as you are' and I have never felt so safe in my life."
Candice said that she was trafficked in Nevada in 2013 and forced to have sex with men for money. She says she was coerced by her trafficker who was a man she thought she could trust.
"He lied about everything. He said, 'Oh I have all these friends, we are going to do this, we are going to do that' and then it turned into, if we are going to survive, you are going to have to sell your body," said Candice.
After a year, Candice finally escaped to San Jose, but it was there that she says she met another trafficker. She says she was forced to sell her own body again.
"One night I was out on the street and he was over in the corner, across the way and he had a gun and I remember him pointing it at me and I could see the laser pointer and it was up and down my body," she said. "When I got back to the car with him he told me, 'you know I am always watching, I could take you out and no body would even know.'"
She says her trafficker took everything from her -- identification, freedom, the right to her body.
"I woke up finally and knew if I didn't leave he was going to kill me, I was going to die. There was no way I was going to make it," said Candice.
She eventually escaped by jumping from a two-story window while her trafficker was selling drugs down the street. A few weeks later she met Doug Bennett and went into the rehabilitation program that Magdalene Hope offers women.
"If you think about the trauma that happens, I mean being tortured, held against their will, never seeing your family and children, and then having to be raped continuously, that takes a lot of undoing, said Contreras.
Bennett said through their outreach efforts they save 16 women a year in Kern County. But, sometimes they handout 20 bags on Union Avenue in an hour.
Those women who don't call, who don't get rescued, are what motivate Bennett and others to continue their work. With Candice a point of hope for those still in the grip of it.
Human Trafficking Hotline: 1(888) 373-7888
Magdalene Hope: (661) 808-4673
