NNS Video: Franciscan Peacemakers opens retail store, outreach center for victims of sex trafficking | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Mark Doremus and Karen Slattery
October 30, 2019
Milwaukee’s Franciscan Peacemakers has opened a storefront retail store in Walnut Hill as part of its mission to get victims of sex trafficking off the streets and into a better life.
The nonprofit organization, now in its 25th year, expanded its focus in 2012 to employing women who make, market and sell handcrafted bath and body products and jewelry.
The Peacemaker retail store offers products hand-made by women who are rebuilding their lives after escaping drugs and prostitution. Proceeds support the effort to reach more victims of sex trafficking in southeastern Wisconsin. (Photo by Mark Doremus)
The product line has achieved success, reaching $130,000 in sales at farmers markets, events and online.
The brick-and-mortar store, which opened Saturday, is anchored at 3333 W. Lisbon Ave.
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“Franciscan Peacemakers feels extraordinarily grateful to have moved onto this very vibrant block in Walnut Hill in a Milwaukee neighborhood most affected by the issue we have been addressing head on for decades,” Deacon Steve Przedpelski, executive director of Franciscan Peacemakers, said in a statement.
“We hope the retail store will make visible to the public what we have experienced since we started our social enterprise – that alternative ways of doing business that truly honor human dignity are not only possible, but necessary. “
Store hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays.