“That’s what really pulls me towards it is, every person deserves dignity. Every person deserves respect. And we just need to do better as a community, as humanity,” said HumaniTea store owner, Carmen Biggs.
Carmen Biggs is the co-owner of HumaniTea in downtown Ludington. Her goal is to make an impact far greater than just making good tea, but to also bring awareness to a social justice issue that Bigg’s became passionate about many years ago.
“I was in a master’s degree program in leadership development, and as part of that program, we had a lot of conversations about social justice issues, and the person who is currently my business partner now was also a part of that master’s degree program. And so, we had these conversations about social justice issues and the topic of human trafficking kept coming up. And every time it did, both of us felt this like pull, to say, we need to do something there but didn’t know what. Like, it’s one of those problems that is so massive that it’s hard to know where do you even start?” said Biggs.
What originally began as an idea for a school assignment, was brought up again many years later when Biggs and her now business partner found each other in not only the same state, but in the same small town here in Northern Michigan.
“We decided we had to do something. You know, like we ended up in the same town for a reason. So, we felt like we really need to do something to get started somewhere,” said Biggs.
And that something was HumaniTea. A retail store selling tea and artisan gifts, all of which are made by survivors of human trafficking or by organizations that are involved in the prevention process.
“So, we kind of backed into the idea of how about we create a retail space where we can have those conversations about human trafficking with our customers, where we can be a place where people know that this is a place where we talk about that. And if you’re interested in helping, you know, you have a place where you can come,” said Biggs.
One of the most important steps of prevention is the knowledge and understanding that human trafficking is impacting our very own communities.
“I feel like we have really been able to have amazing conversations with a lot of people about this issue that is so pervasive and yet not talked about a lot. We tend to see human trafficking as an over there problem, but the reality is it’s a right here problem. Human trafficking has been reported in every single zip code in the state of Michigan. Every single zip code,” said Biggs.
The statistics are alarming, but HumaniTea is a place where positive impact and change begins.
“We’ve been able to have some conversations about the reality versus perception that may or may not be accurate about the issue. So if a survivor were to come to us, that’s where we connect with our network of resources, of depending on what the specific need is, we are able to refer them to an agency that is well-suited for what they need. We’re walk alongside them until they can get to the resources that they need,” Biggs shared.
You can support HumaniTea by donating hygiene products to the store for survivors, as well as purchasing tea and gifts directly from the store. Any funds over the amount needed to operate the business goes directly into anti-human trafficking efforts.
“This is a real thing in our community, and we need to do something collectively. We need to do something in order to prevent it, to make it stop or to help the people that have been impacted by it,” said Biggs.
