Eugene weekly., January 27, 2022, Page 6, Image 6

HAPPENING PEOPLE
by Paul Neevel
Joni Wilkinson and Rhonda Riddle
“I had a male friend who was like a Romeo pimp,” says
Joni Wilkinson, a lifelong Eugenean who has worked in her
dad's insurance business since her Sheldon High School
years. “He was manipulating me to get to my daughter.
When he was pulled over and arrested on the way to my
house, I found out he was a sex offender, wanted in three
states.”
Wilkinson began researching sex offenders who use social
media for grooming, trauma bonding and mind control
to traffick teens. “I started sharing on social media,” she
says. “I had survivors from all over the U.S. emailing me.”
Five years ago, she started One's Purpose, an orga-
nization and website devoted to bringing awareness of
human trafficking and providing assistance to survivors.
“I contacted schools,” she continues. “Churchill High
School let me come in and share. My daughter was going
to Churchill.”
These efforts introduced her to Rhonda Riddle, a Eugene
native with personal experience of being trafficked. “I was
kidnapped from the downtown bus station when I was 14,”
Riddle relates, “and taken into sex trafficking until I escaped
at age 22. I was trafficked in every state but Alaska and
Hawaii. They train girls to make friends with high school
students on their lunch break at DQ and McDonald’s so
that we can introduce them to our pimps.”
After her escape, Riddle spent 21 years in near total
isolation, afraid to go anywhere alone. She recently found
a therapist who specializes in EMDR (rapid eye movement)
therapy, a Vietnam vet who has helped her to heal. “And
with that, I met Joni,” she says. “I was blown away by her
dedication. I helped her turn One's Purpose into a nonprofit
in May of 2021. Our biggest goal is to raise enough money
for a safe house rehabilitation program.”
From 6:30 to 8:30 pm Friday, Jan. 28, the Junior League
of Eugene, in partnership with One's Purpose, will hold its
third annual Abolish Human Trafficking Event at the Valley
River Inn. “We have nine survivors speaking at this event,”
Wilkinson says, “and we'll provide basic training on how to
recognize the grooming process.” Admission is free, but
please register at the Junior League website, JLEugene.
org, or watch online through Facebook Live. Find One’s
Purpose at OnesPurpose.com.
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TINA KOTEK
• “Collaborating on Permanent Housing
Solutions” is the City Club of Eugene topic
for noon Friday, Jan 28. Speakers are Debi
Farr, community relations manager for Tril-
lium Health Plan; Jacob Fox, executive direc-
tor of Homes for Good; Michelle Hankes, CEO
of ShelterCare; and Sarai Johnson, housing
and shelter strategist for Lane County and
Eugene. Listeners who cannot attend can
watch a live stream. The in-person meet-
ing at the First United Methodist Church,
1376 Olive Street, requires proof of vacci-
nation, booster and mask wearing. No lunch
will be served.
• Eugene Weekly is a tour of tastes this
week as we explore everything from tacos
in the Whit at the revamped Tiny Tavern to
renowned mixologist Jeffery Morgenthaler’s
canned Ninkasi cocktails. FYI, our cover photo
is not in fact a bartender Tazing an innocent
drink, though it might look that way. Nicole
Kauffman is adding citrus vapor to Tavern
on Main’s Globe Trotter cocktail, featuring
pisco, Aperol, orange, lemon, cinnamon and
topped by that citrus vapor.
• Why yes, we are doing Wordle in hard
mode and ignoring the haters who whine
about our joy in posting the little green and
yellow image of our daily word game success.
Fun fact: Wordle’s inventor went to the
University of Oregon. The British software
engineer behind the once-a-day word puzzle,
Josh Wardle, graduated from the UO in 2011
with a digital arts MFA.
• Here's a question for our Weekly read-
ers. If our democracy is dying, as we are
told repeatedly, why are so many people
running for office? At least eight candi-
dates are lined up to run for Peter DeFazio's
congressional seat. Do they think they can
save democracy? Do they want to hasten
its death? Tell us what you think about elec-
tions, democracy and the host of candidates.
• Another key race coming up in the 2022
election is the one for governor. Pro-Choice
Oregon PAC has endorsed Democrat and
former House Speaker Tina Kotek. On the
other hand, high-profile candidate Nick
Kristof’s current claim to fame is that
he just got $15,000 from former Disney
CEO Robert Iger. As the writer-farmer
awaits the state Supreme Court’s decision on
whether he has lived in Oregon long enough
to actually qualify for the ballot, you can
check out the Politico story by Brent Walth
— Pulitzer Prize winner and co-director of
the University of Oregon’s Catalyst Journal-
ism Project. Walth takes a deep dive and a
walk through downtown Yamhill to explore
Kristof’s sometimes Trumpian candidacy.
• Eugene School District 4J’s interim
superintendent, Cydney Vandercar, is one
of the top two candidates for the super-
intendent position at Greater Albany
Public Schools. That would be their gain
and our loss, although we would not blame
her if she wanted out of Eugene's 4J district.
A November 2021 study by the Coalition of
Oregon School Administrators, the Oregon
Department of Education and the Oregon
Commission for Women shows a gender gap
in Oregon superintendents with 75 percent
of them male despite the fact the teacher
workforce is overwhelmingly female. GAPS
says it will announce who has been selected
at its Feb. 3 meeting.
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M