The Teen Project making a difference for young Angelenos

A large percentage of human trafficking victims come from the foster care system. The Teen Project based in Los Angeles is giving young women a place to find hope. The organization was founded by a woman who is paying it forward by helping those facing similar struggles that she experienced. 

To appreciate the work The Teen Project does today and everything it has accomplished over the years,  you have to understand the story of how it came to exist and meet the woman behind the idea — Lauri Burns. 

Burns grew up in an abusive home, and as a child, she attempted to take her own life a number of times.

"I was so traumatized by what had happened to me that I wasn't even able to go to a foster home, I was in group homes and I ended up aging out of the system. I ended up homeless at 18 and shortly after that, I had a baby and started working the streets as a prostitute to survive," she recalled. "I didn't know if you know this, but like 60% of the trafficking victims in the United States are from foster care."

Burns lived on the streets for several years. She started doing drugs, lost custody of her daughter and at one point she was abducted by gang members.

"They had a gun and they were going to kill me. Somehow in the midst of being beaten, raped and having that gun to my head, I realized, ‘you know what Lauri? You want to die.’ So, I started screaming as loud as I could that way they would just kill me and just get it over with and they got scared," said Burns.

She remembered a Vietnam Veteran, who she called for help -- took her to a detox center and then to a long-term rehab facility where she completed a year of treatment. She eventually got her daughter back from foster care, and the veteran who had helped save her ended up training her in computers.

Get your top stories delivered daily! Sign up for FOX 11’s Fast 5 newsletter. And, get breaking news alerts in the FOX 11 News app. Download for iOS or Android.

Burns started taking classes, became a computer networking engineer, worked at several large firms, launched her own successful consulting company, then signed a contract with Northrop Grumman where she worked as a project manager and eventually became the IT Director. In 2007, Burns started The Teen Project with her best friend on legal zoom and from there, everything started to fall into place.

"A very generous man read my book on Amazon "Punished For Purpose" and donated a million dollars to help us. I quit my job in technology and I started running The Team Project. Today we have 126 beds for foster kids.

"We have a crisis center, we have a free drug detox, free drug residential programs, a home for moms and babies, women who are pregnant-  and a children's home- the very first children's home ever in Orange County for victims of human trafficking," said Burns.

Burns said reflecting back on her past and everything she has endured, it all prepared her for what she’s doing now.

Click here for information if you'd like to donate to The Teen Project