This past year has been exciting. CAHT redefined our mission, our vision and our goals moving forward. We also renewed our commitment to supporting victims, celebrating survivors, disrupting demand, and ending human trafficking.
During this past year, we presented educational, informational,
and preventive information to 40 organizations, churches, and women’s clubs. Many of our presentations are to church organizations. A recent example is Bonnie Doll’s presentation
to SHMA Praise. Laura Henderson is a survivor who also gave her story of being Trafficked and being rescued.
(L, Laura; R, Bonnie)
Also, over this year, we delivered 180 rescue backpacks to area Sherrif’s departments, police departments, FBI organizations, and shelters. This included backpacks for both males and females since we’ve seen there are more male victims over the past two years. Rescue backpacks (seen here) cost approximately $55 each, and contain clothes, shoes, cosmetics, toiletries, a journal and pen, a pillow and blanket; items that a rescued victim would need during the assessment and search for a safe shelter.
Over the past five years, CAHT distributed 780 backpacks.
Of interest is when the police or FBI are scheduling a “sting” to identify and arrest perpetrators, they request extra backpacks, and provide them when they rescue victims since many of the rescued persons have only the clothes on their backs. Volunteers also provide gifts to the survivors at Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day.
CAHT Victim Services volunteers call on area shelters to visit with the survivors. They organize cooking classes, craft classes, and spend time talking with them as they progress through the program. Many of these young women have never had a normal “family” experience or been loved. They must learn about how to trust, gain confidence, and develop the necessary life skills to have a successful future.
CAHT also accepted in kind donations of clothing, toiletries and other needed items which were then donated to the shelters.
In May, CAHT presented 14 $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors for their college expenses.
Social Media Safety is an exceptionally large concern right now, since the internet is now the number one recruitment tool for traffickers and other predators. Deb Petrocelli presents information to both adults and teenagers about what to avoid and when to say no and stay safe in our technological times.
We also rekindled our Advocacy program with our new Advocacy Chair, Brian Hammer. There are five federal laws working their way through Congress. The bill closest to a vote is KOSA, Kids Online Safety Act. In addition, Governor DeSantis signed two Florida State laws this year that increase assistance to victims and increase penalties for predators. More information will be provided soon.
One volunteer reconnected with the Pace Center for Girls, and we have a meeting scheduled with them in January to explore options. That volunteer has also taken on the task of finding a local facility for survivors to be on the St. John the Divine Christmas Angel tree in 2024.
We planned two fundraising events this past year; one was a comedy night, and the other was a luncheon and fashion show with Nearly New fashions. Our Event Chair, Helen DePinto, is planning a bingo event and a 2024 Christmas Tea.
Moving On To 2024
January is Human Trafficking Awareness month, and our January meeting will be the movie Blind Eyes Opened, the story of six victims of human trafficking. We will learn about their childhood, how they were trafficked, how they were rescued, and an update six years later when the film was made. We will see Sheriff Grady Judd as one of the arresting officers leading the sting, and two of the survivors are residents in the Tampa Bay area. The movie will be shown at the Firehouse Cultural Center on January 16th at 6pm. Information will be sent out and will also be on our website.
Human trafficking is a 150 Billion dollar industry, based on supply and demand. Over the years we have been working on the supply side by supporting the victims. During 2024 we will add a program to impact the demand side of the business. We are working with the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking to encourage businesses and organizations in our area to join the movement and become a TFZ – a Trafficking Free Zone. We will be sending out information about this in January, and it will also be on our website.
Two recent incidents of potential human trafficking were witnessed in our area. Thanks to awareness, volunteers were able to prevent both. We need to be aware of our surroundings and attentive to signals that tell us there might be a problem.
We are also exploring the possibility of providing scholarships for 2024 summer camp for the children of our trafficking victims.
Thank you for your support, and we hope to see you participating by coming to meetings and volunteering your special skills.
Lou Anne