Additional Training Completed

Dave & Bobbie completed an anti-trafficking course through the Polaris Project.

In our efforts to be prepared, Bobbie and I completed a training course through The Polaris Project, an organization that is raising awareness on the truths of sex and human trafficking, while also dispelling some of the sensationalism and myths about trafficking. The greatest, and most tragic, truth is this: sex and human trafficking are real, and are here in the United States.

The tragedy is that the freest nation on the planet is also among the nations that enslave the most men, women, and children. What makes it so hard to combat is that there are no reliable numbers to tell us how many are enslaved. We only know about those who are found and freed by law enforcement, and those who find the courage to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

The latest year we have data is 2021, from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. These data come from calls and reported incidences. Sadly, as with many of types of crime and abuse, the reported data may represent only a minute fraction of the actual number of cases.

In 2021, there were 10,359, reported incidences of trafficking, which includes sex, human (labor), and various combinations of sex and human trafficking. Those 10,359, incidences involved 16,554, individual victims.

That's just what was reported.

Some estimates put the number at up to 25,000, women and girls being trafficked each year...in Chicago alone.

The numbers are best guesses. We can hope that the numbers we have are close to the real number...though, the reality is the real numbers are even more dramatically devastating.

Bobbie and I will continue to learn more, get more training, and become equipped as best as possible to serve these survivors.