What can I do to stop sexual trafficking?

Become Informed

• Visit websites such as www.iast.net , www.salvationarmyusa.org/trafficking , www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/hughes.htm, and www.catwinternational.org .  

• Sign up for news and information about sexual trafficking from the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking (IAST). Interested people can join a free email listserve which distributes news about trafficking from around the world. IAST also makes available a free packet of information about sexual trafficking on request. To join the listserve or to request a packet, email your request to penny_matheson@usn.salvationarmy.org.

Care Packages

• Partner with a ministry helping restore victims of commercial sex exploitation for the purpose of sending them care packages for the individuals they are serving. Based on cultural and climate conditions, the types of items collected for care packages may vary, so be sure to coordinate with program directors before sending items.

Educate

• Raise the issue of sexual trafficking with people you know or meet.  

• Make brochures and other literature about the subject available at information tables. IAST can send materials upon request.

• Hang an anti-trafficking poster in your church, business, or office.

• Preach a sermon. Deliver a message from the pulpit about the need to abolish sexual trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation and reaffirming the inherent, God-given dignity of human beings.

• Organize Sunday school classes or prayer groups to pray for the end of sexual trafficking . IAST can send prayer guides upon request.

• Host a briefing or training on the topic of sexual trafficking in your corps community by bringing together local community leaders as well as anti-trafficking experts. IAST and the National Headquarters anti-trafficking staff are glad to work with individuals and groups wishing to organize such events.

• Write articles and/or letters of opinion for local papers, church publications, denominational publications, or other publications.

• Protect your children. Adults Saving Kids produces a wonderful six-session curriculum for youth in grades 7, 8, and 9 which creates awareness of the dangers of commercial sexual exploitation. To order contact: ahartman@adultssavingkids.org or call 612.872.0684.

Give

• Your financial support of the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking will enable us to continue our efforts to raise awareness and develop programs to assist survivors . You may send a tax deductible donation (earmarked for IAST) to The Salvation Army, PO Box 269 , Alexandria , VA , 22313 .

• Additional financial support is needed for organizations such as The Salvation Army, World Hope International, World Relief Corporation, God4Girls and others who assist trafficking victims by securing their release, as well as in the provision of shelter and recovery services.

Knit

• If you are a knitter, consider knitting a scarf (or several scarves) for women caught up in the commercial sex trade. In 2004 a group of Virginia church women knitted beautiful scarves which were then given to a program in Baltimore that does street outreach to women in prostitution. The scarves were combined in packages with other personal care items and given as Christmas presents to women still trapped in life on the streets. Recipients were thrilled to be given such lovely gifts and to know that people were thinking of them. If there is not an exit program for prostituted women in your area, send your scarves to IAST (and we will distribute them to programs that will make them available to this target population).

Social Services

• Develop social services. Victims of organized sexual exploitation are often in desperate need of shelter and many other services.

• Work with local churches, existing social service agencies and community leaders to develop outreach to help women and children exit the sex industry. Start by identifying and mapping where the sex industry has a presence in your community. Then organize prayer teams to do prayer walks or "drive-by" prayer in those areas. Strategize creative ways to do outreach to the women on the street or in the strip clubs. Programs like Sex Industry Survivors Anonymous or ROSES (Reaching Out to Our Sexually Exploited Sisters) can provide a frame work for getting started. Contact IAST for more information.  

• Combat Demand. Start a program in your community for people struggling with sexual addictions. Information on combating sexual addictions can be found at Avenue Resources (www.avenueresource.com) or Faithful and True Ministries (www.faithfulandtrueministries.com). Also work in your community to seek the arrest of buyers of commercial sex, as well as to develop deterrent sex offender programs.

Translate

• If you are fluent in a foreign language, consider volunteering to translate various IAST materials into other languages. To volunteer send an email message to Penny_Matheson@usn.salvationarmy.org

Watch and Report

• Keep your eyes and ears open for reports and evidence of trafficking in your community. Report such matters to local authorities as well as the Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline at 1.888.3737.888.

• Forward news articles about sexual trafficking to the IAST office via email to: lisa_thompson@usn.salvationarmy.org

Volunteer

• IAST would benefit greatly from people who could volunteer to do research, website development, graphic design, law review, and volunteer coordination. 

• Use your musical talents to write and record a song about trafficking.

• Produce your own anti-trafficking video. A group of students from a Washington DC area college as part of an advocacy project produced an eight minute video on trafficking. Perhaps you can too.

Advocate

• Organize to enforce zoning laws and to close strip clubs and "massage parlors" – the fronts for prostitution and trafficking – in your local community.

• Launch a PROMISE (Partnership to Rescue Our Minors from Sexual Exploitation) Initiative in your community. For more information contact Adam_Freer@usw.salvationarmy.org or call 562.491.8480.

• Write, call or visit the office of your U.S. congressional leaders. Tell them you support appropriations for the Fiscal Year 2007 Federal Budget for the Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005.

Contact Congress

Call, write and/or email your legislators in the U.S. Congress. (For information about your members go to www.house.gov and www.senate.gov or call the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121.)

When addressing correspondence, the following format is suggested:

To a Senator:

The Honorable (full name)

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator ___________:

To a Representative:

The Honorable (full name)

United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative __________:

When sending e-mail, the following format is suggested:

Your name

Address

City, State ZIP

Dear (title) (last name),

(Start your message here.)

Note:  Letters remain the most popular choice of communication with congressional members. To improve the effectiveness of your letter, keep in mind the following:  a) state the purpose of your letter in the first paragraph, b) be courteous, c) address only one issue in each letter, and if possible limit the letter to one page, d) include key information, using examples to support your position.