February 2014 Vol 2, Number 12

Dear HTAP Friend,

We in Florida are seeing the mass migration of Snowbirds: friends and relatives and lots of people who are glad to be here instead of the frozen North, especially this year.

Many of our volunteers fit in this category and we're glad to see them.

We've also gotten a new student intern, Jackie Rivera, working hard for us on the ARTREACH program, the Slave Free event and she is the artist who created our new Bling Bash logo. She is planning on working with us after graduation full-time.

April 5 is the day of the Bling Bash this year and we are busy collecting jewelry, lining up designers and finding great raffle and auction items.
More about all of this to your right.

Sincerely,

Nola Theiss

Executive Director

Southwest Florida Regional Human Trafficking Coalition

If you live in the Southwest Florida region and want to be part of the Coalition, please contact us. Our next SWFL Regional Meeting will be held in Ft. Myers on Thursday, March 20 in Ft. Myers. There are also partner Coalitions in Charlotte and Hendry Counties. For more information, please call 239-415-2635.

In March, Nola Theiss, HTAP Executive Director, will once again attend the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, joining Zonta International women.

She will learn about current efforts to promote the welfare and well being of women globally and will share the highlights in the next newsletter.

She will be arriving on March 8, International Women's Day and will be able to celebrate with many dedicated women.

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What's Happening in Our Community

We were hoping for a few hundred participants and over 1000 came. How do we know? Each person who signed in got a ticket for a free hot dog and 780 were used
eaten. Over 200 volunteers also attended (they ate pizza) and many others just walked in. Riverside Park in Bonita Springs was filled with families and kids. Each organization had an activity for the kids with prizes.

At our booth, we had a quiz and a spin of a wheel and the kids got prizes for their answers. (This is Karen Curtiss, our new Executive Assistant working with kids at our booth.)There was entertainment, face painting and bounce houses to draw and entertain the families, but also serious information was given out and discussed. We conducted our TIPS program for kids 10 and older.

Our ARTREACH banners were displayed throughout the park. These girls were proudly showing off the paintings they worked on this summer to their younger sister.

Slave Free Southwest Florida was so successful, we're thinking of doing it twice over the year in two different locations: Bonita Springs and another to be announced!

Above are some of the organizers. It was a real group effort. Of course, we are writing up a template of how we did it and are happy to share the information with anyone interested.

SAVE THE DATE: April 5, 3 to 6 pm

We've been working to put together an even better Bling Bash this year than last. We've got great designers, a professional auctioneer, Jean Baer, music, canapes by Cip's, lots of beautiful jewelry and raffle prizes.

And this year, we will be awarding the first
"Human Trafficking Awareness Partner Award"
to a group that has worked consistently and collaboratively on building awareness, training and victim services in SW Florida.

This year the suggested admission donation is $20. which entitles you to raffle tickets and participation in some special events.

A New Book on the Shelf:

I have just finished reading "Thirty Girls" by Susan Minot and it is excellent. The story is set in Africa, primarily Uganda, where Kony's army is terrorizing the population. One night, soldiers break into a girls' dormitory at a boarding school and take 129 girls. The head nun follows them and is able to get back all but 30 girls who will be raped, beaten and abused and forced to serve the soldiers. Like child soldiers, they will be forced to kill one of their own.

It is the ultimate kind of human trafficking. The girls' story alternates with the story of young people who are traveling through Africa for their individual reasons. Their reality and the girls' realities are very different. This is a very compelling book, beautifully written and very insightful. It is based on an actual event.

Thank you, Donors!!

The SWFL Zonta Foundation/Zonta Club of Sanibel-Captiva honored HTAP with one of their annual grants to help us with our ARTREACH and TIPS programs. We have had volunteers from the club working with us since the beginning and we are very appreciative.

For the third year in a row, St. Michael and All Angels Church on Sanibel also gave us a grant for our prevention programs. Together Zonta clubs and St. Michael's and Eileen Fisher provide the bulk of the funding for our youth programs. We couldn't do it without them. Thanks to these groups for their funding, moral support and volunteers.

And thanks to all our other supporters. Our direct mail campaign surpassed last year's total and we hope a few more envelopes will arrive soon!

Thanks also to the St. Denys Foundation for their generous donation.

ARTREACH Programs with Boys and Girls Clubs

Here is the final composite banner for the Shady Oaks Boys and Girls Club. We used it for inspiration for the group of kids we are currently working with at the Renaissance Boys and Girls Club in Ft. Myers, FL.

These girls are working hard and we hope to also have a summer camp ARTREACH program at the same facility.

Hard at work on the Wheel of Fortune

TIPS Program at Calusa Middle School in Cape Coral, FL

Over a three week period, HTAP and the Teen Coordinator of our local shelter (ACT) held programs for two clubs which meet in after school programs. The girls and boys clubs each participated in an one hour presentation on human trafficking where they were able to ask questions. The second session consisted of scenarios of initial trafficking situations from our TIPS program: (meeting a boy at the mall), (going on a sleepover), (meeting someone in a chat room), (running away together), (taking a job offered on the internet). Students then had to make choices and the consequences of those choices were discussed. At the third session, the boys and girls were brought together and questions were asked and answered and discussion ensued.

We are in the initial stages of developing a new program aimed at boys called "Boys Too" and another program for younger girls, ages 6 to 10, and their parents. More about these programs as they evolve.

We continue to do Train the Trainer programs for both ARTREACH and TIPS and will be conducting one in Milwaukee in March. If you are interested, please contact us.

Oh, Canada

On December 20, 1913, the Supreme Court of Canada declared all

Criminal Code offenses around prostitution as unconstitutional. This has brought the questions of legalization/criminalization of prostitution to a head in Canada.

Joy Smith, Member of the Canadian Parliament and Champion of Human Trafficking efforts, has written a powerful and concise report about this debate. You may get it at this link:

http://www.joysmith.ca/main.asp?fxoid=FXMenu,4&cat_ID=27&sub_ID=131

or click here:

The Tipping Point

This is the best concise analysis of the legislation/decrinimalization of prostitution I've read. No matter what country you are in, you and your legislators would benefit from reading this report.

Joy Smith and Nola Theiss, co-presenters in Hamilton, Ontario, 2011

There's an App for that:

Reporting sightings of human trafficking.

If you've ever wondered what you would do to get help if you saw a
possible human trafficking victim, a car involved in trafficking or a situation in a business you'd like to report, here is one answer.

Get the Red Light App for your iphone now on itunes and soon for your Android or Microsoft phone. All reports are sent to Homeland Security Investigations or local agencies. I've put it on my phone.

To learn more, go to:

http://www.redlighttraffic.org/app/

239-415-2635
fax: 239-292-0230 239-292-3834 877-395-1737

Mailing address: PO Box 1113 Sanibel, FL 33957

Our Ft. Myers Office is located in South Ft. Myers. For directions, please email: info@humantraffickingawareness.org

www.humantraffickingawareness.org

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