February 2015                                                               Vol 4, Number 1
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Dear HTAP friend,

January is Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month and we celebrated with a number of community events, programs at libraries, hospitals and programs for kids. 
We were also excited to learn that we were recognized for our collaborative work as the 2nd runner up for the Unite Award and we will be working with the first runner up on another collaborative project. 
We are already planning our ARTREACH summer camps and hope to do at least 8 this summer and bring in more art instructors to help us. 
 
Sincerely,
Nola Theiss
Executive Director

The Zonta Club of Sanibel Captiva awarded HTAP a $10,000 grant for its ARTREACH and preventative programs. This is the 9th time, the club has awarded HTAP a grant. We couldn't do it without them.
 
St. Michaels and All Angels Church also awarded us a grant of $13,500. for our Prevention and Point of Contact Programs. This is our 5th year of support. Like Zonta, they are a phenomenal help.  


The Bridge Fund which supports programs in Estero and Bonita Springs supported our TIPS programs in January with a grant of $1350.


St. Denys Foundation gave us a $1000. grant for the second year. We really appreciate their continuing help. 

   
 
 
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2nd Annual SlaveFree Southwest Florida Event
 
SlaveFree Day was held this year at the Heights Center in the Harlem Heights neighborhood in south Ft. Myers. This year over 500 kids and families attended. 100 bikes were won by local kids. There were bounce houses, face paintings, free food and entertainment. This is a collaborative project sponsored by the the SWFL Regional Human Trafficking Coalition and its many member organizations.
 
Students from the Cypress Lake Center of the Arts performed a play written through the ARTREACH program. At the HTAP booth, kids played games to win prizes that involved answering questions about human trafficking facts. In addition to the games, college volunteers read TIPS stories about human trafficking to kids who were at the event to test their knowledge of what to do if confronted with a human trafficking situation. 
We are already looking for the next neighborhood for next year's event in Lee County. If you interested in learning more about this event so you can duplicate it in your community, please contact HTAP.

Partners in the Fight Against Human Trafficking named 2nd Runner Up for Unite AwardThe partnership of the Southwest 
Florida Regional Human Trafficking Coalition, A.C.T. and HTAP won 2nd runner up for the Unite Award for "Partners in the Fight Against Human Trafficking".
T
he Unite Award honors collaborative action among agencies in SW Florida. At the far right is Yaro Garcia, President of the Coalition and Jenifer Benton
, Executive Director of A.C.T. and Nola Theiss of HTAP is at the left of the check.
 
 
 
We have a joint prevention program in the works with the Children's Network teen program which was the first runner up. 
The collaboration continues!!!

From Left to Right: Nola Theiss, Karen Pati, board member, Theresa Flores, Tony Martinez, board member, Yaro Garcia, ACT
Theresa Flores Event
Theresa Flores came to Ft. Myers in December to conduct research with human trafficking survivors at A.C.T. Nine survivors, 5 women and 4 men, were interviewed by researchers as part of a national program. The 4 men were the first male subjects included the research.
Theresa graciously agreed to present at the local United Way offices and she showed her new documentary. 
Thank you, Theresa. 


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Fundraising News
This year many of our partners are hosting fundraisers for HTAP, such as the "Sex Trafficking and Money" event sponsored by board member Tony Martinez and the World Finance Group to benefit both HTAP and the SWFL Regional Human Trafficking Coalition, held on January 30. 
Thank you, Tony!  
 
Thank you to the Lee County Alliance for the Arts
for hosting Theatre Night on January 15th benefitting HTAP. In addition to receiving a portion of the ticket sale revenue, we also had wine and sweet treats available for a donation, along with some of our hand-blown glass necklaces from Bling Bash, Silent Auction items, and t-shirts. 
Special thanks to our board members who attended: 
Linda Robison, Barbara Kenney, and Marietta Meacham. 
We also thank all of you who bought and/or helped sell tickets!
HTAP Board President, Linda Robison, served wine and treats at the refreshments table at Theatre Night
 
Below is a list of some of our upcoming fundraisers. We will be incorporating Bling Bash into some of these events. For example, the last stop of the Poker Run will feature a mini-Bling. We're also currently planning a Tea Party/Fashion Show, spearheaded by our FGCU intern and friends, location and date to be announced, which will feature a silent auction along with a mini-Bling.
We're proud of the variety of organizations and people who  support us.


Upcoming:
Eileen Fisher, February 20, 2015 Sanibel
We love Eileen Fisher. They have been a huge help to us for many years now. Please come and support them as they support us.  

Poker Run: March 21, 2015 
Sponsored by Women in the Wind 
(Mini Bling Bash to be arranged) 
The ladies of Women in the Wind have supported us for a number of years with this event, by coming to our fundraisers and by supporting us through their club. Thank you! 


Unsinkable Women April 9, 2015 
Sponsored by  the 
Rotary Club of Sanibel-Captiva
Rotary is one of our newest supporters. We appreciate their backing and know this play will be great! 


These fundraisers that are coming up are fun opportunities to support the work that we do, but you can donate to us anytime! 
 
You can donate through PayPal:
 
  
 
 or send a check to us at:
HTAP 
7275 Concourse Dr. Unit 400 
Fort Myers, FL 33908
 
Thank you in advance!!! 

2013-2014 Annual Report now available!
We have just recently updated our Guide Star profile to include our latest Annual Report! Click here to download the report.
 

  Artreach Logo
 
 Girls at the Cypress Lake Center for the Arts have been hard at work rewriting and revising the original "Stealing Innocence" script written 5 years ago by a previous group of students. They performed the adaptation for the first time at Slave Free Day on January 17 twice. We are now working on getting it filmed to be shown at future trainings and outreach events. The new script will be available soon.

In January, Human Trafficking Awareness Month, ARTREACH banners and paintings were displayed at the East Library in Lehigh Acres, FL where 3 programs were held for the community on human trafficking and at the Ft. Myers Alliance of the Arts.
ARTREACH paintings exhibited at the East Library.

Alliance for the Arts Exhibit
Click play to view the Alliance for the Arts Exhibit

TIPS logo
HTAP Partners with New Horizons of SWFL


Throughout the months of November and January, HTAP  conducted TIPS programs at several New Horizon locations throughout Lee and Collier counties. HTAP taught the youth at these locations about human trafficking and then guided them through real trafficking scenarios, while Yaro Garcia, the Clinical Director of ACT, worked with the parents.
We converted many of the TIPS program scenarios into skits to make them even more interactive. 
This work will be followed by multiple 
ARTREACH programs in the summer.  Thanks to the Bridge Fund for their support for this project.




INTERN News

Dalyn Bland is HTAP's newest intern. She is a freshman at FGCU studying Biology, with a passion for community service. She has already demonstrated her poise and commitment to our organization. She proudly represented HTAP at SlaveFree Southwest Florida and even brought 4 friends with her to volunteer for the day as well. She is currently working with HTAP and a group of her peers at FGCU to organize Tea 2 Free, a fundraiser for HTAP, in the spring.

 

 

Point of Contact, Point of Rescue 
Continues to Expand!

In the last 2 months, HTAP and members of the SWFL Regional Human Trafficking Coalition held a Train the Trainer event to train more speakers for the many planned trainings at hotels. 

 

Meanwhile, the Point of Contact, Point of Rescue program was presented to 3 Ob-Gyn staff trainings at Health Park Hospital, 2 trainings at Lee Memorial Hospital, 1 training for Parish Nurses who serve with Lee Memorial Health System, 2 trainings at Family Health Centers, and 5 events at libraries in Estero, Lehigh Acres and Captiva.   

 

 

  

 

One of our most interesting trainings was held at the home of a tattoo artist who gathered some of his artist colleagues to hear how they could be part of the fight against human trafficking. The host heard about us through his mother who attended a program at Gulf Coast Hospital and he took action to inform his colleagues. They had some scary stories to tell and expressed feeling helpless when confronted with a situation of being asked to tattoo someone who might be a victim. We gave them the Point of Contact, Point of Rescue protocol which would enable them to report the situation without endangering themselves or the possible victim.   We hope to reach more tattoo artists and have been in touch with  the President of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists to discuss collaborating on disseminating this information to tattoo artists across the country. 

 

 

 

Community Outreach with the
Children's Advocacy Center
Presentation 2/9/15 at Pine Manor

Throughout the month of February, HTAP worked in conjunction with the Children's Advocacy Center to educate the parents of children attending area childcare centers about the dangers of human trafficking, the steps they can take to recognize warning signs in their own children, as well as others in the community, and the steps they can take to report suspicious behavior and get potential victims the help they might need. 

Karen Curtis, HTAP's Executive Assistant, worked closely with Liliana Arenas, Family First Resource Specialist at the CAC and volunteer at HTAP, to deliver the presentations and associated materials in both Spanish and English.

 

                  
    So What Else is New???


I am reading a new book, "Made in the USA, The Sex Trafficking of America's Children" by Alisa Jordheim.I am impressed with the stories of victims and their struggles and their advice to kids and parents. Their statistics are well documented and there are lists of things you can do to help.

 Some of those things can be done locally with HTAP!!

Speaking of statistics: Here is a link to an article about human trafficking and statistics. As the issue of human trafficking matures, more and more questioning of some of the earlier statistics is being heard. We don't need to exaggerate the horrors of human trafficking to educate, the truth is awful enough.
Click here to read an article about the average age of sex trafficking victims


Want to get more involved?

Our board members are hard at work energizing HTAP and equipping us to handle the great expansion of the demand for services.

We are currently looking for community members for the following Board Committees:
  • Fundraising
  • Marketing
  • Governance & Strategic Planning

We are also seeking members for the Advisory Board which consists of people who want to take an active role in the growth of HTAP while not serving on the board because of location, family responsibilities or other reasons.

If you are interested in being more involved, please contact Karen Curtiss, our Board Liaison: [email protected]

We are looking for more volunteers in the following areas:

 ARTREACH: If you are an art instructor, professional or amateur artist and would like to work with us in the further development of our art programs for youth, please contact Erika Kiah, our Program Coordinator: [email protected]

Fundraising: We have a board committee and a number of dedicated volunteers and a number of community groups working with us to raise money, and if you'd like to be part of the effort, there's room for you
 
You could be our Angel!

And then, we would love to find a few good benefactors: people who have been concerned about human trafficking, children being abused and not heard, people who have the means to help us help them. We are a growing organization and we could do so much more if we had the means. We'd like to talk to you, hear your ideas and see what we can do together.

Please give me, Nola Theiss, a call at 239-415-2635, so I can find out what's important to you, what we need and what we can do together.

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 If you've gotten to the end of this loooong newsletter, we know you want to help. And we can help you help.



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Contact Us!

 

239-415-2635 [Office]

239-292-0230 [Fax]

239-292-3834   

877-395-1737  

[email protected] 

  

Sanibel Office Mailing Address: 

PO Box 1113   Sanibel, FL 33957


Fort Myers Office Mailing Address: 

7275 Concourse Drive, Suite 400

Fort Myers, FL. 33908

 

                                                                    

 

www.humantraffickingawareness.org  

 HTAP is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization which depends primarily on private donations.

                                                                                                         

  

 

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