Happy Half a New Year!

HTAP operates on a fiscal year that begins on October 1 so March 31 marked the end of the first half of our year.

We'd like to give you an update at what

we've done so far:

Last year we reached 2,693 people through our programs. As of March 31, we reached 2241 people in the first 6 months:

Community Outreach: 1,738
Point of Contact/Point of Rescue: 366
Youth Prevention Programs: 123
Train the Trainer: 14

We are on track to reach over 4400 people by the end of our fiscal year (Sept. 30th).

With the expansion of our ARTREACH and TIPS programs and Point of Contact, Point of Rescue to Hotels this summer, it may be even more.
Thank you for your support!

Nola Theiss, 2015 WGCU Shares WGCU

Maker Award with 4 Wonderful Women

From left to right: Nola Theiss, Executive Director and her husband Hal, and

Erika Kiah, Program Coordinator

This year Nola Theiss was one of five women selected as WGCU Makers. The women were honored at a ceremony at Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club on March 30th. Thank you to the HTAP board members that were able to attend: John Mattson, Therese Everly, and Deb Penuel. We'd also like to thank the Zonta members that were in attendance for their support as well; and to everyone that was involved in nominating Nola for this honor.

We hope that this award and the video portraits that premiere on April 2 at 8pm on WGCU TV and audio portraits will air each Wednesday morning at 8:45 on 90.1 FM/HD throughout the month of April, will lead to even more people in this region becoming aware of the human trafficking issue and interested in becoming involved and supporting HTAP and the work that we do. Here is a link

www.wgcumakers.org/nolatheiss/

where you can see and hear Nola's story.

Inspired by the PBS national project MAKERS.com, WGCU MAKERS preserves the stories of remarkable Southwest Florida women. WGCU produces video and audio portraits of the MAKERS to air on WGCU TV and WGCU FM and archives their stories at wgcumakers.org for future generations.

Squeal on Human Trafficking

People are always asking us how they can help fight human trafficking. When someone gave us 200 pink plastic piggy banks, we got the idea for the

"Squeal on Human Trafficking Campaign".

We will give you a pig and when you fill it up, you give it back. We'll count the money and begin a competition for whoever brings in the fattest pig in contributions.

We aren't sure what the prize will be (Dinner for two at a Ribs Restaurant? A gym trial membership?) or if there will be special categories for kids, decorated pigs. Right now, we just want to get the pigs out into the world, squealing against trafficking.

We'll lend you a bank or if you live far away, use one of your own and we'll send you labels for your pig and when you fill it up, you can write a check for the amount. (Remember, it's not the size of the pig that matters, it's the value of its contents that counts. Change is good, but paper money brings more change quicker!!

So far we have students, church members, and motorcyclists passing a pig around, but no pigs have come back to us yet. We can hardly wait!!!

YOU CAN DONATE $10.00 NOW

Upcoming Events

Live Theater Production: Unsinkable Women

Thursday, April 9th

Thank you, Rotary of Sanibel-Captiva, for hosting this fundraiser.

Cape Community Partners Thrift Store

Grand Reopening

Saturday, April 11th

The proceeds from the Thrift Store will benefit the Coalition for the next three years!! Please come out and show your support.

Art 4 Freedom

Saturday, May 23rd

Tea 2 Free

Saturday, June 13th

Point of Contact/Point of Rescue

Medical

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to take part in

Lee Memorial Hospital System's bi-annual Volunteer Chairmen meeting. We trained over 100 volunteer chairpersons, that represent various groups of volunteers at all four hospitals. We taught them how to recognize signs of human trafficking they might see while volunteering and the protocol to follow to report a potential trafficking victim. The feedback from this group on our evaluations was overwhelmingly positive, and we hope to do subsequent trainings in the future with the individual groups of volunteers that each chairmen represented. Special thanks to Jill Palmer, Director of Volunteer Services, for her efforts in coordinating with us for the training.

Hotels

Nola Theiss (pictured), along with Yaro Garcia, presented at the last Lee County Hotel Association meeting

After conducting our first hotel training at Homewood Inn & Suites Ft. Myers- Bell Tower Shops, we were invited to be the guest speaker at the Lee County Hotel Association monthly meeting. Nola Theiss and Yaro Garcia presented an abbreviated hotel presentation to over 40 General Managers, Assistant General managers, and related vendors, at the luncheon. We have already received several requests to conduct trainings at area hotels and are looking forward to capitalizing on this momentum and getting as many hotels trained as possible!

The top venues for sex trafficking in Florida are online ads/unknown venues and hotels/motels (source: State Report, Polaris Project). We know that trafficking is happening in hotels and we heard some local stories. By educating hotel staff on the signs of trafficking and how to report potential victims, we believe we will increase the number of victims that are identified and receive help in this region. Recent studies show that while foreign trafficking victims work out of small brothels in the area, American girls are usually trafficked in hotels.

If you are interested in becoming involved with the hotel outreach project, please contact Erika Kiah at erikak@humantraffickingawareness.org. This project is done in conjunction with the SWFL Regional Human Trafficking Coalition and ACT.

Law Enforcement

We have conducted 7 of 20 scheduled trainings with the Charlotte County Sheriff's department. They are very enthusiastic about this topic and have been a very engaged audience to work with. Special thanks to Seargent Gorman for all of his support in coordinating this training effort.

Yaro Garcia, President of the Coalition and head Clinician at ACT, has been the primary trainer for these sessions, using her intimate knowledge of the recent trafficking case and work with victims to provide updated and relevant information for the officers. Erika Kiah, Program Coordinator, has conducted one of these trainings and is scheduled to do at least one more before the series concludes.

This project demonstrates the inter-connectivity of the Coalition, ACT, and HTAP and the importance of partnerships to provide the best trainings and programs possible.

ARTREACH & TIPS

ART 4 Freedom:

Cypress Lake Center for the Arts students are prepping to present their play at the ART 4 Freedom event and we believe we will be able to film the play in May, thanks to the generosity of a local cinematogapher. We will also have students of the MasterSingers group who will be singing Freedom songs from the past and the present, including Amazing Grace which was written by a reformed slave ship captain.

Spring is busting out all over, and so is ARTREACH season

Resurrection Church of Fort Myers, will begin ARTREACH Season, beginning on May 13. They are generously buying art supplies, canvas, providing food and covering some of the reproduction costs. They are also talking about possibly providing materials for kids at other churches. We have another one scheduled in June at Our Mothers Home and are currently scheduling at least 6 more.

Last year we did so many programs, we almost broke the bank, so this year we are looking for donations of art supplies, snacks and checks to cover the costs. We can send you a list of what we need or you can donate below.

Dear HTAP friend,

Last week, we were visited by the United Way Allocation Team and presented a list of our accomplishments and plans.

You can see our report in its entirety by clicking on this link:

HTAP Recent Accomplishments & Future Plans.

We broke some new ground in our Point of Contact, Point of Rescue programs last week. We spoke at the Lee County Hotel and Restaurant Association and to all the Volunteer Coordinators who have the attention of over 4000 volunteers in the Lee County Health System. And we are working with the SWFL Regional Human Trafficking Coalition doing 20 annual block programs in Charlotte County. More details below.

This newsletter will list a number of events that are coming up soon. The first is a one-woman show: "Unsinkable Women" on April 9 on Sanibel; the second is our ART for Freedom event on May 23 on Sanibel; and the last is a Tea 2 Free on the FGCU campus on June 13. You are also invited to the Re-Opening of the Community Thrift Shop in Cape Coral which will be supporting the SWFL Regional Human Trafficking Coalition will benefit us all. We hope you will be able to come to at least one of them.

Sincerely,

Nola Theiss

Executive Director

Grant Updates &Thank Yous

Wells Fargo awarded us $5000. to conduct Point of Contact/Point of Rescue programs which we have immediately put to use on programs for hospital volunteer coordinators and Hotel Employees.

Women in the Wind: Ft. Myers Chapter held their 2nd Poker Run for HTAP and we received over $700. Thank you for the fun event.

The Eileen Fisher store on Sanibel held their 3rd fundraiser for HTAP and we made $2900. We also applied for the Corporate Eileen Fisher Community Impact Grant and received an additional $2500.

Junior League of Fort Myers gave us a grant for the ARTREACH program. This is the third grant from them.

Welcome to our 3 new HTAP board members:

Lee Bellamy, General Manager of Homewood Suites Hotel, Ft. Myers.

Deb Penuel, health care professional with many community ties.

Antoine Williams, Law Enforcement Professional

A major trafficking bust

in SWFL

Fifteen traffickers were arrested in a case led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in March. This is currently the largest case in Florida and involved 5 counties and took 2 years to investigate. The Florida Attorney General's Office is handling the prosectuion.

Yaro Garcia of A.C.T. and the SWFL Regional Human Trafficking Coalition

worked in conjunction with the FDLE officer and treated the victims.

Congratulations to all those involved in this investigation.

Stay Connected!!

Proud Partner Agency of the United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades, and Okechobee.

Human Trafficking Awareness Partnerships | 239-415-2635 | info@humantraffickingawareness.org | http://www.humantraffickingawareness.org

Sanibel Office Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 1113
Sanibel , FL 33957

Fort Myers Office Mailing Address:

7275 Concourse Drive, Suite 400

Fort Myers, FL 33908

STAY CONNECTED

SUPPORT OUR MISSION

Your Donation of

$100

will provide materials for 4 children to participate in our ARTREACH program

Thank You!