Rotary Club of Roswell Hosts Human Trafficking Awareness Event

From Roswell Rotary Club: To a packed house at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Roswell, over 800 North and South Fulton County bus drivers in attendance, Dave McCleary, Past President of the Roswell Rotary Club and Founder of End Human Trafficking Now and Dorsey Jones, a survivor of child sex trafficking received a standing ovation for their presentation on trafficking awareness.

McCleary stressed the “Power of One” and “you are those people” who may be able to help identify a
child of sex trafficking. “You are the eyes.”

Drivers were asked to be aware of who is meeting students at the bus stop. Look for visible signs of physical abuse (black eyes, cuts, marks, bruises). Doesn’t make eye contact. Branding (tattoos). In appropriate dress and older friends (both male and female). Pocket cards courtesy of Roswell Rotary were distributed to all attending with a contact address should they suspect something. Per McCleary, “our goal is to build awareness to the fact that human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children is our problem because it happens to our backyards every day. Our mission doesn’t end with awareness, we will become advocates for changes to the laws that govern human trafficking and support the victims by helping them escape “the life”.

Human Trafficking is a big business. It generates over $40 billion dollars a year. Over 300,000 children are at risk of being trafficked in the U.S. annually. Not all victims are homeless or run-aways. Some are
your next door neighbor.

Working with Fulton County Schools Executive Director of Transportation, Sam Ham, McCleary is developing an educational video on ways to identify trafficking. Fulton County is the fourth largest school district in the state with over 95,000 students. McCleary stated that Monday meeting “was to kick off a pilot program that we hope will expand state wide and across the world. Rotary is uniquely positioned to change everything.”

Image Courtesy of Roswell Rotary