Ambassador Posts Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Shared Hope International

January 14, 2019 by Jo Lembo

Ambassadors of Hope Share their Stories

As a part of Human Trafficking Awareness we want to bring you the stories of Ambassadors of Hope, our trained volunteers, who are working hard on the ground to prevent sex trafficking. Follow our series, releasing every Tuesday this month! You can apply to become an Ambassador here.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Follow our series on Ambassadors of Hope, releasing every Tuesday this month in observance of Human Trafficking Awareness Month!” user=”SharedHope” hashtags=”HumanTraffickingAwarenessMonth”]

Ambassadors show Shared Hope’s Chosen film to educate kids to prevent trafficking. Most youth are completely unaware that sex trafficking occurs in their town, or that it could happen to them or their friends.

Here are a few stories from Ambassadors in the heartland of America about the impact of Chosen presentations:

One of the major themes of Chosen is to tell someone if something seems wrong. In one Midwestern school, an eighth grade girl was visibly upset and made concerning comments to the Ambassador presenters. They relayed their concerns to the principal and in following up with her to hear her story, he found that she was fine, but was scared because of a situation taking place at a neighbor’s home. Now she knew what she was seeing and was able to talk about it.
Our Ambassadors received an email after a Chosen showing from the leader of the group they presented to, asking about a girl who had viewed the film and left abruptly, saying nothing. Two weeks after that incident, she was picked up during an FBI sting in Detroit, MI, where she and 15 girls from across the state had been trafficked, and were rescued. When she saw Chosen, she was already involved with a guy and fell for the offer of $1000 to go to dinner with some men. The girls were sold, Saturday through Tuesday, until they were rescued. She is grateful she’s safe now.
In another school, a girl was so upset she asked the teacher if she could leave the room. The teacher followed her out into the hallway and the girl asked for help – her father had raped her and she had never told anyone. Now she felt safe enough to talk about it and is getting the help she needs.

Chosen gives teens the courage to speak up and tell someone instead of keeping dark secrets. These are just three stories we have from Ambassadors of Hope showing the Chosen video in their community, but there are so many more. During Human Trafficking Awareness month we encourage you to respond by becoming an Ambassador to reach the youth of your community and help end sex trafficking.

June 16, 2017 by Jo Lembo

Inspired to Give Back – Ambassador Spotlight

Karen Lambie felt driven to do something to “give back” to society after retiring from teaching. Her online research into children’s rights issues brought her across the sex trafficking of children. Like so many of the people in our audiences, she was shocked to discover its rampancy in the United States and in her own home state of Georgia. She knew she had to help stop this heinous crime, and her continued search led her to Shared Hope International. Joining the Ambassador of Hope Program, Karen found her calling.

She took her Ambassador role very seriously, especially after learning that the foster children she and her husband, Tom, had in their home were from the highest risk demographic. She wasted no time talking to the director of her Department of Family and Children’s Services which led to an introduction to the Adoptive and Foster Parents Association of Georgia (AFPAG) which rippled into speaking opportunities all over the state of Georgia, including three state conferences.

Karen’s husband, Tom, became an Ambassador because he wanted join her in educating the public and to do whatever he could to help prevent children from becoming victims. Sharing with their family and friends about what they are doing continually resulted in more invitations to host booths at a variety of events.

Karen’s main tactic is to make sure people have her business card and that they know there is no speaker fee. Karen shares hope by not only presenting the signs of trafficking, but by assuring people walk away with excellent tools to prevent trafficking.

Karen’s list of presentations is diverse, from university classes to speaking at a family reunion, and she even hosted a resource table at a “Responsible Dog Ownership” event!

Something fun that she likes to include in her presentation? “One activity that can lighten the mood after the heaviness of introducing the topic is to role play how traffickers may approach a child, young person, or even an adult in public by claiming they are a modeling or acting agent. Asking for a volunteer (male or female) from the audience, I ask them to pretend they are a 13-year-old and shopping in a mall.”

“Approaching the individual and gushing about how beautiful or handsome they are usually gets some laughter. I promise them I can get them into magazines and movies. Then I ask them to come with me to the parking lot where my camera equipment is or hand them a business card and tell them to give me a call. Even though their reactions are often very humorous, the very serious point is made.”

Karen keeps her goals simple: To stay tuned in listening for people that might be interested in having a speaker or where she can host a booth. “For as long as I am able, I will raise my voice against the scourge of child sex trafficking.”

[easy-tweet tweet=”“For as long as I am able, I will raise my voice against the scourge of child sex trafficking.” ” user=”SharedHope”]

Your voice counts, Karen, more than you’ll ever know because we can’t count how many kids are safer because you shared the signs of trafficking. Thank you for all you do!

We need more Ambassadors to educate their communities on preventing sex trafficking. Apply today!

May 30, 2017 by Guest

The Ripple Effect

Chifonne, one of our Ambassadors of Hope shares her story!

When I first heard about sex trafficking, I was probably 12 years old. It was the very early days of Shared Hope, not long after Linda Smith had been to India, and she shared at a local event where my mom heard what Linda saw and experienced, and how she was working to help. My mom was incredibly moved by what she learned, and in turn, told a number of other people about it. I was, of course, one of those people. I was shocked and horrified that girls could be SOLD as if they were property.

I remember going to my best friend Lindsay’s house and telling her about it. She was also outraged, and we decided we had to do something to help these girls. We convinced our children’s pastor to let us make a presentation to our children’s church, as long as we promised not to use words like “sex”. I remember the two of us standing in front of all our friends that Sunday morning and telling them about kids our age or younger who were slaves, and how we could help free them. We took an offering that morning and raised $34, which we sent to Shared Hope.

This happened 17 years ago, but it was the start of something significant for both Lindsay and me. I’ve been an Ambassador for several years, and have also been part of other local teams and groups working to end Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. My friend Lindsay went on to co-produce a documentary about sex trafficking in the US, Sex + Money: A National Search For Human Worth to which Linda Smith was a contributor, and which screened at college campuses across the nation. Both Lindsay and I have continued at times doing work abroad with girls and children at-risk.

[easy-tweet tweet=”You never know how people’s hearts are being stirred by your words.” user=”SharedHope”]

I say all of this not to toot our proverbial horns in any way, but as a reminder for all of us who work to raise awareness. You never know how people’s hearts are being stirred by your words, or what they may do in response to being informed. If you recall, neither my friend nor I had been at an actual “presentation.” Someone who had been – my mom – shared with me, and I shared with a friend, who in turn shared with a lot more friends. That ripple effect is happening ALL THE TIME. What you do has impact that reaches far wider than you may realize.

[easy-tweet tweet=”What you do has impact that reaches far wider than you may realize. ” user=”SharedHope”]

Chifonne, Washington State Ambassador

We need your help to take action and offer prevention education in your community! Become an Ambassador of Hope today!

[easy-tweet tweet=”Shared Hope needs your help, become an Ambassador of Hope today! ” user=”SharedHope”]

January 11, 2017 by Jo Lembo

You Never Know Who’s In Your Audience

Sometimes grassroots activists feel like they aren’t having a huge impact. Let me share two stories that may motivate you to keep on keeping on!

In 2009 there was a presentation on sex trafficking at the WA state criminal justice training center – a relatively new topic to the general public at the time. The leader from a local church security team attended as a matter of continuing his education on the threats against the youth in his church. After the first general session, he called one of his pastors and said, “You need to come down here and hear this. Our kids are at risk and we know nothing about this!” Clearing her schedule, the pastor arrived just in time to attend the community advocates workshop with Shared Hope International’s project manager. Following that workshop, the Renting Lacy book was distributed to each attendee.

The pastor took home the book and couldn’t put it down; becoming convinced she had to do something. That pastor was me (Jo Lembo). Today I work full-time for Shared Hope International and my husband’s life is also dedicated to fighting sex trafficking. Our head of security had no idea he was introducing me to my life’s calling. And that presenter had no idea that her presentation would completely alter the course of our lives. You never know the impact of the conversation you’re having. Who have you talked to?

[easy-tweet tweet=”You never know the impact of the conversation you’re having. – Shared Hope International Blog by Jo Lembo”]

Shortly after reading the book Renting Lacy, my husband and I met Linda Smith and her husband, Vern. I was passionate about making a difference, but felt I had no skills to truly make an impact. I said to her, “I’m not really making a difference. All I do is talk. I talk to my hairdresser, to my neighbors, to our friends (we could bring down a dinner party in two minutes by sharing ‘what is happening right now just a few miles from this restaurant…’) But I don’t want to be just be a talking head!”

Linda’s response is now the byline for the Ambassadors nationwide. She said, “Never underestimate the power of educating others. The more people who know the signs of trafficking, the smaller the world becomes for those who buy and sell our children.”

Since that encounter, I have learned to share the message with hope and not stop at telling about the issue, but to share what you can DO about it. As the National Outreach Manager, it is my privilege to empower and equip the nearly 1000 Ambassadors nationwide who are ‘talking’ about the issue everywhere they go.

So if you feel ordinary, that’s exactly what we need! People like you to know the signs and what to do to prevent sex trafficking.

Become a trained Ambassador of Hope and make a difference!

—

This blog is the first in a Shared Hope Blog Series for Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Stop back throughout the month to our New & Events page to read them all!

December 27, 2016 by Jo Lembo

And It Comes Full Circle

In September 2016, a community event was held in Vancouver, Washington, to educate the public about the signs of trafficking and how to protect our children. It was held in a church on NE 78^th Street, and was attended by several law enforcement officers. But it wasn’t just any church, and it wasn’t just any law enforcement in attendance. And it wasn’t just any citizens in the audience.

Seven years earlier, in the same church, a similar training had been held.

The same law enforcement officers had come to hear Linda Smith share about the signs of trafficking, how it happens, what makes a kid vulnerable and what any citizen can do to help. When those uniformed officers left, they knew what they had been seeing, but hadn’t known what it was. Now they began to see what had been in front of them all along.

A probation officer listened intently and left to go to the hospital where one of her charges was…again. The teen had been beaten up again. She’d run away again. She’d been truant again. Only this time, her probation officer knew the questions to ask her. And this time, the girl known as ‘Lacy’ felt safe enough to ask for help and was soon under police protection and moved 4,000 miles away for her safety.

In that room was a young man and his family. They listened intently. And just a short while later, when his friend asked him to help her move out and give her a ride back to Seattle to her newfound ‘friends’ after she brought back her dad’s car… well, Evan knew enough to ask questions and set in motion an intervention that saved Brianna’s life.

That night seven years ago, at that community presentation, the ordinary people in the room were instruments to help retrieve the two girls, whose story was later told in the video, Chosen. Lacy and Brianna were safe now because of a community presentation on the signs of trafficking.

And the video? It was filmed in that same church, in their school hallway, stairwell and classroom. In 2016 it was shown to more than fifteen thousand teens across the nation. The difference in the film is stark: Lacy’s friends didn’t know what was happening to her or how to help her and she was enslaved for nearly two years. Brianna’s friend knew and took steps to rescue her and she was never sold into the horrific sex industry. The difference was knowing.

So in September, when we stood on the same stage in the same church, and talked to an audience of nearly 200 ordinary people, and showed Chosen, we were fully aware that the message had come full circle. The officers who shared their stories and spoke in workshops were passionate to say, “You can prevent trafficking! It will be people like you who make the difference. We didn’t know and then look what happened when we did know! You will be the eyes and ears to recognize the signs and warn young people so they’re smarter than the predators who would do them harm. We will catch the bad guys, but please don’t make us rescue your kids too.”

And Brianna stood on the stage and shared how she was tricked. Because she didn’t know.

There we were, on the same stage with the same people who learned about trafficking seven years ago. And look at all that has happened to educate young people across the nation. Now this crowd will make a difference because now they know.

It’s good to come full circle.