Latest News - Page 18 of 121 - Shared Hope International

January 27, 2021 by Mark Porter

Omni Hotels & Resorts steps up to fight sex trafficking through multi-year partnership with Shared Hope International

Washington, DC – January 27, 2021 – Leveraging its leadership position in the hospitality industry nationwide, Omni Hotels & Resorts announces that it will host the nation’s premier conference on child and youth sex trafficking. In the coming three years, Omni will be the banner hotel and host for the highly regarded JuST Conference (Juvenile Sex Trafficking) that Shared Hope International has annually brought to the nation over much of the past decade.

Said Linda Smith, founder and president of Shared Hope, “Much of sex trafficking is conducted in, or facilitated through, the hospitality industry. This is where alert and trained employees can make a huge difference—literally, their awareness may actually save the life of a boy or a girl who is being targeted by a sex trafficker. Omni is an ideal partner due to the core values they hold as a corporation as well as the awareness and training programs they have already put in place.”

This exciting new relationship advances the fight against sex trafficking:

The partnership includes opportunities for Omni to participate in certain aspects of the conference which includes many survivors of sex trafficking along with disciplines such as law enforcement, healthcare, social work, policy and citizen advocates. By sponsoring elements of the conference including a networking reception, Omni will provide a unique opportunity for advocates to connect in a social setting outside structured workshops. As an authority with 25 years invested in addressing the issue of sex trafficking, Linda Smith will be available to speak at major Omni client events.

“Local market leadership is one of our core values, and we are committed to our partnership with Shared Hope International to ensure we’re supporting the communities in which we operate to end sex trafficking,” said Peter Strebel, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts. “Understanding that sex trafficking is very prevalent within the hospitality industry, we know we have to do our part in helping to educate our associates, who in turn, have the power to prevent these horrific acts.”

###

ABOUT OMNI HOTELS AND RESORTS

Omni Hotels & Resorts creates genuine, authentic guest experiences at 60 distinct luxury hotels and resorts in leading business and leisure destinations across North America. With more than 25 iconic golf courses and 16 award-winning spas featured in dynamic locales nationwide, every Omni proudly opens its doors to share the true spirit of its destination. Reflected through local color, personalized service, unique wellness options, signature restaurants and creative culinary offerings, Omni leaves a lasting impression with every guest and a heightened level of recognition and rewards delivered through its Select Guest® loyalty program. As a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance, Select Guest is further expanded through the DISCOVERY loyalty program offering members additional global benefits. Omni is committed to reducing hunger and is on a mission through its Say Goodnight to Hunger initiative to provide millions of meals each year for food banks to feed children, families and seniors in communities in which it operates. Through its partnership with Shared Hope International, Omni is dedicated to the education and training of its associates to help combat human trafficking.

Omni Hotels & Resorts is the official hotel of the PGA TOUR® and PGA TOUR Champions. For information or to book accommodations, visit omnihotels.com or call 1-800-The-Omni.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brittany Peck, Director of Training, brittany@sharedhope.org, 360-830-6095.

Learn more about the 2021 JuST Conference: https://www.justconference.org/just-conference-2021/

January 22, 2021 by Guest

Daily Prayer to end Child Sex Trafficking in a Broken World

This blog post was written by Rev. Marian Hatcher.

Daily Prayer is a Must

Our connection to God through daily prayer and supplication is a must. God never promised us we wouldn’t face difficulties. He let us know we would have storms, encounter mountains and valleys; yet in the end He assures us He will bring us through in all of His sovereignty, mercy and grace.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This scripture brings us great comfort and encouragement and in the next verses, He points us to communication with Him to help us achieve and stand firm as His purpose plays out.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Spiritual Success through Daily Prayer

On a personal and corporate level, we maintain this connection with God to be successful in our spiritual lives and well as in the natural. When we ignore or do not nurture our prayer life, we feel weary and sometimes exhausted because we are trying to handle things on our own. But the Word of God tells us that such struggle is unnecessary once we have Christ. There is a source of abundant life and it is identified as the Spirit of God which indwells believers and demonstrates beautiful characteristics, or “fruits.”

Galatians 5:22-23: “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control…”

We must make it our business to tap into God as our source through daily prayer. When we do this, we acknowledge our need for Him to maintain our “fruitfulness.” We acknowledge our love for Him. We acknowledge our thankfulness and gratitude for His grace and mercy. It becomes a “we thing”, God and His children against the evil of this world driven by the enemy of our soul. The battle was already won at Calvary, but the Word of God lets us know we must stay close to Him until Jesus returns.

Motivated by our Identity in Christ

The knowledge of our identity in Christ and His great sacrifice and love for us motivates us to acknowledge Him daily and ask for His help to demonstrate spiritual fruit in our daily lives. Without it, we would have no hope of following the instruction in Paul’s letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 2: 1-4 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Caring for others more than for ourselves? This is a tall order without daily prayer, as our flesh wants us to focus on self and make our prayers and petitions about ourselves, our needs and wants. Without constant communication with the Lord we easily revert to that posture and fall short. Even when we are consistent in our prayer life, we will stumble, but the odds of pleasing God are so much better when maintain focus on Him daily.

Pray Daily without Ceasing

Jesus himself gave us the mandate, model and example for prayer. The mandate is found in 1Thessalonians 5:17 where Paul encourages the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing.”

The model and example for prayer were given by Jesus directly to His disciples. Although we call it the Lord’s Prayer it is actually the Disciples’ Prayer. No doubt they wanted to understand how Jesus was speaking to and hearing from His Heavenly Father. It was the gift Jesus gave them in response to their desire to comprehend the mystery of prayer. Thankfully, these many centuries later, it is ours too.

Matthew 6:9

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Jesus gave us the example, as He faced the cross. He asked God the Father to spare Him from having to go the cross. He ended that prayer, with “nevertheless not my will but yours be done”.

Let us likewise pray this for ourselves and our organizations as we continue working to eradicate human trafficking.

As part of our Faith in Action initiative, Shared Hope is mobilizing our faith networks and faith communities to fight sex trafficking and protect children. As we enter this new year, our 30 Days of Prayer will take place in January to coincide with Human Trafficking Awareness month beginning January 1, 2021 to culminate with a National Day of Prayer to End Child Sex Trafficking.

Due to overwhelming interest, our initial 4pm ET event has filled up, so we have opened up a second, earlier prayer event at 1pm ET/10am PT, also on January 31, 2021.

January 8, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Charges against Zephi Trevino must be dropped

Zephi Trevino was 16 years old when she was first trafficked by a young adult, Philip Baldenegro, who originally posed and acted as her boyfriend. Just prior to meeting Baldenegro online, Zephi had been abused and introduced to drugs by another boyfriend, resulting in trauma that manifested in depression and anxiety, a significant departure from the happy, healthy and engaged child she had always been. Exploiting her trauma, Baldenegro gave Zephi drugs, threatened her and her family, and sold her for sex to adult men. Zephi’s exploitation and trafficking ended the night that Baldenegro shot and killed a man he had arranged to buy and rape Zephi; however, her horrific experiences of injustice, misidentification, and unanswered calls for help did not cease.

Miscarriage of justice.

The night of the murder, Zephi should have been identified by law enforcement as a victim of sex trafficking. Instead, she was arrested as an accomplice in the murder of the very man who had paid to rape her. Upon further investigation, prosecutors and detectives on the case, who were immediately presented with evidence of her exploitation, should have identified her victimization, dropped charges, and referred her to specialized service providers. Instead, Zephi was held in detention for over a year on capital murder and aggravated robbery charges. Only after public outcry and the retention of new counsel was she released on bond and house arrest. Texas state law and federal law clearly define Zephi as a victim of child sex trafficking, yet her victimization is continuously denied by her trafficker’s defense team, whose perceptions of child sex trafficking and sexual violence victimization are both inaccurate and self-serving.

Realities of sex trafficking .

The blatant denial of Zephi’s victimization reflects the persistent misunderstanding of sex trafficking victims’ behavior. Despite concerted efforts by survivors and anti-trafficking allies to decry the “perfect victim” myth and shed light on the realities of victimization and resulting trauma behaviors, we continue to see survivors being denied the rights and protections afforded to victims of sex trafficking due to misidentification of their experiences. Rather than looking at the legal definition, prosecutors and even defense attorneys struggle to see victimization even when the facts spell it out, just as they do in Zephi’s case. Survivors of sex trafficking have endured and survived horrific sexual violence, in addition to often-present physical, psychological and emotional abuse, substance use, stigmatization, commodification, and isolation from healthy and safe support. These experiences, often result in trauma, mental health challenges, and substance dependency linked to self-blame and shame. For these reasons, child sex trafficking survivors almost never self-identify or report their victimization. They don’t seek help from law enforcement, service providers, or even family and friends. Indeed, their traffickers often train them on how to hide their victimization, as Zephi’s trafficker did in this case.

One of the greatest challenges we face in combatting child sex trafficking is the lack of awareness that survivors’ trauma manifests in behaviors and decisions they see as necessary to survive their abuse. However, these are often behaviors and decisions that our systems then use to punish or discredit the survivor. This is the exact injustice Zephi is being subjected to; a history of substance use, running from home, and seeming indifference to violence are red flags of exploitation and abuse, not behaviors that discredit her experiences of trafficking victimization. Failing to fit within the fabricated box of “perfect victim” has not only resulted in additional trauma, it has her facing capital murder charges for a crime committed by her trafficker, deepening her involvement in a punitive system and isolating her from family and systems of support.

Your voice.

Your support matters! Using our collective voice to signal support for Zephi will encourage DA Creuzot to stand with sex trafficking survivors and bring justice to the plights they have experienced by dropping unjust charges against Zephi. Sign the petition today!

December 15, 2020 by Guest

The Gifts that Give

As I reflect on the last year, I consider my journey that included cancer, COVID-19, kids, and raising domestic minor sex trafficking awareness.

The past year, I simultaneously battled and beat breast cancer during a pandemic, while homeschooling my four children under age 9. And I continued to fight against child sex trafficking because I felt none of those obstacles could stop me from exercising my God-given gifts, talents, and abilities. I had a calling and I knew I had to pursue it.

It started about three months before my breast cancer diagnosis. I read the book “Renting Lacy” by Linda Smith and felt compelled to become an Ambassador of Hope. Once I completed my online Ambassador training, I jumped on the fast track to raise awareness by becoming involved with local Anti-Trafficking committees, hosting an event at my church, and openly sharing my passions on social media. Knowing what I now knew, I had to act to take action. As I learned more about DMST, the more I wanted to stop it. It felt exhilarating serving with others who had a similar calling in life. It felt rewarding doing the work with a sense of purpose.

That’s how my journey as an Ambassador began. I felt a sense of satisfaction and purpose and passion again, beyond my role as a mother. I love my four children (ages 7, 3, and 18-month-old twins at the time), but I longed to utilize and exercise my gifts, and to share them with others. I embrace my role as mommy, but knew I had another calling in life – to do more, be more, say more. I knew I had to set an example for my kids, my friends, my community. I knew that children and other victims of sex trafficking needed a voice. I had that voice, and the faith and confidence to use it. I knew that I had to speak up and exercise my God-given gifts!

But then came a breast cancer diagnosis. Everything I wanted to pursue halted. I had to begin chemotherapy treatments and focus on my health and my family. The work had to go on hold and it devastated me. But the work didn’t really stop. My team of fellow advocates kept working and raising awareness and I stood by cheering them on. I couldn’t wait to get back in the game. Cancer couldn’t stop me, but it temporarily slowed me down.

I continued supporting the cause throughout my chemotherapy treatments. In between surgery and radiation treatments, I facilitated virtual meetings and events amidst the shutdown. I juggled motherhood and cancer treatments and covid craziness while continuing the fight against human trafficking. Victims of trafficking don’t have the luxury of taking a break, so I felt I needed to continue advocating for them, to the best of my ability, no matter what was going on in my own life. This is not to boast but to share with you what empowered me: it is a disservice to ourselves and the world to suppress our gifts and talents! I knew I had a calling from God and I couldn’t take that lightly. I had to live out my faith, one of my greatest and most treasured gifts in life. I had to show my friends and my community, that no matter my circumstances, the issue of child sex trafficking matters enough to keep talking about it and doing something about it. I felt God was with me to do that.

So now a year later, I have battled and beat cancer living the verse in Psalm 71:7 NLT: “My life is an example to many, because GOD has been my strength and protection.” I reflect on the chaos of the year and how God continued to give me strength for His Good and His Glory. I moved my faith to action by decisions, and as a result, He has produced in me perseverance, character, and hope as in Romans 5:4 NLT.

Can you think of obstacles in your life that have prevented you from using your gifts? There are so many ways that you can pursue your calling and exercise your gifts too. Take a leap of faith and see where it takes you.

Consider and identify your talents and abilities. What gifts has God given you? How can you use them for good?
Answer the calling, whatever that is for you, and it will show your faith through your actions. Shared Hope has so many ways to take action https://sharedhope.org/takeaction/
Who can you invite to also become an Ambassador of Hope? This is a great place to start building a team. https://sharedhope.org/aoh/

I promise your gifts will be a gift to others.

By Grace Witchey, Ambassador of Hope

December 4, 2020 by Guest

Combating Human Trafficking in and out of Uniform

My name is Mary Kate (Donnell) Soliva and I am a volunteer Ambassador of Shared Hope International. I am also a Special Operations soldier currently serving in the US Army. I joined the fight to combat human trafficking in 2012 while a student at the University of Guam.

After hearing about the first known human trafficking case on Guam, I felt called to do something. I empowered others to spread awareness, volunteered as a victim advocate, and started a fund for survivors. I stood alongside students, local leaders, and members of the community at main intersections in Guam with a message saying, “It’s Happening”. This prompted people to ask what was happening and we would proceed to explain that human trafficking exists. We worked tirelessly to meet with local Rotary Clubs and Politicians to discuss the myths that often surround human trafficking, how to support survivors, and resources to educate others. I volunteered to assist the US Attorney of Guam and the local Human Trafficking Task Force. It was during our trip to Palau where I first met former Congresswoman and founder of Shared Hope International, Linda Smith. I was amazed at the work she was doing globally and continue to support her efforts to this day. As a soldier, I was able to help establish a Human Trafficking Task Force outside of Fort Detrick, Maryland. Throughout my career as a soldier, I coordinated training for hundreds of military personnel on the impact and signs of sex trafficking.

What if you had the resources to conduct training with those in your local community? If you are in the military, will you take the opportunity to train other servicemembers about human trafficking? Many of us lead busy lives, but there is a way to support and get involved in the fight against human trafficking. As a volunteer Ambassador of Shared Hope International, I provide knowledge and training to other servicemembers and my community. I am just one person but imagine how much more we could accomplish if we all answered the call to stop the demand of sex trafficking. While I was deployed, I had the privilege of providing awareness about human trafficking to fellow servicemembers and the host nation. Having a conversation is a great start in prevention and it could make all the difference to someone. This is not a fight just for those wearing the uniform, but a call to serve for everyone around the world.

Things you can do right now:

Have a conversation with those you know about human trafficking and find out how much they know.
Learn about local resources and services in your area that help survivors of sex trafficking.
Become a volunteer Ambassador of Hope and join the fight against human trafficking.

Other Resource: Renting Lacy

Mary Kate (Donnell) Soliva
Special Operations/ US Army
Trained Ambassador of Hope