Fighting
Human Trafficking
Caitlin
Miller wins 2013 Ohio Liberator Award
By
Kathy Magoto
Last
month Caitlin Michele Miller was recognized at the first ever Ohio
Liberator
Awards held in Dublin, Ohio. The
Ohio
Liberator Awards were created by Doma International and S.O.A.P. to
highlight
the efforts of Ohioians in the fight against Human Trafficking. Caitlin received
her award as a radical
abolitionist in the category of volunteer for all her efforts to raise
public
awareness of the slavery problem.
Caitlin
first learned about human trafficking several years ago and started
volunteering for Gracehaven, a non-profit organization in Columbus,
dedicated
to building a residential shelter to provide a safe, secure and stable
environment
for underage rescued victims. Ms.
Miller
began travelling to other churches and giving talks on the subject and
eventually decided to raise awareness and funding by holding a
Christian
Concert at the Beavercreek Church last fall.
The concert benefited Gracehaven and
featured bands“Leeland” and
“Radiant”. Trafficking
survivor, Theresa
Flores agreed to tell her personal story at the concert, as well as
join
Caitlin as she spoke at Dayton Christian school.
The task of waking the public to the reality of human trafficking is
monumental. In our
world today, an
estimated 27 million people live in slavery. Though most people hold
the belief
that we already abolished slavery in this country, there are more
slaves now
than at any point in history. Human trafficking—the illegal trade of
human
beings for commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor—is the second
largest
international crime industry, generating profits of $32 billion a year.
Each
year around 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S., and between
300,000-500,000 American-born children are coerced into child
prostitution;
with approximately 1,000 of these children from Ohio annually. For more information
regarding this inhumane
crime visit http://www.domaconnection.org
or http://www.traffickfree.com
online.
Caitlin,
the daughter of Wade and Sara Miller, resides in the Greenville area
where she
and her sisters; Gina, Alyssa and Tacy unite their forces to raise
public
awareness. Caitlin
credits her family
and friends support for the success of her fundraising activities. The Miller Family is
hosting an S.O.A.P.
event 10:00 AM March 2nd, in which they are partnering with Versailles
Christian Church. S.O.A.P.
(Save Our
Adolescents from Prostitution) is an outreach that distributes bars of
soap
with the National Human Trafficking hotline number and key identifying
questions free to local motels in an effort to educate motel owners and
staff
on human trafficking, locate missing children and offer a way for
victims to
reach out for help. More
information on
this event can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/494780247241566/?ref=ts&fref=ts
|