April Timko, Executive Director from Street Hope TN spoke to the club on her organizations work to eliminate the sexual exploitation and trafficking of children. She made the following points…
- Every two minutes, a child is sold, many sold over and over.
- EVERY County in Tennessee has reported cases of trafficking.
- The average age for children being sold is 13.
There have been 36.2 million online solicitations nationwide. The increase in children being online since the pandemic has increased this number.
Street Hope TN focuses on these areas……
- Prayer
- Awareness
- Prevention
- Working in schools
- Project Post & Lancelot kids
- Restoration
Street Hope TN is the ONLY safe home for survivors of human trafficking. They take state (DCS) as well as private placements.
They teach classes on different skills including gardening.
They split between boys and girls is rapidly approaching a 50/50 split.