DES MOINES — Teens Against Human Trafficking (TAHT) will hold its second annual fundraising benefit at West End Salvage, 22 SW Ninth St., from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday.
Tickets are available online at www.tikly.co/taht.
Iowa’s own Gavin Jerome will emcee the benefit in an effort to raise funds for this program. Sen. Kevin Kinney and Miss Iowa USA 2016 Alissa Morrison will be this year’s Honorary Chairs. Entertainment will be provided by Des Moines’ finest musicians, including Dustin Smith (of the Maytags), Randy Burk (of Randy Burk and the Prisoners) and Mike Butterworth (of The Nadas).
For further information, contact Mary O'Connor, via email at info@LetsGetAngry.org or call 515-681-5858. You can also learn more about Teens Against Human Trafficking at www.letsgetangry.org.
Teens Against Human Trafficking is a youth led, nonprofit organization that was founded in Ankeny, by teens, for teens, to save teens. The mission of TAHT is to raise awareness about human trafficking through the powerful voice of young people — educating themselves and their communities. To do this, teens form teams at their High Schools. Teams meet weekly and use the TAHT curriculum to educate themselves and their broader school community about the issues of human sex trafficking in Iowa today.
Teams run bold social media awareness campaigns, bring in speakers, organize public events, and collaborate, both online and offline, with other teams around Iowa. TAHT operates under the fierce reality that slavery still exists, and it exists locally. Teens Against Human Trafficking is a program of Youth and Shelter Services, Inc.
Ruth Buckels, YSS Achieving Maximum Potential (AMP) coordinator, will share her experience as the mother of a human trafficking survivor.
Buckels found out about her foster daughter Brittany’s experience in 2008, seven months after Brittany had been living with her, when an Illinois investigator called and asked for Brittany.
“I’m a foster parent. I’m ridiculously over-protective; I don’t use [their] last names, so I hung up the phone,” Buckels said. Brittany heard this and came down the stairs. The phone rang again. It was the investigator who stated Brittany was their star witness. “And I said, ‘witness to what?’ The voice on the phone said, ‘They didn’t tell you? She was trafficked.’
“So many pieces of her life came into focus for me,” Buckels continued. A foster mom since 1988, Buckles has housed 90 foster teenagers, six of whom are trafficking survivors. One of these was her daughter, Brittany.
Teens are the demographic being trafficked, yet no one is talking to teens about the issue. Human trafficking is the world’s fastest growing industry today and second largest criminal enterprise behind narcotics. Fifty percent of the victims are minors. Central Iowa is a player because of its geographic location and interstates 80/35. The average age of entry into sex trafficking is 15 years old. The Iowa Attorney General’s office reports, “On any given day in Iowa, there are 100 kids for sale online.”