In celebration of Native American Heritage Month, Lisa did a read-aloud to our local toddlers group at the Lexington Public Library. Lisa is an Oglalla Sioux tribal member and she loves children. Stacey, while in the background capturing the moments to share here, also made the Fry Bread! Our friend group has decided to once again adopt a family for Christmas. Stacey and I will be using our own money this year to join them and adopt a Native American family in Lincoln, NE. We are so blessed to have friends who have giving hearts.
We were happy to participate in a local fundraiser where local businesses hosted a classroom that helped with a variety of projects. In our case, we hosted a 2nd-grade class that helped make Thank You cards. And believe me, we have a whole lot of reasons to write Thank You cards! We had fun helping the children make the cards and the hand collage featured above by dipping their little hands in acrylic paint. The students’ efforts earned a donation to Lexington Public Schools.
In closing, we want to remind our readers that some of the most vulnerable people who are targeted and victimized are children in foster care. We did a small deed to help children living in foster care because they matter too!
We delivered goodie bags for 37 children who were reunited for a long weekend here in Central Nebraska by a non-profit Camp Catch-Up. While visiting the siblings during their stay at Camp Comeaca, we encountered kids painting their faces, playing ball, and being busy on their devices. Typical kid activity, what a treasure.
A set of twins, one living in Western Nebraska and the other living in the Northeast part of Nebraska, were selected to lead us through the camp. They told us that the only time they get to see each other is during the camps. Both will be graduating from high school this year and have plans to work and pursue a higher education. They will have two more opportunities to attend Camp Catch-up before transitioning from foster care into adulthood. That transition period is a critical time for many, to help they recieved a small anti-trafficking toolkit in their goodie bags. a few of the items included in the toolkits were grooming tactics and ways to report.
Human trafficking is a situation in which an individual is compelled to work or engage in commercial sex through the use of force, fraud or coercion. If the individual is under the age of 18 and engaging in commercial sex they are experiencing trafficking regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion is also taking place.
Call the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free hotline at 1-888-373-7888: Anti-Trafficking Hotline Advocates are available 24/7 to take reports of potential human trafficking.
Text the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 233733. Message and data rates may apply.
Submit a tip online through the anonymous online reporting form below.However, please note that if the situation is urgent or occurred within the last 24 hours we would encourage you to call, text or chat.
Yesterday we were welcomed by the Lexington, NE. Rotary Club to start a discussion on a variety of ways someone can be recruited and then exploited in the crime of Human Sex Trafficking. There are more than 8 intersections, we are well aware of within Human Trafficking but due to time constraints we had to limit the intersections. Several of the club members had been previously educated on the issue and others had already made the commitment to “Becoming Part Of The Solution”.
You can make a commitment to “Becoming Part Of The Solution” as well by doing the following;
Increase awareness and cultural sensitivity in Health Care and Behavioral Health Care practices, advocate for the implementation of lessons to be delivered to students in all levels of education and religious communities. Help to educate community members of all ages in public spaces.
2024 – 365 days of Thankfulness. Thank you to all who helped in our efforts, and to all who supported our mission. We are thankful to be a small part of all efforts to end Human Trafficking. Thank you to our spouses who believe in our abilities, and to all the people who gave their money to help improve, our central NE communities.
We are blessed to be able to announce that we will be launching our Pilot Human Trafficking Prevention Program this week. It has been an adventure reaching our goal and we are looking forward to keeping children safe.
We want to give a huge THANK YOU to all the people who support us and believe in Human Trafficking education and prevention.
Travis Wind is another of our seasoned voice actors who volunteered to help create the audio version of Traffic Stop: Human Division released 11/2023. When asked why he was interested in being one of the main characters in the book, not to mention the most troubled character he said, “I am willing to lend my talents to this project in advocacy kind of way to reduce sex trafficking”.
After graduating high school in Nebraska, he left for Tinseltown and completed some gigs there. He has offered guidance in the sound room, and he is willing to help with sound engineering another area that he has experience in. We at Traffic Stop are thankful that he found his way back to the Midwest to be with his family Central Nebraska.
Travis in disbelief of what his character Otis Kennedy is capable of;
Otis: (older adult male with gravelly voice) Otis is the antagonist of the story. He is a gruff, prejudiced, entitled, and self-righteous manipulator who is addicted to sex, work, and alcohol.
Thank you Travis for the long months of late evening recordings. A portion of the book sales goes to funding Anti-Human Trafficking events. If you would like to host an awareness event please contact us at staceyl.cahill@gmail.com
Rocio Casanova Library Children’s Specialist & Jennifer Norton Library Director
Last week we offered a free training on Human Trafficking to 18 individuals who came to meet the “Meet the Author” event at the Lexington Public Library. Not a single book sold but our mission was accomplished for the day; spreading awareness. The audience gave positive feedback and many said that they were going to share what they learned with their friends and families.
So far we have been able to offer trainings and resources to 751 people since Aug 1, 2024. In large part it is due to the people and business in Dawson and Gosper counties in NE who support us.
Please share the link below as you see fit, thank you in advance for helping raise awareness! Every dollar we raise will be used to fight against Human Trafficking.
Traffic Stop is hosting a fund raiser to purchase needed standardized Anti-Human Trafficking material. Please support us by donating or sharing our event details.
Before the fun in the sun begins in 8/31/24 we wanted to raffle a few items, please see below
$5.00 per ticket or $20.00 for 6 tickets
If you would like to participate please PM us here at Traffic Stop and we will get your tickets into the drawing. The winners will be notified on 8/31/24.
Also, a big thank you to Omni Sharp, Tyson Foods, and Prime Edge.
Raising Awareness about Human Trafficking 