Club Lunch and Business Program

Our speaker today was Stephanie Macchia of the Alamo Heights Rotary Club.  Stephanie is a product of The Rotary Foundation's Group Study Exchange program. She has served in various areas of leadership within Rotary including Team Member representing District 5840 for the exchange with District 3460 in Taiwan. Further, she served as president for the Alamo Heights Rotary Club. She was the first woman elected as District Governor in District 5840. She has served in many other areas of leadership in our district such as Lone Star Rotary PETS, Rotary Leadership Institute and the Rotary Foundation just to name a few. She is the District Chair for Human Trafficking Initiative. She spoke to us about the heartbreaking epidemic of human trafficking. She shared a video with us about women who were interviewed and each shared their experiences. Victims of these crimes feel useless, meaningless, hopeless and suicidal. They have a higher rate of suffering from PTSD than troops that have been in combat. Shockingly, one in four children are slaves in this crime. Rotary's mission is to bring an end to this slavery of human beings. It is stoppable and can be eradicated by the Power of One. 
 
HOW YOU CAN BE THE ONE
  1. Pay attention to the people in your community, your surroundings, and report red flag behaviors.
  2. Don't wait to call. Make your report timely. Those moments matter.
  3. Don't approach traffickers yourself. That can place you, the victim and any future prosecution in danger.
  4. If the conduct you observe is an emergency, call 911 and tell them you believe that you have observed human trafficking.  Don't worry about being wrong. Your call may be the one that saves a life.
  5. If it not an emergency or you need to remain anonymous, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.
  6. Provide "actionable information": 
  • Descriptions of cars: make, model, color, license plate.
  • Descriptions of people: height, weight, hair color, age, eye color.
  • Specific times, dates and locations: when and where you saw the conduct.
  • Take a picture if you can safely do so.
 
To learn more visit this website:  BeTheOne
Download the Mobile app: TraffickCam
Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas Initiatives on Human Trafficking