National Human Trafficking Awareness Day!

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day!

Some action items you can do: report suspicious behavior to your local law enforcement agency, learn more about the issue and get involved in combating human trafficking via www.ochumantrafficking.org, JustOne, Polaris Project, Not for Sale Campaign, and other cause organizations, buy fair trade products. So many things we can do! It really does happen in our own backyards, but most of the time, we aren't even aware of it or choose to ignore it.

Anyways, as I'm typing this entry, I'm also writing thank you emails to all the people who supported and participated in the OneHeart OC event this past Friday at UCI. Let me just say that it was so awesome to see so many people come together for the cause and do whatever it takes to spread awareness for human trafficking. We were able to raise approximately $1000 to donate to OC Human Trafficking Victim Services - this money will help victims in OC get reacquainted with society. There were 207 people in attendance, 10 community organizations represented, 10 artists and photographers displaying their pieces, 6 performances (music, comedy, and spoken word), 2 films, and a keynote speech.

There were some setbacks such as technical difficulties (hey, it happens, right?) , but overall, the feedback that I received was that it was a great night of education and entertainment around the important issue of human trafficking and modern day slavery.

Thank you to everyone that participated in and attended the event! Special thanks to UCI Chi Alpha, OC Human Trafficking Task Force, and Talent One Media for being amazing partner organizations to work with!

ONEHEART OC and OC Human Trafficking Task Force

I am pumped! I just got back from the monthly meeting for the OC Human Trafficking Task Force and it was so awesome to see other people and organizations who are so passionate about combating human trafficking. There were over 40 people in the room from all over Southern California from various non profit, student, religious, and law enforcement organizations!

The main reason I attended this meeting was to promote and ask for community support on a human trafficking awareness event that I'm coordinating, which is taking place in January. The event is being held at the UCI Student Center on Friday, January 9. See flyer below - flyer courtesy of Johnny Lee from Talent One Media. It'll be a night of art, music, spoken word, dance, photography, as well as educational information on human trafficking. I encourage everyone to attend! It'll be a great night of education, entertainment, and empowerment!

Anyways, after the meeting, I had at least 8 different people from various orgs come up to me to offer leads on performers and get more information on how to support the event. One staff member from Golden West College was even interested in re-creating this type of event at Golden West and he wanted to get advice and my planning services. How cool would it be if we could do this on each college campus in SoCal? So many college students would become aware and hopefully empowered around this issue. It's a movement of its own.

I am really excited about this event! I am also learning so much about human trafficking. People often think that it only happens in other countries, but did you know that each year over 15,000 people are trafficked into the U.S.? They are then forced to work in salons, factories, massage parlors, etc. Human trafficking is a common crime in Orange County too! There was just a bust in Westminster recently I believe.

So I like to end my posts with advice or lessons learned when I plan events - kind of like an advice column for event planners or anybody who needs to coordinate special events. In this particular case, I say:

• If you are planning an event for a non profit organization or a cause, learn about that org/cause - you have to fully believe and be behind the cause too if you are going to plan an event for them! Otherwise, you're just a phony!
• Networking and making connections is SO important in the event planning business. I don't have to explain this one do I?

Alright folks, check out the event flyer below. Hope to see you there! Oh and also check out www.ochumantrafficking.org. Lots of great resources and info on human trafficking in OC there.