Greetings Street Survivors, and wel-come to our third and final segment of our series on Human/Sex Trafficking in the Upstate. We’ve covered a lot of both interesting and scary information right here in our community, and I have cer-tainly learned a lot writing this series.

Recently on April 4th, right here in Greenville, Bon Secours St. Fran-cis held their 5th Annual Seminar on Human Trafficking. This was the first time it was opened to the international community and the response was fantastic. Well over 300 attended in person, but many hundreds more connected to the online streaming to hear the speakers and build a network for future reference. The Upstate is on the map as a community that is taking this horrible disease seriously, and ready to fight it head on. Bon Secours should be commended for leading the charge on this effort. The focus of the internationally recognized experts and survivors of human trafficking was to show what role you can play in our community's response to this humanitarian crisis, and to give hope to those being victimized and exploited.

SWITCH, the local Greenville organi-zation we’ve been focusing on in the first two segments, had 4 of their staff members attending the event. They continue to train local businesses, groups and individuals and there is a way you can contribute your time, energy and financial blessings to advance this im-portant cause. If you enjoy golf, they still have some sponsor-ship opportunities for their May 1st golf tournament to help raise awareness and fundraising, at the Preserve@Verdae, at 9:00 A.M. They are looking for golf teams, as well as banquet, breakfast and hole sponsors. If you’d like to participate in any way, please contact them at: www.switchSC. org, or by phone, 888-773-4218.

The final three of five pillars of the mission of Switch focus on Demand, Intervention and Restoration.

As shown on their website, “Switch Demand consists of men who are passionate about ending the demand for commercial sex and pornography in the Upstate. The men in this group fight the demand by providing awareness and education on the dangers of pornography through speaking to men’s groups. They also seek to help sex buyers who are fighting addiction. Lastly, they seek to influence legislation in creating stronger laws against those who would fuel the commercial sex industry.”

Intervention uses various tactics to reach out to the most vulnerable, and they work hand in hand with law enforcement to rescue and assist those in need.

Restoration brings healing and hope to the victims of trafficking, by assisting women who want to get out of the life of trafficking and sexual exploitation through the Restoration program. Participants go in for a biopsychosocial interview and from there meet with a Care Coordinator who will work to provide them with holistic case management. Care Coordinators work with participants to help create their own goals while empowering them to work towards meeting them. The restoration process can include trauma counseling with local therapists, survivor classes that focus on healing, and pairing up with an Oasis mentor. Care Coordinators work with community partners and give participants those resources to help meet the needs and goals outside of those three things.

The Restoration staff work with local, state, and national agencies and part-ners to serve participants. The goal of the Restoration program is to support survivors as they walk through their healing journey.

Street Survivors, you can play a significant role in deterring and destroying this evil among us. Please get involved to protect your family members and others. God Bless!

God Bless America!

Drop us a comment or question at Email: StreeTactics@gmail. com  ■