This past month has been filled with activity at the Shared Hope and Defenders USA offices. The work for the past three years on the Protective Innocence Imitative was revealed to the nation from San Antonio in cooperation with the National Association of Attorneys General. Two of the events were webcast – the press conference and policy briefing. Over 300 news outlets tuned in to the press conference and about 75 recorded the briefing. Each state was given an A – F grade on the strength of their laws.

Over the past month, we have been rewriting the various protocols for The Defenders awareness activities. All of these are things that Defenders have done in the past. The list included awareness places were minors are sold for sex purposes (topless bars, adult book stores, truck stops etc.), and those events that both raise awareness and recruit defenders (meeting in the home, church events, booths or tables at community events, etc.). When completed, these protocols will be placed on our website under the heading of toolkits. 

But you ask, what can one man do?

Let us share what one man did. He was active in a local service club and attended a local church. His pastor had a connection and he met a police officer when they worked together on another project. At home he discussed what his pastor and the police office had told him about Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. His 18 year-old son called him one night and told him the he feared a former high school classmate was being lured into prostitution. 

The father called the pastor and police officer and then called our founder, Linda Smith. Linda began to tell the girl how the men operated, and inquired as to have much money the girl earned by dancing at a local club. Linda was able to outline for the young woman how these men operated. After several hours of talking, the young women concluded she was about to be trafficked and decided not to go with the men with whom she had spent the weekend. This father of the young man who helped resucue the girl, concluded: Real men look out for and defend the women in their lives.