Super Bowl & Trafficking

Cheryl Csiky, Human Trafficking ministry coordinator at Willow Creek, and self-described “girl fed up with human trafficking in our backyard”, recently had opportunity to travel and lend support to anti-trafficking organizations at the Super Bowl in San Francisco. The following is an excerpt of an interview with Cheryl about her experiences there.

Q: How did you learn of this opportunity?

I helped host author and human trafficking advocate, Nita Belles, in 2012. Since then we have stayed in contact over the years. It’s an honor to know her and her heart for survivors. I reached out to Nita to volunteer with her In Our Backyard Volunteer Team and the Chicago Dream Center, as both were involved with helping at the Super Bowl. Although I discovered I was too late in trying to go with my initial idea of a call center from Illinois, a prayer initiative did come about, and prayer is the real sword against injustice. I was encouraged to still attend the weekend and serve wherever I might be needed. It was one of those “God moments” where you come as you are and trust Him.

Q: What was your role while you were there?

Upon my arrival, the Chicago Dream Center came to pick me up and go on Strip Club Outreach. They had a 15-passenger van with college discipleship students. How cool is that? I had no idea what to expect. I took a few of the students into a couple of clubs. Most of the clubs have never had any ministries visit them and they were very welcoming. Being pleasant can be a smart way to have us pass in and out without disrupting business, but you trust God and believe the smiles you see on the girl’s faces. We prayed quietly in the club with a few of them and blessed them with peace for the weekend. We gave freely, bringing them a gift, praying for them as a family member and leaving without asking for anything from them.  (The card on the gift does have resource information should they want to leave “the life”.)

I also spent time at a computer as a volunteer for In Our Backyard, looking for clues of a victim being trafficked on backpage.com, and gathering enough information to send to the Human Trafficking Operation Center that was in place for the Super Bowl. Online is where the action happens. It’s under the table and you can be whoever you want to be. The johns are harder to track, the pimps are harder to find, and the women/girls/boy/men who suffer have no control over how often their ad is posted. We take the role of letting law enforcement lead us; we are there to add hands, eyes, and skills for the benefit of survivors and victims. My hope was to represent the church as a vital role-player in assisting law enforcement and praying for them. They do this all year; the survivors and victims are doing it all year. The anti-trafficking organizations do this all year. My four-day trip was to serve them.

Q: What broke your heart?

When you see an ad with a young girl, your heart will never stop breaking. Also, I think some of the gals I met on outreach had ads posted (on backpage.com) – seeing their faces definitely broke my heart. Seeing articles only focus about whether or not there is a rise in trafficking during the Super Bowl breaks my heart.

Q: Tell about a moment that will stay with you forever.

Entering one of the clubs, the manager gave me clearance to pass out roses to all the girls on the floor. He said, “make sure you go visit her”, and pointed to the bar. She was with a customer, so I cautiously approached for an eye-catch moment. She stopped and acknowledged me in a welcoming way, probably a bit dumbfounded to see me, in my jeans and jacket, along with one of the college student trainees, at a place like that at 1 am. I explained that we were from a church in Chicago and were coming around to area clubs to drop off goodies so that during her big Super Bowl weekend she will be reminded that we were rooting for her and her safety. She went wide-eyed and said, “You have no idea how much this means. I came in today just plain out angry and venting to my manager that if anything happened today, I was just going to lose it!” She hugged me for what felt like an hour. She had a moment of someone listening and loving her. That day she needed God to come through, and He did – through a little Chicago mom! Who knew?!

Q: What is your biggest take-away from the trip?

Everything, big or small, matters. We believe in a God who is the source of supernatural power, today in 2016. It’s not what we can do, it’s “what won’t we do”. I remind myself, “I am a dangerous woman, that God created me in Christ. I am something to be reckoned with.” I fell apart many times on the trip from the daily struggle. I had a God who encouraged me and it was SAFE to be in His presence and trust He would pick me up.

Q: What would you most like others to know/understand about this experience?

The Super Bowl is confirmation that human trafficking is a problem in the United States. It’s not annual; it’s daily. The money spent that weekend from tourists for the game is quite surprising and I would think the sex industry does very well capitalizing. Good work is being done, and there is hope. Here’s a review of stats shared from the In Our Backyard Newsletter from Nita Belles regarding the Super Bowl that includes the report from law enforcement. You can sign up for her monthly Newsletter here for a full view of what was shared beyond my experience.

"I hope you will share in our joy that victims were recovered, awareness was raised and some will never suffer the horrors of human trafficking as a result of prevention. Below is a recap of the work that was done: 

• March 2015-February 7, 2016 Nita made many trips to the Bay Area to plan, organize and network with local partners
• January 23-February 7th  Nita trained about 450 people in anti-trafficking
• January 30th-February 7th over 175 local volunteers and 21 core members took part in an outreach in San Francisco, San Jose and Sunnyvale
• 1250 Missing Childrens Books were distributed
  • Books contained pictures and info about missing children, indicators of human trafficking, contacts for the National Human Trafficking Hotline & the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. (NCMEC)
• 750 Missing Childrens Flyers were posted
• TEN of the 38 Children featured in the book and posters were recovered!
  • Please note, we do not know if those children were recovered as a result of our work but we do know those kiddos are safe!
• Thousands of hours of anti-trafficking work were volunteered in our efforts
• 1000 Anti-trafficking brochures were distributed
• 500 Freedom Stickers were placed
• Over 150 Convenience Stores were given anti-trafficking and missing kids information
  • About 30 teams of 2-4 people were dispatched
  • Volunteers were encouraged that nearly everyone they approached wanted to help, including customers who overheard their conversations.
• Dozens of Fast Food and Restaurant locations were given anti-trafficking and missing kids information
• Two solid leads of missing children were received and passed on to the (NCMEC)
• 21 Were trained in on line surveillance
• Our on line surveillance team included highly trained law enforcement who specialize in anti-trafficking efforts and volunteered their time.
• Many qualified leads were sent to the FBI who did an amazing job fighting this crime.
• The FBI released the info below as their results.Please note, although we provided leads directly to the FBI, we do not claim any of these results as our own:
  • "12 pimps, including two females, were arrested."
  • "Investigators made contact with 129 prostitutes. Most were not arrested but were offered services to help get them out of "the life."
  • "They also busted 85 people for soliciting sex."
  • "Seven juveniles were rescued from sex traffickers and pimps by law enforcement during the weeks before the Super Bowl."       Read more here. 

- In Our Backyard Newsletter 2/24/2016-

Exploitation is a very serious business. As a country we need to voice our concerns so our law enforcement and local non-profits can make a dent in the issue. Stop questioning whether the problem exists – it’s real; it’s here. Stop making excuses. This is a business that makes money off of our daughters and sons being raped. 

I also want to note that I was part of something bigger. What these organizations do is incredible. I was fortunate enough to have the experience. Now that I am home, I am continually thinking about how to increase hope for Houston next year. Think big; dream big. We owe it to these people who are used like merchandise and returned for the next buyer, multiple times in one day, at the cost level of an average pair of jeans. Store merchandise is treated with more dignity.

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 Human Trafficking Quarterly Community Awareness Forum:

Sex Trafficking and the Super Bowl

Join us for an expert panel interview of those who are on the ground during the Super Bowl and how victims have the chance to completely heal through tattoo cover-ups and removal. Guest speakers: Chicago Dream Center, FBI representative, Chris Baker from Ink 180. Wednesday, March 16^th, 7:30 pm in Guest Central.

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Get Connected:

humantrafficking@willowcreek.org

Upcoming Events:

End It Movement Social Media Campaign was launched this week, check out Jeanita's Story video and share on your social media to help raise awareness! 

New Name Call Center: Pray for women as we offer resources and outreach over the phone to women posted on online ads. Wednesday, March 2nd, 7:30 pm at Willow Creek Community Church in the Link (F Lot Parking). For more information, contact Cheryl Csiky at: ccsiky@willowcreek.org.

Group Serve: On Saturday, March 5^th, 9 am – 1 pm, we will be serving at the Chicago Dream Center. Contact Solanyi Roque at humantrafficking@willowcreek.org for more information and to sign up.

Book Club: We will be discussing, Sold, by Patricia McCormick on Wednesday, April 20^th, 7:30 – 8:30 pm.