The national non-profit Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) and Kenworth Chillicothe are coming together to host an event at the Kenworth Chillicothe plant to educate attendees how to identify and report suspected human traffickers through a training session.
Two human trafficking survivors, living in Ohio will be featured in a video during the TAT training session.TAT will also share stories of human trafficking survivors through TAT’s Freedom Driver’s Project, a mobile display featuring a video story and artifacts from human trafficking survivors. Helen Van Dam, TAT Freedom Drivers project director and Rod Spencer, Kenworth Chillicothe plant manager will be speaking at the event. Also on hand will be Luke Feeney, Chillicothe mayor; Charles S. Reader, Pike County sheriff; Robert Barbee, Pike County assistant police chief.
Jamie Barker, from senator Rob Portman's office; Magistrate Steven E. Drotleff and Lisa Bair from Ross County Juvenile Court; Doug Corcoran, Ross County commissioner; Jeff Marks, Ross County prosecutor; Julie Oates, Child Protection Center; and Detective Bud Lytle, Chillicothe Police Dept., will also be at the event.
The training session takes place at the Kenworth Chillicothe plant, located at 65 Kenworth Dr. in Chillicothe on February 21st from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Attendees will meet in the Kenworth lobby prior to the training.
According to Kendis Paris, executive director of Truckers Against Trafficking, profits from the crime of human trafficking in the U.S. are estimated to be $32 billion. In 2018, the state of Ohio had the most reported cases of human trafficking of any Midwestern state according to the human trafficking hotline. As of June, 30, 2018 (most current statistics reported) 219 human trafficking cases were reported in Ohio.
TAT exists to educate, equip, empower, and mobilize members of the trucking and busing industries to combat human trafficking as a part of their everyday jobs. Professional drivers are often in locations where they can come in contact with potential victims, including hotels, motel, loading docks, truck stops, rest areas, agricultural fields. Drivers have made over 2,200 calls into the National Human Trafficking Hotline, leading to the recovery of over 1,100 individuals.
The Kenworth T680, the truck used to haul the Freedom Drivers Project and known as the ‘Everyday Heroes Truck,’ was built at the Chillicothe plant and will be auctioned off in May in Arizona to help support the TAT program. Many of the attendees at the event will be Kenworth plant employees, who helped build the Kenworth T680 Everyday Heroes Truck.
Come learn details about the program, TAT’s importance and impact.