Want to Hear Something Truly Scary?

By: 
Rhonda Sciortino
Sandie Morgan

WE SPEND MORE ON HALLOWEEN COSTUMES THAN WE DO ON HELP FOR TRAFFICKING VICTIMS

Americans spend an estimated $350 million on Halloween costumes... for our pets.  We spend a total of $6.9 billion on Halloween, which translates into about $75 for every person in the US. And this isn't a single, unusual outpouring of cash, like the generosity expressed after a natural disaster like the devastating hurricanes of this year. This $6.9 billion is spent EVERY year.

I don't want to rain on anybody's Halloween parade. I get a kick out of the dachshunds dressed in a hot dog bun costume.  But can you imagine what could happen if we spent that much money on stopping the buying and selling of kids in our neighborhood?!

Some examples of what could happen if we spent more on kids than on Halloween costumes include:

  • no cost after school care for kids who are alone after school (it's been reported that upwards of  85% of rescued trafficking victims came from single parent households)
  • weekly deliveries of food to single moms to avoid losing their children to care because they can't provide for them and who aren't able to access the help that's already available
  • paid apprenticeship programs to prepare at- risk and transition aged  foster teens for work immediately after leaving care
  • scholarships for foster kids to earn degrees that prepare them for successful careers
  • and so much more

So WHERE can Americans invest their pet's Halloween costume money where they can be confident that it's spent on precisely what they hope it'll be spent on?

ONE option is Vanguard University's Global Center for Women and Justice. You can designate your investment into GCWJ in the following areas:

  • Survivor scholarship
  • Live2Free peer-to-peer student group in high schools and colleges to help others value their dignity and protect themselves from trafficking

You can invest in GCWJ at https://connect.vanguard.edu/gcwj

ANOTHER option is Successful Survivors Foundation. Through SSF, EVERY dollar goes directly to providing the YOUR REAL SUCCESS training program to foster teens, many of whom have been trafficked (often by their own parents). YRS prepares them to get and keep jobs that will help them attain independence and self-sufficiency -- two things that equip them to resist the lure of traffickers and to create authentically successful lives.

To sponsor a foster teen in the YOUR REAL SUCCESS program, donate any amount at https://www.paypal.me/successfulsurvivors/

Most people don't give because they don't know how the money will be spent. With these two options, there's no doubt that 100% of the funds will go to pay for exactly your designation. Period.

Volume 7 Issue 4