Shownotes
In this episode, we look into a harrowing yet crucial topic—human trafficking. Joined by our special guest Theresa Flores, the founder of The SOAP Project, we explore the intricacies of combating this pervasive issue. Theresa, a survivor of human trafficking herself, shares her profound insights and the impactful work being done by her organization to rescue victims and raise awareness.
We cover the operations and outreach efforts of The SOAP Project, from distributing millions of bars of soap labeled with hotline numbers to organizing large events in collaboration with local communities.
Discover why states like Ohio rank among the top in trafficking cases, how traffickers are evolving to avoid detection, and the alarming reality of familial trafficking in rural areas.
Additionally, Theresa emphasizes the critical role of media in raising awareness and the continuous efforts needed to support survivors, including prospective wellness programs and significant legislative advocacy.
Memorable Moments
00:00 Realized purpose: advocate against human trafficking.
04:08 Moving a lot, lacking support, led vulnerability.
08:15 Human trafficking, statistics, call for media attention.
11:46 Providing help for human trafficking victims.
14:47 Polaris Project helps victims of human trafficking.
17:13 Rural areas have more trafficking of minors.
24:42 Prostitution seen as choice, but often oppression.
27:10 Neighbors can help spot and aid victims.
32:40 Becoming a survivor advocate, changing human trafficking laws.
33:25 Fought for laws against human trafficking, succeeded.
36:49 Raised $30,000 for new dentures, future programs.
41:02 Memoir reveals journey from trauma to empowerment.
Top Takeaways
Engaging volunteers in efforts to combat human trafficking involves navigating and ensuring their safety in potentially dangerous situations.
The SOAP Project organizes sting operations to help victims, signaling an active approach in rescuing those trapped in trafficking situations.
Operating for about 15-20 years, the Polaris Project plays a crucial role in trafficking identification, with extensive reporting available online.
Ohio ranks among the top five states for human trafficking due to its metropolitan areas, with familial trafficking also prevalent in rural settings.
With the distribution of 3,000,000 bars of soap, the SOAP Project raises awareness nationwide, supported by a diverse team including law enforcement and community organizations.
There is a critical need for balanced and empathetic media coverage that focuses on victims rather than sensationalizing their situations, thus addressing the real human cost of trafficking.
The SOAP Project not only focuses on raising awareness but also on providing direct support such as hotline numbers on soap bars, connecting victims to local contacts, and offering wellness weekends for survivors.
Combating human trafficking requires substantial financial resources, often sourced through community support, donations, and fundraising events to maintain outreach programs.
Theresa Flores advocates for educational initiatives to inform youth about trafficking risks and legislative changes to protect victims and prosecute traffickers effectively.
We would love to hear from you.
Give us your feedback, or suggest a topic, by leaving us a voice message.
Email us at hello@lookingforwardourway.com.
Find us on Facebook.
Please review our podcast on Google!
And of course, everything can be found on our website, Looking Forward Our Way.
Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Copyright 2024 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson
Transcripts
We are Looking Forward Our Qay from Studio C in the 511 Studios in the Brewery District. That's just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Hi. This is Brett. We have a very special program today. It's not an easy subject, but our acknowledgment of the issues and recognition that we must be vigilant could literally save a life.
Brett Johnson [:The SOAP Project was created by Theresa Flores in 2006. Theresa is is an advocate, author, and survivor. SOAP stands for Save Our Adolescence from Prostitution. This agency is volunteer-driven and serves to save young children from human trafficking. We want to welcome Theresa to our studio. Thanks for joining us.
Theresa Flores [:Oh, my pleasure. Thanks so much for inviting me.
Carol Ventresca [:Theresa, it was it's really nice to to finally meet you. We've talked, done the deep dives into your website, and we really appreciate your time today. It's a hard topic and many of us are dumbfounded. We don't know what to do. So we really thought this was a great opportunity to sit and talk to you. We usually ask our guests first to give, to to provide us with an overview on how their career path led them to their current position. Well, this is literally your life story.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [:So please give us, the audience, a glimpse of your world as a young girl, the journey you've taken, and how it led to the creation of soap.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. Well, so I was a medical social worker here in Columbus for many years, and, it's kinda funny. I went to a conference that a coworker recommended that I go to, and it was on human trafficking. And, and this was when I was 40, so this was about 18, 19 years ago. And I thought, well, this is interesting. I don't know much about human trafficking. Maybe some of my clients, you know, have had this happen. It'd be good education.
Theresa Flores [:So I agreed and went. And lo and behold, within 5 minutes of sitting in this conference here in Columbus, I realized that that was me. And, it was like my kind of Oprah moment where, Way. You know, God has prepared this whole life for me to, to be able to do something about this now. Because how many other people don't know about human trafficking too if I didn't even know? And here, I had just graduated from University of Dayton with my master's. I, you know, lived that, and yet I never knew it was called that. So, I thought this this is what I need to do is to really wake people up and shout from the highest mountain that this is, kids in every zip code, and people just aren't looking at it. So, so that's kind of how I started with this whole, advocacy and activist.
Theresa Flores [:I never thought I'd be an activist, but, you know, doing this. So, for me, I I just grew up a a normal kid, an average, middle class, upper middle class family, 2 parents, not abused, not molested, didn't do drugs, wasn't promiscuous. It's just your normal, you know, go to church on Sunday, 3 younger brothers. I was the oldest, the only girl. And you would think that that kind of lifestyle would exempt me because that's what media tells us. Right? Is that this is poor kids, this is other countries, and I didn't fit any of those parameters. And yet it did happen to me. Way moved a lot, because my dad's job, he would get promoted and transferred.
Theresa Flores [:And so we moved a lot, and that's what made me vulnerable, is that I didn't have a support system. So we forget that it doesn't matter how rich or poor you are, you know, support systems are are essential into protecting our vulnerable. And so, I went to high school, and they a guy just noticed me. And I thought it was innocent at first, and, but I wasn't permitted to date. So my dad my mom and dad were pretty strict with me, And he was very diligent. We call this grooming, which is actually kind of like that old fashioned term, cording, but with malintent, and I had no idea. But, he asked me if I wanted a ride home from school one day. It was that simple.
Theresa Flores [:And I was like, sure. It's a ride home from school. And, he didn't take me home, though. He ended up taking me to his house. He gave me some excuse that he had forgotten something, and I was very I was just very naive and asked me if I wanted to come inside. And I was like, you know, no. I I I can't do that. But then he convinced me, and then he ended up drugging me, and raping me.
Theresa Flores [:And I thought that was bad enough, right, because I was a Johnson. And, but Brett, a couple Way later, it got worse because, I guess there were some people in his family that were there taking pictures, and then they, blackmailed me with these photos for 2 years to do whatever they said. So for about 2 years, I went to school during the day, went home in the afternoons, would get called out by them on my phone, and would have to sneak Our, and they would take me all over the Detroit area, to do whatever they needed me to do. So it was a a pretty horrific way to to live my high school years.
Carol Ventresca [:Did did did this guy ever I mean, did justice ever happen?
Theresa Flores [:No. It you know, there was no law against human trafficking back then. They didn't even know this was happening here in the United States, and I didn't know it was called trafficking. So by the time that I realized, you know, that I could probably get justice, I had already, you know, been in college, called the police department. I of course, I didn't have these words that I do now, and they're like, sorry. We can't help you. Like, you know, it's a 6 year limitation for rape. And it's like, okay.
Theresa Flores [:This is not gonna work out for me. So, fast forward to, you know, being 40 years old, and I have just determined that this is what my justice looks like. Mhmm. It's by doing things like this.
Carol Ventresca [:Yeah. Stopping it before. Yeah. As opposed to yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. You gave a great picture in regards to, you know, us just to stop saying the, well, this can't happen in my neighborhood or my family isn't affected or it can't be our neighbors. It just we're too well off, you know, that sort of thing. It's really good picture of of of sadly what you had to go through, but it's an example.
Theresa Flores [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:There are over 1,300,000 missing and runaway children in the US. Can you talk to us about human trafficking and and why it it really is in our own neighborhood?
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So Ohio is ranked the top 5 in the in the country of states for trafficking. A lot of that is due to, the highway systems, and and plus, you know, I have to Way, Ohio is very good at a note of going and doing these things and rescuing people. So, of course, your number is gonna be higher. But it takes in account the number of calls to the, hotline. And so Way have quite a few calls that come into the hotline either as tips, or as victims needing to get out. So, so this is the 2nd leading crime in the United States. And I I've been doing this for 18 years and I can tell you probably 90% of every audience that I go and speak to have no idea that.
Theresa Flores [:And so that itself infuriates me as a survivor that if this is the 2nd leading crime, why aren't we talking about this on the nightly news? This is really needs to be blasted out. And so I do thank you for that. But the the statistics are horrendous. We have, 1,300,000 missing and runaway kids in our country. Again, you know, where are they going? Who's, you know, what what's happening to them? That's another statistic that is really, you know, impactful when we think of our children out there on the streets. 80% are we believe 80% are women, but we are thinking that a lot more men have been trafficked than than we previously knew. It could be up to 40%, survivors are male and then 50% are children. So, this is a very, very huge issue that's not being addressed in this country.
Carol Ventresca [:Is there, an a a way for us to make that more known in in the media? I mean Yeah. You know, unfortunately, everything is, buried in the politics, which never stops. It used to be, you know, one time 1 about a month every year, we talked politics, and now it's 247. Yeah. But isn't there some way that this can become more ingrained?
Theresa Flores [:I do think it it's the you know, it needs to be done by media, by, you know, journalists, by people that are passionate about getting this out there. It's, you know, unfortunately, it can be very sensational because we're talking sex trafficking. Oh my gosh. You know? But there's also a lot of labor trafficking even in Ohio. Mhmm. And so really getting journalists on board to talk about this inappropriate terms. A lot of times, the terms that they're using are not appropriate. Or very sensational.
Theresa Flores [:And very sensational. Yeah. So I I do believe that media can help with this.
Carol Ventresca [:Well, if you think about the children that they found who were working in the meat Looking plants
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Carol Ventresca [:Migrant children here illegally. And it the all of the emphasis was on the fact that they were illegal, not that we were having 10 year olds working in a meat packing plan.
Theresa Flores [:Right. Yeah. The focus is on the the incorrect part. Right. Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:Goodness gracious. So okay. Well, we're we're gonna keep we're probably gonna go off on all kinds of tangents as as Brett mentioned earlier. So, SOAP has provided services to young victims for 14 years. Tell us more about the agency, the mission, how you engage with communities and volunteers to create these needed support programs.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So, I was going around the country sharing my story and educating audiences on on trafficking. You know, churches, social or civic groups, high schools, colleges. And people would get really upset and be like, oh my gosh. I have I've never heard of this. How come I haven't heard of this? What can I do? And I was like, I don't know what you can do. Just don't go by sex. Don't go to strip clubs.
Theresa Flores [:You know? If you see something that's unusual, say something. Even if you're wrong, donate money to organizations or pray about it. You know? And it's like, that was all I had. And, I was coming home from Detroit one night, and I realized there was more people could do. There's a lot of Theresa's that are still in those motels being left for dead, and I thought Way can reach them. And, but we need people to help us. There's a hotline number. Like when I was being trafficked, there was no hotline number and I thought she doesn't know there's a hotline number.
Theresa Flores [:And these hotels and motels think that he or she is just there by choice and nobody does this by choice. So I thought, why don't I get people to help me put the hotline number on, say, a bar of soap and give it to a hotel for free? And they can put it in their rooms, and she could find it, and she would have a way to call somebody to get out. And so that was 14 years ago. We started, getting people to help us put the labels on bars of soap. Now, we actually also have makeup remover wipes for higher end hotels, and educational information for hotels. And we give them the missing children's posters. So I make up these posters before any outreach across the country. A few days before the actual outreach of kids that are missing locally.
Theresa Flores [:And I can't tell you how many times, you know, when we show them to the housekeepers, the front desk staff, they're like, oh, yeah. She was in here last week. Oh, yeah. And I'm like, okay. Now when you see her, now you'll know what to do. So it's been, really amazing because people of any age can do this. So we've had families bring their 4 year old kids and put labels on bars of soap. We've had 94 year old nuns sit there and label soap.
Theresa Flores [:And it's, really the hotels and motels have been very gracious, very willing to take it because they don't want this happening either. A lot of them are family people, and they didn't realize it that it was happening too. They thought that they were there willingly. So
Carol Ventresca [:So so if somebody wants to to do that work, they can just contact you through the website and and find out when you're putting those lit those labels on.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So we generally follow big sporting events for our, our national team. So Way do every Super Bowl. We do Kentucky Derby, the Arnold here. We do we go the final 4, first Forward, wherever a lot of people are coming to a town, especially men and because that's who the buyers are. And so then we we go to to all of those big events around the country. But then we also have chapters that start up after those of people that are like, wow. This was really cool.
Theresa Flores [:I wanna keep doing this. And so we have currently of 25 chapters around the country. We're looking for more in, in more of the the big cities like Boston and Baltimore, places like that we're trying to get exposure to, and on the West Coast. But people, can join a chapter. They can go onto our website and see where their chapters are and contact the president of that chapter. So that's ongoing.
Carol Ventresca [:And this is all volunteers?
Theresa Flores [:All volunteers. Wonderful.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Good. So the program is designed to reach out to possible trafficking victims through the bars of soap base Right. As you mentioned. How does it work specifically? You you kind of mentioned, you know, the the volunteers, what they're Looking, but also the other services and programs that provide that outreach effort that you're doing.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So once they, a victim sees that bar of soap, it's, she or he will call that number, and that goes to Polaris Project in Washington DC. They're span 247 in like a 116 languages. And they determine if she wants to get out right now, if she just wants to talk, like, what is her needs. And they know locally Forward wherever she's calling, who is the local contact, that has been trained in this and can either come get her or call the police who've been trained. And so then they put all those pieces of the puzzle together. So we don't get those phone calls that goes to them. And then, hopefully, the goal is that she gets out of the situation.
Theresa Flores [:Law enforcement will hopefully get her services. If it's maybe addiction services or housing, FBI victims advocates can come in sometimes and help with that. Because obviously, their goal is prosecution of the trafficker. Our goal is just get her to safety and get her out of that and start her healing journey. Mhmm. So that's as much hands on as we have with that part of it. So I call it, like, we're planting the seeds.
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Theresa Flores [:We do all the leg work and let Polaris and law enforcement take over after that.
Brett Johnson [:I was just gonna ask how I can't imagine it's you're allowing volunteers to be in a dangerous situation. Yeah. But again, it can happen, of course, but it's that that's not the intent.
Theresa Flores [:No. Yeah. We don't do any of that.
Brett Johnson [:Set it up and then the sting happens
Theresa Flores [:Correct.
Brett Johnson [:By the phone call or however that victim is looking to be helped.
Theresa Flores [:Yep. For by the professionals that are already trained in doing it. Our volunteers are just boots on the ground Yeah. Laying down those seeds.
Carol Ventresca [:How long has the, Polaris Project been around?
Theresa Flores [:Gosh. Probably 15 years, I would say. Maybe 20, as as long as I've been doing this.
Brett Johnson [:Okay.
Carol Ventresca [:Do do you have any clue how many phone calls they're getting every year?
Theresa Flores [:They get quite a few. You know, if you're talking about Ohio, the you can go right online, and you can see their yearly report of how many phone calls I get by by state. So, I mean, you know, 100 of 1,000.
Carol Ventresca [:Wow. Yeah. When you were talking about Ohio being in the top 5 in the US, when you think about it, Ohio has a large number of metropolitan areas.
Theresa Flores [:We do. Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:More so than a lot of other states.
Theresa Flores [:Right.
Carol Ventresca [:And so it makes sense that it's going to more likely be in large cities than out in the hinterland. It's harder to hide, I would think.
Theresa Flores [:Oh, interesting. So it's we have a lot of what we call familial trafficking in the rural areas, especially in Ohio and Michigan. I work a lot in Michigan too. So, yeah, you're gonna see more of the, maybe those that have, addiction issues and, more of the trafficking of over 18 in your big cities. But you're gonna see more of the younger ones being trafficked in the rural areas, of and and that goes missed a lot by children services, teachers, you know. It it's a really horrendous, those situations, and it's, like I said, a very much rural areas for that.
Carol Ventresca [:But again, it's that family connection. Yeah. What you went through and what kids are going through today, the abusers have a support system Yeah. Supporting the abuse. And the victims are left on their own. Correct.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Well, this this is again, we're going down a little bit of a hole here. But it's my in my mind, I'm Looking so the traffickers are obviously getting smarter
Theresa Flores [:Yes.
Brett Johnson [:About okay. First thing I go check is their the soap or not. Are they are they really stupid? Are they just really pretty stupid?
Theresa Flores [:The I I think it's a combination of You know what I mean? But yeah. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:You know, because once more more and more the word gets out Right. You're gonna have to become smarter in what you do to change things up. And again, I just I just that how do you keep evolving?
Theresa Flores [:That I
Brett Johnson [:guess that's my question.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. Well, we've evolved in the things that we give in hotels because a lot of hotels now have, like, the pump. You know? So Right. I'm like, oh, no.
Brett Johnson [:There you go. Okay. Right. Right. You just think of because Yeah. It's it's never it's never static.
Theresa Flores [:Correct. Yeah. The nice thing is though, the pimps, which a pimp is a trafficker. Right. They generally don't go into the hotel rooms. They generally will drop her off at the front desk.
Carol Ventresca [:Okay.
Theresa Flores [:She'll go in, stay there all night. He'll make the phone calls of who's coming every half hour, and then pick her up in the morning when she's made him the money that she has to make. Okay. So, generally, you know, sure. There's probably a rare few that will go in, maybe a rare few that will see that, you know, red label on the soaps, but I you know, I'm not gonna get concerned about the 1 or 2 Right. Because of the sheer magnitude. I mean, we've given out 3,000,000 bars of soap, since we started this. So Yeah.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Good. No. No. Again, it's it's that how it evolves. How how how are you getting smarter and smarter to to to effectively get to these, these victims. Yeah. Right.
Carol Ventresca [:Okay. So you mentioned that, you're going to large events where it's sporting events, men come, and 3,000,000 bars of soap is a lot of soap.
Theresa Flores [:It is
Carol Ventresca [:a lot. How do you determine what where the next events are going to be? But also, isn't this part of a national network of volunteers that are of you know, with other groups that are doing the same kinds of things?
Theresa Flores [:No. We're we're the only ones doing this. Okay.
Carol Ventresca [:So it's so that so that nationally, it's your chat address.
Theresa Flores [:Yes. Okay. Yeah. So we we run it. I have a national team that consists of law enforcement, retired fire chiefs, that come from all around the country. So from Charlotte, from Detroit, Columbus, we have quite a few. And that they go to these big outreaches that we plan. And then we partner up with local organizations.
Theresa Flores [:Maybe the Junior League, YWCA, Way we partner with a lot of churches and to get the volunteers to come together. So a lot of work goes into a big, you know, national outreach like the Super Bowl. Mhmm. And it it each each one of those kinds of outreaches cost us about 12 to $15,000, just to be able to get enough materials printed and soaps and all of that together. So, so we do that nationwide. And then, like I said, the the local ones will continue doing it. So I was just you know, a lot of time you ask how how we know where to go. So sometimes it'll just be somebody reaching out to me saying, hey.
Theresa Flores [:I live in San Antonio. Have you thought about doing the final 4 next year? I'm like, oh, I hadn't. Let's do it. You know? And so really getting those connections of who is local, who wants to help. Can, we had 2 people call us from, Tucson and say, hey. Did you know the Gem Show is going on next year? And we'd like to do an outreach. I'm like, didn't think the Gem Show would be bringing a lot of trafficking, but why not? And so it doesn't have to be a big sporting event, just a big event where a lot of people are coming. Because that we know the traffickers will be there because that means more money for them.
Theresa Flores [:So we're gonna be there too.
Carol Ventresca [:Interesting. Have you ever had any connection to, like, the local, what are the organizations that deal with, travel to cities? Yeah. You know, the, like, Experience Columbus who brings in all
Theresa Flores [:of these Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:These huge conventions and
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. Experience Columbus has been great. Like, they'll take our brochures and stuff and put in give them to the hotels and motels before the Arnold so that they can display them in the front lobby.
Brett Johnson [:So, yeah.
Theresa Flores [:They and so yeah. They and actually, the Hotel and Lodging Association, especially here for Ohio, has been very supportive. A lot of the different hotels will even their staff will buy some bars of soap and label it for us and donate it back. Red Roof Inn, their corporate headquarters is here in Columbus, and they've been extremely, supportive. They have, paid for the printing of our missing children's posters every time. And yeah. So And as you
Carol Ventresca [:said, these hotel folks are family people. Yeah. But also, it's their business. Why would they want their business tainted by something like that? Correct.
Brett Johnson [:Absolutely. Okay. Phenomenal. Well, you know, when you hear the words prostitution and human trafficking, Way usually, you know, think of young women and we talked about this already that young men are just as vulnerable. Are those services a little bit different? Is the approach a little bit different for men than versus women in regards to that that phone call that you get from a young man and you know is it a little different?
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So we're starting to work with male survivors. We have a wellness weekend that we do for survivors every year. And, last year, we did a very special, male survivor wellness weekend to help, you know, find out what are their needs. How are they different than females? And we found that they're really not a lot different. But the shame and the guilt, for men is a lot different than for females. So it's very hard for them to come Forward, and it might take years years. So, so we we try to really find out how we can help help them.
Theresa Flores [:Unfortunately, there are very, very few resources for male survivors. If you're thinking residential programs, supportive, you know, mental health addiction, it is very difficult. And it's something that we're working on trying to to really, do a better job on services for males, specifically.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I think that it's I think, generally, it's hard to wrap your head around a male being prostitute. It's just a Prostituted. Yes. Thank you. Like history. You know, that's where I think. But yeah.
Brett Johnson [:I mean, it's it's that eye opening. It does exist. You don't have to try to understand it. It just exists and does take care of it.
Theresa Flores [:And and I think one of the things that makes it easier to understand is if you approach it from the point of view that nobody wants to do this. In our country, we think of prostitution as a choice that people make. It's you know, I can't tell you how many times I've heard, well, it's a a profession. It is not a profession. You know, this is an oppression of people. And so if we think of it as they're being forced to do this, somebody is behind them always, forcing them to do this. So it is a very, very small number. I mean, like, 2 to 4% that are what we call sex workers, that are doing this by choice.
Theresa Flores [:Mhmm. But we also know many of those people that say they're doing it by choice actually were trafficked, as as younger children. So, we have to always remember that they're not a prostitute. They're they're being prostituted or were prostituted by somebody. Alright.
Carol Ventresca [:Going back to your question about young men, people think that they can protect themselves.
Theresa Flores [:Oh, yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:You know, that they that they're stronger than girls or or that that they can run a fat faster or whatever. But but it goes back to that notion when you were talking about being vulnerable, being naive, and that the potential of other things coming into play like drug use.
Theresa Flores [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:Or being blackmailed.
Carol Ventresca [:Being blackmailed. And being blackmailed. Being being homeless. Yeah. Being for whatever reason.
Theresa Flores [:LGBTQ kids that are kicked out, they are very, very vulnerable, becoming trafficked. So Yeah. Yeah. That's a whole the homeless and LGBTQ Forward sure. Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:We we've already sort of touched on this, but I think it's important to to talk about it again. You know, I live here in Ventresca Ohio. I've never known anybody that I knew of. That was traffic. I mean, who knows? Somebody hit it well. What should I be doing as part of the general public? What can we ask our listeners to think about in terms of saving these young lives?
Theresa Flores [:Really, like, looking for the signs. Right? Or if you see something that just looks suspicious and doesn't feel right, then, you know, call the hotline number. Call 911. If you're in a hotel and you see an older man with a younger girl and she's just not looking up, little eye contact, and you just have that feeling like, Way. This is kind of unusual. You know, you can say something to Our, like, hey. Are you okay? Trying to, you know, get her alone. Go to the bathroom.
Theresa Flores [:Nursing, professions, you know, have a really advantageous way that they can get to, to victims. But even, you know, just the neighbor. Like, my neighbor saw me run through his backyard several nights a week at midnight in my pajamas, and yet he never said anything to my parents. Like, I wish that he would have said, Way, do you know that your daughter's, like, you know, going out at night? And I mean, that would have probably saved me from years of this happening, but he didn't. And what did he think? Maybe he thought, oh, she's just, you know, a bad kid or she's just, out fooling around. But I had pajamas on, you know? So like, look beyond, like, just the surface of it. If you were at Easton and you saw saw a young girl, you know, maybe inappropriately dressed, kind of outside waiting just that they're, like, you know, 13 years of age at 1 in the morning after you got over to a movie or left the funny bone, you know, go up to her and say, can I help you, honey? Like, I I wish, you know, people would just say, can I help you? And even if she says no, at least you tried, you know. And if you see something, they like, if you really think, like, oh my gosh, This is not good for this child.
Theresa Flores [:Call the police. You know? It it doesn't matter if you're wrong. I'm gonna give you permission to be wrong. Because what happens if you're right and you didn't do anything? So
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So community members can also support SOAP through donations and volunteering. Can you provide some suggestions on how donations are utilized also the types of volunteer opportunities available Yeah. In the agency too.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So we're a small organization, but we are mighty. We do a lot of work. I am the only full time paid employee and I get very little, because we want all of our money to go towards services for survivors. So, we just have a very small staff, work out of my house and keep expenses low. But we really rely on those donations to keep us going. We we get a few small grants. It's been very hard to get grants.
Theresa Flores [:It's very competitive lately. And it it's just, a lot of us are struggling financially to to do this work, which is a shame because it needs to be done as a second leading crime. So we look a lot at churches, individual donors, just to help out. Our like I said, these the big SOAP outreaches are about 12 to $15,000, and that all goes for supplies, for these outreaches. So the next one being New Orleans. Right? Getting there and doing all that, that's probably gonna be, oh my gosh, probably 30,000 bars of soap to go just at least for that. And then another thing that we do is those wellness weekends for the survivors. Those are really becoming a lifeline for these survivors who maybe don't even know another survivor, who've never talked about it, who don't know, how to de stress when they're getting activated and triggered.
Theresa Flores [:We we pour into them, mind, body, and soul. And so we do that completely free. We're the only organization in the United States that will fly survivors no matter where they're from to our wellness weekends and provide it completely free for them. We wanna remove all these barriers. 60% of survivors live under the poverty line. A lot are struggling with addictions. This is when men buy somebody for sex, it is not victimless. Like, a lot of damage is done each time.
Theresa Flores [:So, and these are layer upon layer of trauma. So the money that we raise goes into these wellness weekends. We're we try to do a conference each year on, on an issue that hasn't really been talked about. So, male survivor trafficking, we we do a conference on that. We also have a support group in Michigan that's for Northeastern Ohio I mean, Northwestern Ohio and then all of Michigan. We have about 20 survivors that come every month to, to our support group, because that connectivity is really important to healing. So
Carol Ventresca [:It back to the conference. Is that open if somebody would like to attend?
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. We're just trying to raise money, actually, right now to be able to have another one.
Carol Ventresca [:Do do you have a date for that?
Brett Johnson [:We
Theresa Flores [:were looking at September, October, and we'd like to have another male survivor wellness weekend, by the end of the year as well, to help the these men really heal. Who who who would benefit from being at the conference? Our social workers or Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:As you said, nurses?
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. Anybody that works with kids, right, or in the mental health field or addictions. So, CASA have been great at coming CASA volunteers, social workers, nursing, law enforcement, children's services, anybody that works in the schools. You know, the schools are really behind the 8 ball on this. So, all of those kind of professions should be there and need to know this.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I'm not a big advocate on necessarily that government can fix all, but they do have the the power of law and and helping out. Have you had any success with you know state state level legislators or again on the national level in regards to getting their ear to recognize. I mean, like you said, it's the 2nd largest.
Theresa Flores [:Right. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Crime going on Right. State by state, you would think that they would kind of go, well, what can we do to help here?
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. And that's kind of how I started doing this Way going to that conference. Some state legislators were there and saying you know, people were the questions in the audience were like, well, how many is this happening to? And they're like, we don't even know because a lot of survivors aren't coming forward and talking about it. And the moment that moment that I realized I was a survivor, I went right up to them and said, I will give you my voice, because we do need laws. But there wasn't even a law against human trafficking in Ohio, before 2,000. So, so I we I testified in front of the Senate and the House to get these laws passed. One of the laws we got passed was the Safe Harbor Law. Now every state has this law where you're not allowed to arrest a minor for prostitution, knowing that that's not prostitution.
Theresa Flores [:It's it's human trafficking. And it took 5 years to get that passed which is crazy that it would take you 5 years to convince somebody that, you know, we shouldn't arrest minors for, you know, prostituting because somebody we know is, you know, doing that to them. But I also was able to get a lot of laws passed in Michigan. And one of them, a senator had asked me, you know, what what can we do? What can we do for survivors? What do they need? And so we came she came up with a a package of 22 bills, and got 21 of them passed at once. And one of the bills I'm fond of and and proud of, is that they removed the statute of limitation for minors being trafficked. So when when I realized that something had happened to me and I wanted some justice, but not having those words, and was turned down, it was because the statute of limitations was over for anything. And so, I said, you know what? After 6 years, I still didn't know I was trafficked. After 15 years, which a lot of times is a statute of limitations.
Theresa Flores [:I didn't know I was trafficked. After 20 years, I wasn't ready to talk. And so they removed the statute of limitations. So if you're a minor in Michigan and you get trafficked, you can go back and get justice no matter how old you are. And they call it the Theresa Flores Law. So that was pretty darn close.
Carol Ventresca [:Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. To have your name on something oh, good.
Theresa Flores [:You know? Good.
Carol Ventresca [:Yes. Yes.
Theresa Flores [:But we definitely I think we do have really good laws across the across this country on trafficking. We just don't have the resources really to go after it like we need to. There's not enough law enforcement, not enough prosecutors that are gonna take these cases. And victims are very scared to testify. So it is a it's a big problem all the way around.
Carol Ventresca [:And especially if it's a young person, going up against, the defendant who is maybe well known in the community or whatever. Mhmm.
Theresa Flores [:It
Carol Ventresca [:it's a they said this person said they, He said, she said kind of thing. Yeah.
Theresa Flores [:How you prove it.
Carol Ventresca [:Right. Exactly. Exactly.
Brett Johnson [:And they
Theresa Flores [:have that fear, that terror. They just want their life back, you know. And, so there's some groups out there, some biker groups that, have a, organization that will they will go and they will go with the victim to court and sit with her That's
Carol Ventresca [:cool.
Theresa Flores [:Just to be, like, you know, very intimidating and but for the other person. Right? And then, like, protecting Our, and that's really cool when they do that.
Carol Ventresca [:Oh, that's really wonderful. I know. Yeah. So you've got some events coming up. And also, anything any new programs in the pipeline?
Theresa Flores [:Gosh. We we just need more funding for the for new programs. My my dream, my desire is to really start a dental program for survivors. I probably 90% of all the survivors I know are, have severe dental issues and and no insurance, to pay for it. One of my dear friends, she's a survivor. And, she actually was trafficked by a group, escaped, and, was thought she was in the clear and was, you know, really excited. And they caught her again, brought her back, and they removed every one of her top teeth as a punishment. So even after she got out of it, you know, you have that daily reminder, of of that.
Theresa Flores [:And so, we've helped her raise $30,000 Forward, complete new dentures. And so, and there's a long list. We have a long list of survivors that need dental issue help, from around the country, not just here in in Columbus. So that's my dream, to be able to start that program eventually. We would like to have another retreat for, for the mail, another conference, Johnson then just really to raising money for this next, outreach in in the Super Bowl. It's gonna be probably our biggest, Super Bowl outreach that we've done yet in 14 years.
Brett Johnson [:So Way mentioned there are other agencies working together as a network to support, of support for trafficking victims, throughout the country. Can you give us some examples of the resources in Ohio we should know of it's for some reason, it's in need.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So depending on where you are, obviously, you could just Google human trafficking organizations, you know, near me. In Columbus, we have the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition. They meet monthly at the Salvation Army on Main Street. That's the 1st Wednesday of every month. And it's open to people that are just wanna learn more about human trafficking. Join a group and and see how they can help. There's the collaborative initiative against human trafficking in Cleveland.
Theresa Flores [:University of Toledo does a lot of amazing work. And then Cincinnati Eyes Open International. So there's a lot of Ohio, really, I have to tell you, has an amazing amount of anti human trafficking organizations compared to any other state. And I'm not saying that just because I'm from here. I travel a lot. And we our law enforcement, our attorney general, Dave Yost, has been very supportive of trying to take down these traffickers. So, we're really fortunate here. People that wanna volunteer, they can go on to our website.
Theresa Flores [:It's www.soapproject.org. We have a special volunteer section. They can sign up and just say, you know, how they wanna help where they're at. And so there is a there is a lot that people can do. If you belong to a church, to a civic group, if your kids go to a certain school, getting speakers out there and talking about this, really getting people aware and educated is the number one way we can stop this.
Carol Ventresca [:You had mentioned too Homeland Security at website, and there are other governmental organizations that just explain what it is. If you're new to this topic and you're still confused
Brett Johnson [:Oh, yes.
Carol Ventresca [:There are places to go to get that information.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. Polaris Project, again, has one of the best, websites to explain stuff, homeland security. The blue campaign is a really good one as well. They have things that you can print off. They have posters. If you own a business, you know, getting these posters, Ohio has a really great law. Anybody that has a license, some sort of licensure, has to have a 1 hour human trafficking training every year. So that's cosmetologists.
Theresa Flores [:That's, you know, massage therapists. It's social workers, teachers, anybody in the health care field. So I'm really proud of that law that we have here.
Carol Ventresca [:Theresa, one other resource that people can go to, particularly if they have questions, are your books.
Theresa Flores [:Oh, yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:So why don't you tell us a little bit about The Slave Across the Brett?
Theresa Flores [:Okay. So this is oh, my baby. So I wrote, my first book, The Sacred Bath, when I first realized I was a survivor. And I just, you know, I kind of vomited all of these, you know, memories and everything. And then I got an amazing publisher and agent, and we turned it into The Slave Across the Street. And, it has been a best seller. It is my memoir. And now we have the 10 year at, anniversary edition of it.
Theresa Flores [:Because when I first wrote it, I wasn't ready to probably recognize some of the, family issues So this edition, talks about my story of being trafficked. Because peep a lot of people have heard my story on TEDx or, you know, the Today Show, things like that. And they see what I do now, but they don't know those middle years of what that the PTSD looked like and the effects that the trafficking had on. I didn't just wake up and become this, you know, professional speaker and, you know, activist. It took a long time, a lot of bad decisions, you know, and things like that. So the 10 year anniversary is really a full look at, how I got victimized, what I went through to get to where I am today.
Carol Ventresca [:And and then you also have a student's guide to modern day slavery.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. Slavery in the Land of the Free. This one's been, approved by the New Jersey Board of Education. So it is a book that is available to any student in New Jersey. I'd like to have every state do that. And it is an educational book for middle and high school students on what is human trafficking. You know, let's start. Let's get to where the age of the average age of entry into trafficking in the US is 13 years of age.
Theresa Flores [:So we need to reach them. Right? And so Way talk about labor trafficking, sex trafficking globally overseas and here. And then at the end of each chapter is a freedom fighter challenge for the students to do, like, go to your closet and write down all the different countries that your clothes were made in, you know, and then start researching that because not everybody got paid to make your clothes. And so we really wanna wake up students. Anybody of any age can read it, but we wanted something that was at a student's level, a resource book that they could write a paper on. Because these kids are really interested in this issue, and they know it's happening.
Carol Ventresca [:Mhmm. Yeah. They're they will hear about it from their friends long before Oh,
Brett Johnson [:yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:A parent or a teacher or anyone else will hear.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. It's crazy because people are like, aren't you afraid of what to say to kids or, like, what they'll hear? They know already. They know what's going on, and they they just need help putting those pieces of the puzzle together and you know, helping out their friend if this is happening to their friend or themselves.
Brett Johnson [:And being believed by that Being
Theresa Flores [:believed.
Brett Johnson [:By that parent
Carol Ventresca [:Sure.
Brett Johnson [:Or, you know, the the person they tell, that they're not just making something up.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. When I They
Brett Johnson [:get their facts. Like, I know what I'm talking about. I know.
Theresa Flores [:When I talk to students, you know, there's always a line of students waiting to talk to me in private afterwards. Like, what about this situation? It's like, yeah. You you know more than you should be knowing about this right now.
Carol Ventresca [:At 13.
Theresa Flores [:Yeah. So, we've had we were I do a lot of Catholic schools. And, we had a boy come up to us afterwards just in tears and saying, this is happening to me right now. And so we, you know, talked to the principal and the student this counselor. And they said, we were going to expel him tomorrow because he has been acting out so badly. We had no idea. And I'm like, I'm so glad that I was here to, you know, be able to make him feel safe enough to open up. So yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:This is an amazing topic. And and, Brett and I talked a lot about is this something that we wanted to have on the podcast? And thank you so much. I have to give a shout out to my friend, Deb Hall Bonotti, who is with the Westerville Lions. She's the one who called me and said, you have got to put her on your podcast program. This is incredible. It really is. And so I hope you'll come back and tell us more some sometime. Keep us updated on what's going on.
Carol Ventresca [:Listeners, we're going to make sure you've got all the resources on on our website to what you're going to need, if you or somebody you know Yep. Needs help. We always ask our guests to give us last words of wisdom. Anything we haven't mentioned that you wanna make sure that people hear or reiterate what we've already said?
Theresa Flores [:Really, like you said earlier, that this is happening all around us in every single ZIP code. We work so hard, right, to get educated, to move to the suburbs, to go to you know, send our kids to great grit schools, and think that they're safe.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Theresa Flores [:But really, unfortunately, nobody is safe from this happening. It's these traffickers are so good at this, and they're making so much money right underneath our nose. So, we we just have to do a better job as neighbors, as, you know, churchgoers, as teachers, whatever, to be Looking for these signs because nobody should have to go through this.
Carol Ventresca [:Mhmm. Thank you.
Brett Johnson [:Well, many thanks to our expert, Theresa Flores, founder and president of The SOAP Project, for joining us today. Listeners, thank you for joining us. Don't forget to check out our website show notes for contact information and the resources we just discussed today. You can find all of this at looking Forward our Way, and we are looking forward to hearing your feedback on this or any of our other podcast episodes.
