Advocates for human-trafficked survivors to speak at Lake County Golden Triangle Rotary
MOUNT DORA — Carolyn Pankalla and Alan Wilkett, advocates for prevention and survivors of human trafficking, will co-present at the Rotary Club of Lake County Golden Triangle on Sept. 8 at 11:30 a.m. at the Country Club of Mount Dora, 1900 Country Club Blvd., Mount Dora.
Members of the public are invited to attend. Cost is $20 per person, which includes lunch. Registration is required. Respond to attend by emailing rpjones54@comcast.net no later than Sept. 5.
The duo plans to discuss the size and scope of human trafficking victimization, which includes children, women and men who are abused for their bodies and labor.
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Pankalla and Wilkett describe “grooming” tactics employed by traffickers to manipulate their victims. Addressing parents as well as other people responsible for a child’s well-being, they advise on how to spot trafficking as well as create barriers for the activity.
Who are Carolyn Pankalla and Alan Wilkett?
Pankalla is the worship pastor for the First Baptist Church of Clermont. She has co-hosted television shows as well as appeared on the 700 Club, TBN, Life Today with James & Betty Robinson and others.
“Broken into Beautiful” and “Veterans of the USA” are two singles sung by Pankalla, who has performed before international audiences. She is planning Serenity Acres, a two-year residential program for abused and trafficked girls.
Wilkett is a retired corporal for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, where he served for 15 years and was awarded as the Law Enforcement Deputy of the Year in 2007.
With more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, he was also honored as the 2017 Florida Human Trafficking Law Enforcement Official of the Year and recently received the Law Enforcement Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Crime Prevention Association.
The statistics on human trafficking are grim
Florida ranks No. 3 in the nation for trafficking victims.
An estimated 40.3 million people worldwide are in modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage, according to 2016 statistics from the International Labour Organization’s website.
Out those trapped in forced labor, 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture, 4.8 million persons in forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million persons in forced labor imposed by state authorities.
One in four victims of modern slavery are children. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by forced labor, accounting for 99% of victims in the commercial sex industry, and 58% in other sectors.
If you need help or suspect human trafficking, call 911 or contact the National Human Trafficking hotline by calling 1-888-373-7888 or texting HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733).
Rotary focuses on fighting against human trafficking
“Sex trafficking is one kind of modern slavery,” says the Rotary International website. “But there are others that fall under ‘labor trafficking.’”
People find themselves trapped in jobs in forestry, farming, restaurants, carnivals, and traveling sales crews of young people peddling magazine subscriptions. And they are not allowed to leave.
The Rotary Action Group Against Slavery and other groups in the organization are fighting against human trafficking. The Rotary Club of Community Action Against Human Trafficking, originating in Kansas, and the Seattle-based Rotary Club of the Pacific Northwest Ending Sex Trafficking are also leaning into the effort.
Ruth Jones, coordinator of the Sept. 8 luncheon, said that a wide variety of community members have concerns about human trafficking in the local area. Among those who have already signed up to attend are elected officials, clergy, law enforcement and school counselors.
The Rotary Club of Lake County Golden Triangle is a nonprofit organization that is one of the more than 34,000 Rotary International clubs around the world. Encompassing Eustis, Tavares and Mount Dora, its fundraising efforts provide scholarships to local students pursuing higher education as well as support charitable organizations throughout Lake County.
The club engages in a wide range of community service projects, such as food drives, annual holiday party for children in need, and Adopt-A-Highway. Find out more at www.lakecountyrotary.com.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Human trafficking to be discussed during meeting in Mount Dora, Florida
