Assly Sayyar, President of Soroptimist of Vista North County Inland

Assly Sayyar, 2018-2019 President, SI Vista/NCI — Vista, CA …Luck was certainly a lady in September! Our first ever charity casino “A Night at the Museum” was a tremendous success. The money we raised that night will go towards our Dream programs and our ongoing fight against human trafficking.

Thank You’s

In addition to our amazing members who volunteered their time and energy, I want to give a special Soroptimist shout-out to our community sponsors and donors including: Paul Campo, Esq., Cosmic Solar, Essential Spa, Mother Earth Brew Co., Maurice Car’rie Vineyard & Winery, Palomar Mountain Spring Water, Twisted Horn Mead & Cider, Latitude 33 Brewing Company, and Judy and Victor Gregorie, among others. You have our gratitude for supporting our mission of helping women and girls right here in our community.

Coming Up

In addition to our casino night fundraiser, our programs committees are also hard at work. Our Dream it, Be it program kicked off in September with its first session of the school year at VIDA Middle School (photos on our Facebook page and our online Photo Album). We are accepting applications for our Live Your Dream educational awards online through November 15, 2018 and we are planning our Annual Human  Traffi cking Awareness Walk for January 12, 2019. We are also “playing hard” too, with upcoming social events for members and non members alike.

All are Welcome to Contribute
We welcome everyone to join us for a monthly program meeting or one of our upcoming events mentioned in this newsletter and learn about our Dream programs. If attending a meeting and full membership is not for you, you can become one of our Distinguished Soroptimist Sponsors and continue to donate to our upcoming fundraising events. You can also support our mission by signing up at www.liveyourdream.org and learning more about how you can help women and girls strive and succeed. You can “like” us on Facebook and “follow” us on Twitter and as we head into the holiday season go to www. smile.amazon.com to support our organization while you shop by choosing us as your charity of choice. There are a host of ways you can take action in furtherance of our mission.

Whichever way you choose, we thank you for your generosity.

Anti-Human Trafficking Collaborative…

UPDATE by Kaye Van Nevel — September 6, 2018 Meeting Recap

ABOVE: Kaye Van Nevel with guest speaker Joseph Travers.

Guest Speaker Joseph Travers of Saved In America showed a video, the true story of a kidnapped girl
and her concerned parents. His team tracks down and rescues missing children and has a record of 95 out of 95! Travers, who had worked narcotics and dealt with gangs in LA, decided to form a rescue group using his knowledge. He partnered with US Navy Seals who were rescuing victims overseas. Their first domestic operation was in December 2014. They are volunteers and do not charge the clients, who are parents seeking runaway/kidnapped children.

His volunteers are licensed and insured Private Investigators who can work with law enforcement, to ensure confidentiality, and they have an Attorney on staff . They use sophisticated surveillance equipment
(including drones) and techniques to find out where the girls are being held and then they tell law enforcement where they are exactly so local law enforcement can get them. They themselves never have to touch anyone, it’s the gang/narcotics detectives that go in.

Travers said 60% of the 95 girls his group rescued were foster kids. Girls in places like Casa de Amparo in San Marcos are sometimes allowed to have cellphones they can use to call their pimps to pick them up for a “job” and bring them back to the shelter! Casa said they got no help from local law enforcement to prevent this, so Joseph’s group helped and successfully prevented 15 girls from being picked up by their pimp.

Travers said the key to success is when a child is reported as a runaway to get to her before the traffickers do, within the first 48 hours. He said recruiters are in every high school and middle school. They are students themselves who are being groomed by gangs to target vulnerable girls. These boys are called “pee wees” and are as young as 11. Travers said 40% of all runaways become trafficked. He said law enforcement must be retrained about how to handle missing persons’ reports.
Each rescue costs about $5500. His group relies on donations and volunteers. They have case managers and photos and video is preserved as evidence useable in court to sue the bad guys. The traffickers always plead poverty, but have cash hidden or own property, so the homeowners of the property where girls are found can now be sued. This long awaited model is now being recognized and duplicated across the country. For more info see SavedInAmerica.org.

Collaborative members at Sept. 6 meeting. In addition to speakers, members share information and ideas.

Next Meeting November 1st
Our next Collaborative meeting is November 1st, the day before the SIVNCI business meeting. Jamie Quient, Esq. will be the guest speaker. She is the President and Managing Attorney of Free to Thrive, a nonprofit organization that empowers survivors
of human trafficking in their journey to becoming thrivers, while providing hands-on experiential learning opportunities to law and graduate students. Prior to launching Free to Thrive in 2017, Jamie practiced civil litigation for five years at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP. The University of San Diego. Point Loma Nazarene University recognized Jamie’s contribution to the fight against human trafficking, awarding her its inaugural 2016 Hope Rising Award. Jamie also received a commendation from the City of San Diego Human Relations Commission for her leadership in combating  human trafficking of women and girls in San Diego.

Kaye to Speak to Womens Group Nov. 3
On November 3, Kaye Van Nevel will make a presentation on Human Trafficking to the women educators of Delta Kapa Gamma.
S.T.A.T. Collecting Items for  Trafficking Survivors Our South County counterpart, S.T.A.T. (Soroptimists Together Against Trafficking) is collecting supplies to be donated to trafficking survivors.