Fighting Sex Trafficking

[The Community Foundation for GNH]

Young girls clad in red dresses, accessorized with numbers for identification sat as prey among predators. As the girls watched cartoons, the predators watched them, shrewdly choosing their next victim. But, one girl in particular stood out – her number read 146. 

“Her name became a number, her number became our name” reads the website of Love146, an international human rights organization working to end child trafficking and exploitation through survivor care and prevention. Co-founders Lamont Hiebert, Caroline Hahm, Rob Morris and Desirea Rodgers’ encounter with number 146 that night in Southeast Asia inspired them to set out not only to aid survivors of trafficking and exploitation, but to prevent it. 

The girl identified only by her number, looked beyond the glass barrier in defiance and caught the attention of those that that meant her no harm but salvation. They were there as part of an exploratory trip to determine how they could serve in the fight against child sex trafficking. That night, they got their answer.

The founders were never able to identify number 146, but her story has inspired them to help thousands. They set-up shop in New Haven, CT, where three out of four of the founders were linked to the city and all of the founders loved its rich abolitionist history. Love146 has expanded to have offices in Houston, TX, the United Kingdom and the Philippines taking a holistic approach to caring for survivors internationally. Read more here.