In conjunction with CRS ambassadors and the Wolfington Center, Alpha Delta Gamma and other clubs on campus are working together to present Human Sex Trafficking Awareness Week on campus starting Sunday, March 13 and running until Friday, March 18.
The goal of the week is to bring more awareness to Cabrini’s community about the horrific realities that are happening closer to Cabrini’s campus than most are aware of.
“We recently just found five locations within 20 miles of Cabrini where people are sold into prostitution, including the King of Prussia Mall,” Mark Chila, president of Alpha Delta Gamma, said.
At sites such as the mall, victims are lured by hopes of money and modeling auditions only to accept the invitations and disappear into a world of rape and negligence.
Individuals that oversee the buying and selling of children, who average between the ages of 11 and 14, can see upwards of $200,000 per child.
“It’s upsetting that kids that are so young are going to do this. People are actually paying for this and it’s just disgusting,” Chila said.
Junior social work, psychology and sociology major Danielle DiBartolo has played a pivotal role in the planning of the week’s events.
She wants to help clean the women’s records that are prosecuted for prostitution and have their records be expunged so they can get jobs.
DiBartolo also wants to take her passion further on in her life, continuing to help children after she has graduated.
“I want to start my own group home so I can help them [the victims] before they hit the streets,” DiBartolo said.
During the week, there will be speakers from the Covenant House and Love146, both groups that aim to help children escape from lives filled with abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation.
Clubs including the sociology, criminology, communication and sociology/psychology honors club have made contributions to bring Lamont Hiebert, co-founder of Love146, to Cabrini College.According to Love146’s website, the number comes from a tag on a girl the founders saw during an undercover investigation they took part in.
When they returned later to raid the brothel where the girls were being sold, the girl they had seen before was gone. The founders then dedicated their lives to saving other girls while still remembering the one that started it all.Hiebert will be performing a concert in the mansion on March 16 at 7 p.m. as part of Love146’s presentation.
Times of events
March 13 – 7:00 p.m. – Freedom Sunday Mass in the Chapel on Cabrini’s Campus
March 14 – 7:00 p.m. – Iadaorola Lecture Hall- Guest speaker from the Covenant House and the showing of the documentary “Very Young Girls”
March 15 – 7:30 p.m. – Wolfington Center – Sex Trafficking In Our Backyard presentation
March 16 – 7:00 p.m. – Mansion – Guest speaker and performance by co-founder Lamont Hiebert from Love146
March 18 – 12:00 p.m. – Prayer at the Peace Poll
