Truckstop Helps Raise Awareness for Human Trafficking

In honor of National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Truckstop is making a charitable donation to Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), a nonprofit organization that helps educate, equip, empower, and mobilize the trucking, bus, and energy industries to combat human trafficking.

Founded in 2009 as a ministry initiative, Truckers Against Trafficking officially became a 501(c)(3) in 2011. TAT’s mission is to leverage a powerful network of transportation professionals to assist law enforcement in the recognition and reporting of human trafficking. They believe that equipping members of the trucking industry to spot and report potential signs of sex trafficking can lead to the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of traffickers and freedom for victims.

“We’re grateful for the support of Truckstop,” said Laura Cyrus, Senior Director of Industry Training and Outreach at Truckers Against Trafficking. “They are not only financially supporting and partnering with us in this effort, but they are using their platform to help spread the word and encourage others in their network to get involved. The trucking industry has proven to be a leader in this fight, and while we have seen incredible success in getting people trained to recognize and report human trafficking, we need to continue to share this life-saving message with everyone in the industry. It is going to take everyone — truck drivers, corporate employees, regular members of the public, etc.— getting involved and being vigilant and invested to see the scourge of human trafficking end.”

TAT offers several ways for organizations across the entire industry to engage.

• The Freedom Drivers Project is a first-of-its-kind, mobile exhibit serving as an educational tool for members of the trucking industry, law enforcement, and general public about domestic sex trafficking and how the trucking industry is combating it.
• The Industry Training Program is TAT’s core program that drives the biggest impact. The Industry Training Program educates industry members about the realities of domestic sex trafficking and how to combat it. TAT training has resulted in a significant increase of reports of possible trafficking to the national hotline from truck drivers, which has resulted in victim recoveries and criminal arrests.
• The Shipping Partners Program works with shipping partners and their carriers to implement TAT materials as a regular part of training and orientation.
• Coalition Builds bring law enforcement agencies at all levels of government together with the general managers of truck stops, representatives of trucking companies, and state trucking associations for extensive training to significantly increase anti-trafficking activity in a local area.
• State-Based Initiatives work with key industry stakeholders from the trucking, bus, and energy industries, along with the Office of the Attorney General (or local or federal law enforcement partners), to activate public-private partnerships. TAT provides targeted action steps, free training materials for industry members and law enforcement, and models of engagement intended to result in the coordination and implementation of effective strategies and actions at the local and state level.
• The TAT Dealership Partner Program provides a specific pathway for manufacturers to support TAT both financially and through awareness about the realities of domestic sex trafficking as well as ways to identify and report suspicious activity.

“Truckstop is proud to support Truckers Against Trafficking, an organization that we have supported for many years, both as a corporation and through individual employee contributions,” said Kendra Tucker, chief executive officer, Truckstop. “Human trafficking is a crisis that impacts the transportation community at large, and this organization has helped raise awareness by training nearly 1.5 million people to identify the signs of human trafficking. We have no doubt our donation will continue to help this especially worthy cause.”

In addition to donating, Truckstop is committed to raising awareness for this noble cause. For more ways to get involved and/or to donate, please visit Truckers Against Trafficking.