Sunday, May 12, 2019

Trafficking In Iowa



This past week Dick Colby invited Chad Ellis to join us and talk about human trafficking in Southeast Iowa.  Chad is the Washington County Investigator and also speaks to groups to make communities aware of different types of human trafficking.  By doing this, Chad hopes that active members in each community have an awareness for what this may look like in their community, and would be able to recognize if a situation may be part of a larger trafficking ring.
Dick with Washington County Sergeant, Chad Ellis
Chad wanted to make sure that we were aware of labor trafficking and that this may be a situation we see in Southeast Iowa.  As defined by HumanTraffickingHotline.org, labor trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which individuals perform labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.  Labor traffickers use violence, threats, lies, and other forms of coercion to force people to work against their will in many industries.
Chad talking about trafficking to the group.
We also got an update from Paul from the District Conference held May 2nd through the 4th in Des Moines.  Paul said he attended a presentation about literacy Friday morning.  He enjoyed the lunch speaker, Suku Radia, and attended two afternoon sessions.  One was focused on Rotary membership; focusing on diversity and younger Rotary members.  The other was on club fundraising.  He was also able to sit with a Rotary group from Keokuk who is working on a publication of letters from 1931 and 1932.  Thank you, Paul, for attending this conference and representing our club!
Paul reporting back on the District Conference 

Upcoming Events:
May 16: Kathy Salazar
May 23: John Moenck
May 30: Cheryl Kurtz
June 6: Randy Fehr
June 13: Ed Lins