iEmpathize

iEmpathize will be shooting film and photography in Dallas, TX, at the Great American Truck Show where 50,000 truckers and industry professionals will be convening at the end of this month. We will be gathering stories and promoting the trucker’s project. We will shoot trucker’s portraits for a child-protection ad campaign for magazines, rest areas, and truck stops. We will also be shooting a “ride along” for an insiders point of view and interviewing a Texas prosecutor on a high profile child trafficking case.

iEmpathize is partnering with the Truckers Against Trafficking initiative to produce a film that will bring awareness to the trucking industry and give truckers a way to engage the issue and save kids. The short film will feature footage from truckers, survivors of trafficking, and expert commentary from the F.B.I., law enforcement, and practitioners. It will also serve as a training film to educate and enlist trucking companies, safety directors, and the truckers themselves who will join together to end this heinous crime.  In addition, iEmpathize will stylize the mixed media so it can be integrated into our immersive exhibits and art shows on human trafficking.

The average age for a young girl to enter the sex for sale industry in the United States is 12. There are an estimated 200-400,000 prostituted minors in the US. 50,000 persons are trafficked into the US each year. Due to the transient nature of truck stops, much of domestic sex trafficking takes place along our nation’s highways and at its truck stops.

This very important advocacy tool still needs funding and we can’t do it without you! Contact us for more information and consider contributing today.

:: VIDEO BLOG UPDATES FROM DALLAS STARTING THIS WEEKEND ::

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The Scooter Hero Ride and Walk is a city-wide publicity, awareness, and fundraising event inspired by one of our Cambodian field partnerships. Yeng runs a child protection program where he rides his scooter to villages and trains the community on how to protect their children from traffickers. We ride and walk on behalf of the children he protects.

Over 200 scooter riders and walkers converged on downtown Denver for a very unique human rights march. We were escorted through LoDo by the Denver Police “parade style” from the Pepsi Center to Coors Field and back again.

The city of Denver, the police, and our sponsors complemented the Scooter Hero crowd and enthusiastically shared their excitement about the possibilities of repeating the event next year. We are thankful for the impression that was made and the awareness raised! Together, we went a long way in accomplishing our goal of mass awareness as well as raising a little over $11,000.

Our hope is to see Denver Scooter Hero grow and to expand Scooter Hero coast to coast for 2011. We want to take a pack of Scooter Riders from New York City to Los Angeles in 30 days. We would do Scooter Hero Events in select cities along the way, including benefit concerts by popular artists. If we ramp this up properly, we could increase national publicity/awareness and raise significant sums of money for our work and our partners.

Together we can take it to the next level. We need you on our Scooter Hero task force to make this happen. Be a team captain, help us engage sponsors, businesses, faith communities, and the public. We will have our first planning meeting this Fall. Look for details or contact us to get involved.

SCOOTER HERO MOVIE

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Did you know that…

iEmpathize (iE) is a volunteer based organization? Our effectiveness is because of you and for that we are grateful!

iE has commitments to over 70 child survivors of sex trafficking and prevention partnerships that protect 100’s of vulnerable children?

iE has media featured in the U.S. State Department’s 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report?

iE has two child trafficking media exhibits that tour Mexico City raising awareness?

iE will have four child trafficking short films produced by Jan… one completely in Spanish?

iE has four full-time arts and advocacy interns in Mexico beginning this Fall?

iE media has been featured on television internationally and we are featured in three books (one with a NY Times best selling author)?

You can host your own iE advocacy and fundraising event? No event is too small!

Kroenke Sports (Pepsi Center, Nuggets, Avalanche) sponsors iE by running our advocacy commercial on The Altitude Channel for free? Thanks KSE!

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Watch for film and mixed media exhibit this Fall

Detroit Truck Stop from Brad Riley on Vimeo.

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We spent the day in Toledo capturing the story of  14 and 15 year old girls brutally kidnapped and prostituted to motels and truck stops along the highway between Toledo and Detroit. Shari, now 20, is an incredible survivor and passionately shared her story in hopes of making a real difference in the lives of other trafficking victims. Her story is being featured in a film and mixed media exhibit we are producing on domestic trafficking.  We are also partnering with Truckers Against Trafficking on an industry training film to help truckers identify and intervene in trafficking situations they might encounter. The projects will be released late Summer / early Fall. We will provide blog updates over the next few weeks from different parts of the U.S. Follow along and partner with us!

Toledo Teens Trafficked at U.S. Truck Stops from Brad Riley on Vimeo.

To contribute click DONATE

The average age for a young girl to enter the sex for sale industry in the United States is 12. There are an estimated 200-400,000 prostituted minors in the US. 50,000 persons are trafficked into the US each year. Due to the transient nature of truck stops much of domestic sex trafficking takes place along our nation’s highways and at its truck stops.

iEmpathize is partnering with Truckers Against Trafficking to produce a film that will bring awareness to the trucking industry and give truckers a way to engage the issue and save kids. The short film will feature footage from truckers, survivors of trafficking, and expert commentary from law enforcement and practitioners. It will also serve as a training film to educate and enlist trucking companies, safety directors, and the truckers themselves who will join together to end this heinous crime.

On this domestic iEmpathize Expedition, iE will go undercover to gather story-telling artifacts, photography, and film footage that will be incorporated into trucking industry events and be integrated into our exhibit on human trafficking.

This very important advocacy tool still needs funding and we can’t do it without you! Contact us for more information and consider contributing today.

DONATE TODAY

Students from the U.S. paired up with Mexican students to tour the street exhibit around Mexico City. The street exhibit was featured on university campuses, at a benefit concert, and at Mexico’s Congressional Hall. The media loop was aired on one of Mexico’s national news broadcasts.

Mexico Street Exhibit Media Loop (Spanish) from Brad Riley on Vimeo.

Congresswoman and Abolitionist Rosi Orozco at a press conference where the iE Street Exhibit was featured.

Mexican pop star Kalimba preformed at a benefit concert that drew hundreds of people and raised thousands of dollars for the vulnerable children of Mexico City.

To contribute click DONATE

iEmpathize is run almost entirely by volunteers. This makes us proud because so many people are empathizing with the hardships faced by victims of the sex trafficking industry. It also means that virtually every dollar given to iEmpathize is used to educate people about the horrors of this crime, prevent it from happening, rescue victims or rehabilitate them back to manageable lives.

In the next several blog posts, we are highlighting some of the groups of people who are doing amazing volunteer work for iEmpathize. The Outlet is one of those “abolitionist” groups dedicated to advocating for iEmpathize.

The Outlet is a group of both married and single people in their 20’s and 30’s.  Every week they gather from 4:00 to 5:45 p.m. at the Venue to discuss and share life.  They do fun things together like go to movies, parties, football games, skiing and camping, and adventuring to foreign countries! Most importantly, at least once a month, they do a service project – sometimes it ends up being three or four. There are over 230 people involved in this group.

The Outlet heard about iEmpathize in June 2009. Since their passion is to make the world a better place, they were inspired to join us in our pursuit to end child trafficking. Their goal is to help iEmpathize continue raising awareness through fundraising, volunteer service, and wherever we need their help.  They believe that no task is too little or insignificant.  Right now, The Outlet is teaming with iE on a trip to Cambodia to assist in building a safe home. And they have a large group participating in the Scooter Hero Ride and Rally on Saturday, July 24^th at the Pepsi Center. We appreciate every ounce of their time and energy.

If you are interested in connecting with The Outlet, you can contact them through their website.  Everyone is welcome!!!

This summer, on July 24th, Colorado will come together to raise thousands of dollars in one day for the protection and restoration of vulnerable children. YOU can make a tangible difference and have a blast doing it.

Scooter Hero

The Scooter Hero Ride and Walk is a city-wide publicity, awareness, and fundraising event inspired by one of our Cambodian field partnerships. Yeng runs a child protection program where he rides his scooter to villages training the community on how to protect their children from traffickers. With Yeng as our inspiration, let’s join together to raise significant resources for iE’s field partners and projects.

The Scooter Hero Pledge Invite your friends to walk or ride… inspire your friends to sponsor your walk or ride with a donation. Click here to join now!

We will walk and ride through LoDo escorted by the Denver Police “parade style” from the Pepsi Center to Coors Field and back again. Whether you are a scooter rider or a walker, let’s come together to make a difference!

Participation

Participate as an individual or a team to benefit the kids we support and the people who dedicate their lives to them.

• Scooter Rider Ride your own, borrow one, buy one, rent one. We don’t care how you get here, just get here if you can. (Legal scooters and operators only.)
• Walker Not into scootering? Walk the route to raise funds for our amazing partners!
• Virtual Participant If you can’t make it to the event raise money from anywhere in the world on the behalf of a friend, a Scooter Hero team, or to simply help vulnerable kids!
• Volunteer Help with planning and recruiting today or help serve the day of the event.

Raise at least $100 and get your Scooter Hero T-Shirt plus two Denver Nugget Preseason Game tickets. Raise at least $250 and get an official Scooter Hero Cape, SH T-Shirt, and two Denver Nugget Preseason Game tickets.

We are very grateful to Kroenke Sports Enterprises Charities for thier generous sponsorship.