This week on The Ministry Growth Show, we’re joined by Kevin Zielinski, Program Manager at the Idaho Anti-Trafficking Coalition. In this episode, Kevin shares some shocking insights into the realities of human trafficking in Idaho and we discuss how the Church can get involved in fighting back against the injustices of human trafficking.
Transcription:
SPEAKERS: Zachary Leighton, Kevin Zielinski
Zachary Leighton
Welcome to the Ministry Growth Show, a podcast dedicated to helping churches and ministries grow and make more effective impacts for the kingdom of God, and an ever changing digital world. Whether you’re building and growing a gospel-centered ministry or leading a church, if you want insight into the strategies, struggles, challenges and successes of other ministry leaders, you’ve come to the right place.
Zach
Welcome back to the ministry growth Show. Today I’m going to be talking with Kevin Zelinsky. He’s the program manager at the Idaho anti-trafficking coalition. Kevin, thanks for being on the show. Thanks for having me, Zack, appreciate it. Yeah, can you tell us a little bit a little bit about the mission and goals of the Idaho anti-trafficking coalition and how you guys work? Absolutely. Yeah. combat human trafficking in this state? Sure, sure. Just to give a little bit of background, we’re going now on about five years, we are a 501 C three. So we’re nonprofit here our our hub is in Boise, we’re about two blocks behind the Capitol off of Franklin Street here. We had some of our efforts and moved our offices in Eagle. But now we’re established in Boise. But essentially we started as I mentioned five years ago through some grassroots efforts. My wife was contacted Jennifer’s Lenski was actually the executive director, which also makes her my boss, but that’s okay.
Kevin Zielinski
But as I mentioned, there was a grassroots effort, there was a private funder that was doing some missionary work internationally, he was trying to bring to the forefront here in regards to what human trafficking looked like here in Idaho. And, as I mentioned, kind of getting community members grassroots effort to kind of look into human trafficking and how we can provide some type of establishment to combat human trafficking. So essentially, she was invited and I tagged along and we got kind of a consensus of what the group had been working on from a few months prior. And looks like they had a lot of great ideas, but not a whole lot of direction, per se. So shortly after that, my wife had approached that private funder in regards to becoming an executive director, and essentially long launching this here in Idaho. So that was kind of the how this organization was found. And she spent about a good year, that first year, literally having about 500 individual meetings just to try to get an idea of kind of the efforts, what it looks like here in Idaho and try to get more of a systemic look. What’s been done, if anything, so that’s kind of how things started as far as this coalition.
Zachary Leighton
Okay, so, so kind of sounds like it birthed out of a private passion project.
Kevin Zielinski
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. As I mentioned, this private funder. He was he worked alongside Jennifer for about a year and then, and then Jennifer branched off and created more of a formal 501 C three, and which at that point, we started applying for grant funding through the Idaho Council of a domestic violence, victim assistance. They’re, they’re funded through the Office of Victims of crime. So there’s a Victims of Crime Act, which are VOCA funds that come from the federal level down into the state. So the council domestic violence and victim assistance, they fund a lot of our domestic violence, sexual assault organizations. And then we were the first organization to write for that grant, specific to sex trafficking here in Idaho. And then we were awarded those funds, which then allowed myself who I was volunteering for a good year, and a handful of other individuals to then kind of come into this organization to make it a little bit more of a formal 501. C three and start to do an education, awareness and training, as well as direct victim assistance to victims and survivors.
Zachary Leighton
Okay. And so is that your primary funding sources is grant writing,
Kevin Zielinski
correct? Yes, that is our primary funding source. Of course, we do always appreciate private donations and private donors. We’re still trying to really get Idaho wrapped around the idea that human trafficking is happening here in their backyard, and that there is an organization like ourselves that have been taking on these efforts that can use the community as far as support not only financially but also getting invested in the topic and understanding kind of, you know, the epidemic that we’re seeing here. Just to give you an idea in regards to our 2020 data. We served about 172 individuals and those ages are ranging from zero to over 60 years of age. And, yeah, so we established a 24/7 crisis hotline back in August of 2020. And just to give you an idea, again, regards to last year calls and texts, we received 2835 calls. So again, it’s very prevalent here, we are also a resource with the National Human Trafficking Hotline. I’m sure a lot of individuals have heard of that from a national standpoint, that’s housed by the Polaris Project. And they do a lot of data. And they also how’s the hotline there. So if there’s any calls, and or tips that go to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and those incidences are specific here to Idaho, we get that call when it comes to a victim or survivor, that is in the process of fleeing their trafficker, if it’s something that’s more police related as far as tips and such, and then that will be dispatched to the local law enforcement wherever that call is coming from. So that’s kind of our main thing here is kind of the using the crisis hotline to provide that education awareness out there that there is an entity here that is doing efforts for individuals with sex and labor trafficking. And we also do case management. As I mentioned, a lot of times these individuals are calling, they may have a small window of opportunity to make that call where they’re fleeing their trafficker to whereas our case managers will dispatch some type form of transportation, typically a Lyft or Uber to get them out of a situation where we can get them into a safer place such as a crisis center, or maybe even a neighboring domestic violence shelter to where in turn our case management will do a crisis intervention and safety planning. In order to assure kind of the next steps for this individual. A lot of times those individuals essentially need to get out of Idaho, because they’re fleeing their trafficker, and they’re essentially being hunted to where That’s where transportation really comes hand in hand, not only for us, assisting them, but also assisting them out of the state to other organizations that do similar work as ourselves so they can get that restoration and healing. So with that, that’s kind of our we do education, awareness and training. So I’m speaking, as I’m speaking here, on the podcast, I speak to a lot of law enforcement, hospitals, mental health professionals, community, students, college, high school level, anyone that is willing to learn or understand a little bit more about what’s going on here and human trafficking. So essentially, as I mentioned earlier, on the conversation, Jennifer, just kind of getting that systemic look of what human trafficking looks like here in Idaho, a lot of it is that the education awareness just isn’t there. So that’s kind of where we come in, not only from a communal standpoint, you know, to go into churches and such and go into speaking at public forums, but it’s really kind of talking to our professionals and educating them in regards to what human trafficking looks like. Because essentially, they’re coming in contact with those individuals on the frontlines, whether that’s law enforcement or, you know, emergency staff. But essentially, they’re they’re missing the identification aspects when it comes to identifying these victims. And a lot of my education and awareness too, is just talking about society as a whole. And essentially, how we put labels on people. So when I start talking about human trafficking, people just have this i density in regards to what this looks like, as far as prostitution, and how we put labels on these individuals and call them prostitutes or escorts or sex workers. And those two, let those last two terms sex workers and escorts were actually terminology that was used by traffickers, it gives that sense of normalizing this, making it sound more like a chosen profession. I think as society we’ve been kind of trained just to know that, you know, prostitution is, you know, the world’s oldest profession. We, we look at it as a business transaction as someone who is paying another person in order to have sexual relationships with them. But essentially, what the demand and the males that are doing this and exchanging the money to have that business transaction is essentially paying someone to rape someone. And you know, when you change those words in regards to sex, and then use the word rape, it has a whole different context to it. And a lot of times just through mail and kind of what we’ve been prone to what we exhibit in regards to pornography and what we just learned through film, and, again, we’ve kind of made this idea of prostitution as someone has chosen to do this. What we’re talking about here is human trafficking, about 89% of victims that are criminalized for prostitution are actually victims of human trafficking. So there’s this big disconnect from society standpoint too. Whereas we view this as a profession, and we don’t see it as we see it as a crime. But it’s we’re always criminalizing the victim, we’re not essentially going after the demand the buyers and the traffickers. So these are the kinds of conversations that I have with law enforcement. And with medical professions, again, they also have labels they put on them as well, a lot of that, that and law enforcement is that they’ll view them as drug addicts, or they’ll be someone who live, they’re just paranoid or have psychosis and they’ll treat it more so like a mental health symptom that they’re having. And essentially say, yes, they’re exhibiting all that stuff. But this is them being upright, a byproduct of, of it being a victim of human trafficking. So it’s really kind of having more of a open dialogue in trying to educate the professionals in regards to having more of a victim centered approach, because our whole aspect here in Idaho, is the fact first and foremost, we’re 20 years behind other states when it actually comes to combat in these efforts. But essentially, we’re still using the old tactics, and we’re criminalizing the victims, we’re not seeing them as victims, we’re seeing them as prostitutes and sex workers and escorts and drug addicts. And again, it’s no fault of their own. And these are the conversations that I have, that can be kind of tricky sometimes. Because I don’t want to, like, call people out. The thing is, you don’t know what you don’t know, if you’re if you’re trained a certain way more from a punitive standpoint, and to make the arrests, and then that’s kind of the the position that law enforcement is put in, you know, and, and even if they recognize that there might be something that looks a little off, they still need to, you know, they see the drugs, they need to make the arrest. But I’m trying to get them to make a little bit more of a kind of seeing it more from a perspective to say, hey, just because this individual is in the room, and there’s drugs in there doesn’t necessarily mean that she is the drug mastermind behind this drug trafficking. Essentially, victims are at the forefront of everything. You know, they’re they’re criminalized, they’re left holding the bag, essentially. So
Zachary Leighton
these are the facing side. Yeah, yeah. facing side of the whole thing. Yeah, what so what are some of the most common forms of trafficking that you guys see in Idaho?
Kevin Zielinski
You know, what we see a lot, is essentially, you’ll see a lot of familial trafficking. And that is essentially what it may sound like it’s some trafficking that involves family or family members, maybe an uncle, cousin, mom, dad, we see that a lot, we also see, essentially, what happens is what we’re seeing a lot of young individuals are groomed. That’s kind of the terminology that we use in the industry. And when traffickers are trying to lure individuals into this process, it’s grooming as a process. Traffickers used to control and manipulate someone into human trafficking. And it’s really easy. They just gained the victims trust. They provide the victims needs. So basically, they’re going to fill that void for those individuals. So the whole aspect in regards to grooming and human trafficking, the main theme here is power and control and preying on vulnerabilities.
Zachary Leighton
So there’s a lot of that done via social media.
Kevin Zielinski
Absolutely, absolutely. Social media is one of the main aspects in regards to how victims fall prey. And it’s easily through for false relationships, fake jobs, or again, just kind of fill in that void. You know, it’s really easy. As far as when I talk to these young kids. I say, You know what, I could pick up your cell phone right now. And you can show me your social media handles and all your friends and I guarantee you probably know, maybe 85% of them. The reality is, it’s almost like a popularity contest, like how many followers you have, how many friends you have, and then you’re basically following or having traffickers and people that are looking to exploit these individuals, once they’re vulnerable. So you know, it’s one of those if they want love, they become their boyfriend, you know, if they need a place to live, they give them shelter. If they’re lonely, they become their friend. If they don’t have a loving father, they become a protector. If they’re poor, or have low self esteem, they sell them on a dream and offer them a life of status. So what happens is these young individuals, they leave themselves open on social media platforms, and that just allows these traffickers to come in and just kind of create this this fake relationship with them. And slowly what it does is they feel that victims need as I mentioned, and then they isolate the best the victim, they slowly take them away from their fans. Friends and family, and then they forced them into trafficking. It’s just, it’s kind of just a, you know, three or four step process. And these traffickers are very savvy, when it comes to this, that it’s really easy for them to hone in on the vulnerabilities that young teens are having, or even at the age of what we’re seeing, when individuals enter into this into prostitution, it’s age 14 to 16 years old. So it’s getting younger and younger. And essentially, that demand out there is the younger, the better. So there’s this whole, you know, sit central aspect of just the grooming and just finding individuals, and just, essentially just exploiting them and reaping the benefits of taking that money. So it’s been, it’s been really easy for them to do. It’s a, it’s a low risk and high profit crime. And the main thing that we’re seeing here is that, you know, we’ve seen drug drug trafficking is still the number one crime here. But essentially, human trafficking is second behind it, because what we’re seeing, not only from individuals is, these crime syndicates that are used to selling drugs and guns, are now selling people because you sell that drug, and it’s, then you got to replenish that drug, you can sell a person over and over and over again. These victims are required to fill a quota night after night. And that might be too whereas they have anywhere from seven to 20 buyers a night, depending on what their quota is that they need to fulfill. So that’s kind of what we’ve seen in regards to how it’s a lot easier for these traffickers to sell people as opposed to drugs, because they’re they don’t even have to be in the same state. They have their victims controlled and they can monitor them through GPS throughout their cell phones.
Zachary Leighton
Is that what you guys see a lot of in Idaho, because you said you talked about the perception Idaho is it’s not that prevalent or popular here? Is these crime syndicates are outside of this state, and they just run stuff inside, or is there hubs and criminal activity within the state as well, that we’re just not privy to? Well,
Kevin Zielinski
it’s actually both. It’s both Zack. I mean, especially when we think more of a crime syndicate, we’re thinking more of like cartel, Russian mafia, Asian mafia. We’re seeing that within Idaho, also outside of the borders. And when I say the border, I’m not just talking about the Mexican border, I’m talking about, you know, Nevada, Oregon, Washington. But we’re seeing in all aspects, you know, when we see more so like the Asian mafia, we see more so within the illicit massage businesses, we have about 90 illicit massage businesses throughout the state of Idaho. Typically, it looks like you’ll have anywhere from four to six victims within that massage parlor. And they’re essentially forced to stay there. If they leave for any reason, they’re going to be escorted, essentially, that is their their home. And they’re expected to not only do labor trafficking, but sex trafficking as well. Typically, you’ll have an older female that is managing the place, referred to as the Mamasan. And she herself is also a victim. But when it comes to any type of stains or arrests, essentially, what’s been viewed in the past is that everyone in there that is providing those services are viewed as prostitutes. And again, it’s just more so kind of having that education to understand that there’s a there’s a third party that’s controlling everyone and may even be a fourth party. It just depends on how deep the crime syndicate goes. But again, when we’re talking about other forms of trafficking, like familial trafficking, you may have the the husband that is essentially selling the wife and or the kids in order to support substance abuse habit, the pay the rent and light bill. Or a lot of times too, that’s where we may see more so of the female trafficker where, where the mother is more so trafficking in the kids in order to again support a drug habit. Typically what they say is, you know, crack cocaine is the drug of choice in regards to when that mother is kind of trying to fulfill that substance abuse aspect, or it’s just generational or cultural. It’s just such a call to whereas this is just the way that kids have been raised. They don’t know any better. They don’t understand what the word trafficking means. They don’t understand that it’s not okay to sleep with your your your uncle in order to help support pay rent, they it’s just something that they’ve just been instilled with within their livelihood, to know that this is just how the family is so and it was what be difficult for you and I to kind of wrap our heads around that. But if you’ve been told to live a certain way, that’s just all you know. So it’s not unheard of, because we see that a lot just in other aspects as well to where people just don’t understand kind of the outside world outside of what their family structure is, or whatever, you know, their particular beliefs are so. And that familiar, trafficking is one of the most difficult to break just because you do have that. With trafficking in general, you have that trauma bond where the victim is attached to that, that individual and a lot of times people can kind of relate more. So when you start talking about domestic violence, whereas the spouse is the husband’s beating up on the wife, and there’s that love hate, I love you, I hate you kind of thing. And that’s kind of just that that trauma bond that’s formed that that that rings true in regards to victims of human trafficking as well. It doesn’t always have to be, you know, romantic type of relationship. But typically, it is something to where it’s, that’s my boyfriend, that’s my husband, whatever the case, but they just formed that trauma bond to whereas that person is my life, they provide me with my basic necessities, even if they beat me up every night or you know, expect him to do ungodly things. But that’s just the way they are. I love them, I love him. So it’s, again, it’s a really difficult to understand kind of that dynamic, but it is a reality. And that’s essentially how these individuals are coerced and manipulated. And, and, and comply, essentially, because they’re there. There’s threats against their family, their threats against their kids, if they have kids with the trafficker. So there’s various ways in which they control them.
Zachary Leighton
On the drug abuse, what you see from a maybe public facing perspective, is a tactic used within the system so that I get you strung out on something and now, and now you’re addicted to it. And from that perspective, and then you’ve got a lot of work from what I’ve heard from a lot of law enforcement is you get women who are making a lot of money, they’re making a living, they’re being able to provide for their family through this process. And to get out of it, like what is the alternative? Right, like, right. Right. And I think that’s all these things that pull you in.
Kevin Zielinski
Right? No, and I think that some of that misconception in regards to the fact that when we look at individuals that are actually prostituting themselves, like this is their lifestyle, they’re the ones that are managing and receiving all the benefits and the money. It’s a very small percentage, as I mentioned before, about 89% of victims that are arrested for prostitution are or are victims of human trafficking. So we have a very small percentage of people that are actually using prostitution as a lifestyle for their own benefit. Human trafficking, I mean, in that aspect, if I’m going to be prostituting myself, I’m doing that voluntarily. I’m doing this in order to support my needs. Essentially, what’s going on here is that we’re viewing prostitution, and we’re not seeing the victim. This is something that’s been done involuntarily, they’re being forced to do this. And they’re not reaping the benefits as far as the monetary gain from it. But then going back to what you said, in regards to the substance abuse aspect, yeah, it’s it’s really easy for traffickers to get their victims hooked on drugs, because essentially what’s going on, as I mentioned before, they have quotas that fill so if they’re not meeting their quota, they come back to the hotel room or wherever they’re staying, they’re going to get a beaten. So essentially, what happens is, a lot of times, traffickers will drug their victims in order to help them fulfill that quota essentially disassociate, numb that pain. And those are some of the kind of kind of conversations I have with medical professionals and law enforcement, if you’re expected to turn anywhere from seven to 20 tricks and nights. And then you’re traffickers offering new drugs, are you going to take those drugs in order to disassociate and numb that pain? And my answer is always like, Absolutely, I don’t want to be in any type of headspace where I’m going to be raped anywhere from 20 times a night, I want to disassociate so a lot of times what happens is they also use this as a controlling tactic to where as they get the individual so hooked on drugs to whereas now they use that that drug as a as a dangling carrot, saying, Hey, you don’t fill your quota, you don’t get your next high. So drugs is a very big component when it comes to controlling individuals. A lot of times if they have already had a substance abuse problem, it’s really easy pickings for the traffickers to go in and prey on those vulnerabilities and just go by a trap house or crack house, wherever you want to call it. And then pull those individuals out and put them to work and then just I continue to supply them with drugs to make money for you. And that’s why a lot of times when we see individuals that come to us that they do have substance abuse issues because of that. And those are kind of the perspectives and saying, Hey, you can’t really fault these individuals for being strung out, or you know, being in high, it’s just something to where they’re trying to disassociate and numb the pain. But once they are kind of through that healing process going on the other side, then we got to get them into ample institutions that are going to be able to help them with those drug habits, and that trauma informed care. But substance abuse is definitely one of the vulnerabilities that we’re seeing, you know, I always talk to these young kids and say, you know, we’re all vulnerable at times. If you haven’t been, you’re going to be. But I always say there’s other populations that are more vulnerable than us, you know, people that have an unstable living condition, you know, that probably experienced violence or sexual abuse or domestic violence, runaways, marginalized, individuals, like LGBTQ plus, are our refugees or immigrants, our Native Americans, you know, there’s a, there’s a very high demand for Native Americans not only for sex and labor trafficking, but also for organ trafficking, because they’re considered purebred. And then we always say have that, you know, those individuals that are facing homelessness. So they say that within the first 24 to 48 hours, a trafficker is going to approach a youth on the street. And if someone has been recently, ostracized from their family, maybe for coming out, or for any other reason, it’s really easy for a trafficker to pick up all the vulnerabilities and say, hey, you know, you can come stay with me, I got an open room, to get back on your feet, I got food, clothing, whatever you need. And usually about three or four days, days later, after that’s been happening, then that trafficker flips on him and say, Hey, you owe me now you need to pay me back for the rent for the food and all this and this is what I need you to do. And, and or some of these youths just are in a situation where they use survival sex, because they really have nothing to wear as they need their basic necessities met to whereas they’re essentially having to sell themselves in order to get some type of refuge. So it can happen in all different components. But those that are more vulnerable are obviously going to be more at risk for the trafficking situations. You know, we, when we do an intake with our individuals, through our grant funders, as I mentioned earlier here is that we do have to report back to them in regards to our data. And that’s why we’ve been able to collect all this data. But again, it’s it’s on a volunteer basis. We don’t say, hey, you need to fill this out before we can give you any type of direct victim services. We don’t do that. They can do it anonymously. They can give us a fictitious name. We’re just trying to get an idea in regards to you know, what’s kind of the situation that surrounding this particular individual, and how did they get in the situation that they’re in today. And with that there’s a victimization page that has 26 subsets of victimization, and then might be something to where as its adult sexual abuse, child pornography, you know, child sexual abuse, robbery, DUIs, anything in that sense. And what we see every time that we do, this is the number one, the highest percentage that we see is domestic and family violence, everyone has reported on that, essentially, it’s not something that we have an individual that just checks the one box and says, Yes, I’m a victim of sex trafficking. Typically, there’s a story behind that individual that puts them in this vulnerable states. Whereas they’ve grown up in an unstable living situation where there’s been domestic violence or sexual abuse, maybe they were, you know, exploited as a young individual through child pornography, or there might have been some familial trafficking and or the young the uncle was an inappropriate with the young, young girl at age five, we there’s there’s these patterns here that we’re seeing that kind of leads to this, you know, childhood trauma, this early advancement in regards to exploiting them sexually to where as they become more vulnerable. And it’s a lot easier for these traffickers to really pick up on that. So that’s kind of how we’re seeing certain things, especially those kids that are in the foster care system, and or in revolving institutions like detention centers or treatment facilities. So there’s a pretty large population of vulnerable youth as it is. But I have to say it can’t happen anybody. We’ve had situations to where as we’ve had an individual that have fallen prey for a fake modeling job offer where they fly to a dif When states and then they find themselves in a sex trafficking ring. And this particular individual had a limited amount of time to make a phone call to her mom, and the mom was intuitive enough to know that something was going on in regards to human trafficking and was able to, to contact the Department of Homeland Security and actually get her out of that situation. But it typically doesn’t work out that way. I mean, if you’re caught up in this stuff, it’s really difficult for that individual to leave. And, oddly enough, that individual at a young age, she grew up in a Christian loving home, middle class family, you know, was involved when the her community, I think, was on the soccer team. And even at a young age, she actually had to do a report to her classroom in regards to she did it on human trafficking. So it’s one of those that even though you may think you know, that you can always be coerced or manipulated and find yourself in a bad situation really quick. So yeah, well, here’s why I tell you that story is because it’s not always the people that are the most vulnerable, it can happen to anybody, even those that feel like they everything checks out, and everything looks legit, to where they can fall prey through someone opening the door in regards to this fake job offer.
Zachary Leighton
Right, man? So what are some of the biggest challenges you guys face? In your efforts to prevent trafficking and support for survivors? And how are you guys addressing some of those challenges?
Kevin Zielinski
You know, I think the one thing that one of the biggest challenges and I’ve kind of alluded to earlier is the whole aspect of the criminalization. We’re not seeing the victim as the victim, we’re seeing them as other labels, as I put on there earlier. So it’s more so kind of giving them education, awareness, also kind of getting more of that victim centered approach. As I mentioned, the victims is always on the front lines, they’re the ones that are always being arrested, not only for prostitution, but for drugs for, you know, for theft, for forgery, they’re expected to do whatever their trafficker tells them to do. So with that, it’s not always you’re going to have the same individual going into the institution being arrested for prostitution, it’s not always the case, more than likely, it’s going to be drugs and or prostitution. But essentially, it’s more so kind of getting outside of that biases, and putting those labels on these individuals and looking them and shaming them, essentially, in a sense of looking them as prostitutes and degrading them and not really seeing them for a victim. Those are the big mishaps that we’re doing, because essentially, victims don’t normally self identify, a lot of it is because they don’t trust law enforcement or professionals. They’ve been burned in the sense by these individuals in the past, or the, it’s just too great of a fear for them in order to say anything. Again, they’re being controlled, they’re being threatened, they may have witnessed another victim, you know, beaten and or killed in front of them, they know the threats are real. The trafficker can really say, Hey, you don’t do what I say, I know where you live, I’m gonna go get your 12 year old little sister. So there’s this, they have so much pressure on them to stay with the trafficker because these these threats are legitimate and real. So a lot of that we’re seeing is more so the education aspect is really kind of understanding and putting perspective but putting yourselves in their shoes. And that’s, that’s kind of what I try to do when I train each individual, even from law enforcement. You know, I tried to put them in, in my shoes as well, you know, it’s one of those two, whereas I get that they have certain things that they’re trained or not trained about. And then they need to fill certain deeds and make the arrest. So we’re just trying to work out certain ways in which we can say, Hey, you don’t necessarily have to arrest that individual, you know, it’s more so kind of, you know, treating them more like a human than a criminal. So, it’s really kind of changing that perspective. In regards to again, these individuals, it’s not like they can go to the doctor anytime they want to, they can’t get the mental health, attention that they need. So there’s always these barriers as well. They don’t have access. So it’s really more so kind of our job to kind of fulfill those needs. And we call out we have about 65 community partners that we collaborate with statewide. So we just need to kind of fill that void and help that need for that individual as they come to us looking for help. So It’s really kind of, as I mentioned, the the education, the awareness, and the advocacy efforts. I mean, we do also try to work with legislators in regards to bills and other statutes. In order to kind of, you know, focus that energy we’ve continually been focusing I’m I keep repeating myself is that we’re, we’re criminalizing the victim to where as we need to start putting Idaho statutes and laws in place that it’s gonna go more so after the demand and the traffickers. So we’re, we’re working on kind of building up more so a stronger human trafficking bill that we that than that we have currently. And that’s part of the problem here, too. As I mentioned, with us being 20 years behind, it wasn’t until 2019, that we actually had sex trafficking and labor trafficking defined in Idaho statutes were police couldn’t make a standalone the recipe for human trafficking. And with that, we also launched the safe harbor bill that allows minor victims. So if minor victims are identified as victims of sex trafficking, they could have an expungement of minor criminal activity, and then a diversion to a organization like ourselves, as far as providing direct services and support, which is great, but we just haven’t now currently for minors to whereas we’re trying to go back from an advocacy effort and say, Hey, we need to extend this to adults, because it’s going to be really difficult for an individual who’s going into the restoration and healing process, to then now want to go back in the world and find legitimate work. And then they have, you know, prostitution, or petty theft or whatever crimes they have on their arrest record, it’s gonna be very difficult for them to be a potential employee, because these employers are going to be very biased in regards to their track record. So there’s a lot of things that we need to do in regards to kind of assist these victims and survivors in order to getting outside of this, this world of trafficking.
Zachary Leighton
So one of the things that I think is consistent across this entire space, when I’ve talked with other organizations that are fighting human trafficking is the problem seems is especially when you start talking globally, the problem seems so large and so big and so widespread, what can what can I do as an individual to fight back against this or help out or volunteer or be a part of what an organization like you guys are doing? So what can people do? Or how can they get involved to support an organization like yours? What are some tangible things that that they can do?
Kevin Zielinski
Yeah, I think, first and foremost is to educate yourself. If you haven’t, you know, received any type of training or gone any of our training, or, you know, we have a lot of resources within our website and Idaho atc.org, too, whereas we also have national organizations like Polaris Project, as I mentioned, shared Hope International, those are kind of two pillars within the human trafficking industry that have a lot of resources and information. It’s more so kind of just educating yourself in regards to kind of knowing what human trafficking may look like, looking at potential red flags when you’re out in the community. If you see an individual that may look no nourished me looked at the shovelled you may have an older man that’s kind of controlling the conversation, they’re not making any eye contact, there might, they might have visible tattoos, that’s a property of or maybe a crown or $1 sign with the traffickers name on it. Maybe carrying multiple cell phones, those are just a few indicators just to kind of, you know, see something that may not look right in the community. And I think we all have a pretty good, you know, gut instinct, whenever we’re out there to just kind of notice something that doesn’t look right, maybe for seeing some type of interaction with two people and saying, hey, you know, something doesn’t look right here is really kind of being knowledgeable in regards to kind of those, knowing the indicators and making that call. So that would kind of that would be my first recommendation in regards to how you can help prevent as a community member is just really educating yourself and just being more aware of your surroundings when you go out. I mean, I’ve been known to have tunnel vision a lot. But, you know, ever since I’ve entered this world, in this profession, I do kind of assess the room differently when I go out and look at different things are businesses and such. So that would be kind of my first aspect is just really kind of get that education in regards to what is human trafficking and what are the key indicators? that you may spot with potential victims. The other one would be, as I mentioned just previously, is that advocacy as as Bert is, is reaching out to your legislators, you know, writing them, sitting down with them coffee, you know, local, state, and federal officials and just really talk to them about, hey, what are we doing here in Idaho when it comes to battling human trafficking? You know, what do we got in place here to help law enforcement and first responders react and assist these individuals and treat them as victims as opposed to criminals? What are kind of the things that were are we doing in order to go after the demand to go after these buyers? You know, those are kind of the the conversations that need to be held at more at the legislative level, to write and to speak to them in regards to what our efforts because a lot of individuals don’t feel like it’s a problem. And when I first started with this organization, we would be out in the community, and we’d have our table and our tablecloth says Idaho anti trafficking coalition. And I always get the same two questions. It’s like, it happens here. They’re like puzzled and shocked that it happens here in Idaho, especially the Treasure Valley. And and then I share our statistics with them. And I say it absolutely happens here. And this is how it’s being done. And this is what we can do. And the other questions, it’s always like, Well, why don’t they just leave. And that, again, that comes back to that aspect in regards to the trauma bond, and that coercion and those threats that I talked about earlier. So really kind of knowing that it’s happening in every backyard in the United States is just a third world problem. And I think that’s a lot of the misconception that individuals have when they get their information from like movies like that, like the movie Taken or other movies where it looks like it’s more so kind of like a third world problem. And that is not really an issue here. The United States were the biggest buyers and sellers when it comes to human trafficking. And people don’t realize that and it’s happening in every state in every neighborhood. So that’s one of the things is just be well informed in regards to the topic and just kind of what you can do as a community member is just really kind of voice, you know, a call to action to legislators and just be more knowledgeable of your surroundings. And then we also want to encourage the biggest thing here is we also want to encourage our education aspect in regards to schools, we want our young kids to know what human trafficking is, and online safety concerns and the grooming process. That’s that’s kind of how we’ve been lucky enough to be invited into some high schools that are doing some suppose Liam’s or want their kids to know, essentially, what human trafficking is. And the thing here with Idaho is a lot of times is that you got, well, currently you got to opt in for sex education. So when we go in and start talking and say, hey, I want to talk about human trafficking, they’re, they’re like, Well, you know, this is a little too much. But essentially, what we’re going in there just advising what human trafficking is just from the Federal aspects in the definition of what force fraud or coercion look like, and really talking about the grooming techniques, as I talked about earlier on here, and just really how these kids can protect themselves online, through you know, and putting on their social media handles on private and knowing their friends. So those are the conversations that we have, when it comes to that it’s, we really need to get this into the schools. And the reality is that, from junior high to high school, and even in elementary school, all these kids have cell phones, if not a good majority, to where as you know, there’s unless you have some really strong protections on the phones, which I would advise any anything to be exposed to anything within two seconds, via on the cell phone, whether that’s a pornography site, or someone that’s going to be sending an illicit nude picture to one of their social media handles. So it happens all the time. We see this a lot too, whereas there’s a sextortion, that takes place, whereas a trafficker will send a picture and it was a picture to an individual and then asked for pictures in return. Usually, it’s a fake profile towards a young, young male that’s trying to get pictures from a young female. And also we start with the feet and you know, and then the shirt off or the bra on and then it’ll get more and more explicit, asking for those demands to where it becomes almost like a stocking process to where as the individual feels like, Hey, I just need to get this guy rid of and I take a quick picture and send it off. And essentially now he’s going to use that as a form of sextortion saying, Hey, you don’t comply with what I want you to do. I’m going to send this to your family to your church, to your school. So now this individual is back themselves in a corner. whereas they either comply with the individual and or it’s a lot for them to handle. And if too much for them to handle to where as they end up, don’t see the only way out is through suicide. So we’ve, we’ve, we’ve seen that in the past as well, when it comes to certain cases like this to where as this individual was being groomed, and being manipulated through sextortion, too, whereas it was just too much for that individual to handle. But yeah, that just kind of goes goes back to in regards to what you were saying in regards to preventing, it’s really getting this information in the schools. And, and there’s ways in which these kids can be taught to whereas it isn’t really explicit, it’s more so kind of safety. We do it with Red Ribbon Week, when we talk about drugs and everything else. There’s no reason why we can’t include human trafficking, and giving them the basic knowledge and how to protect themselves and what human trafficking looks like. So that would be huge here in the state of Idaho if we can implement something like that. I know recently, I saw an article and in Florida, there was a high school senior that actually wrote a bill and it was passed to where as of now it is required for junior high and high school students to be taught about human trafficking. So again, we’re there states that are paving the way in regards to combat in these efforts, but we’re a little bit further behind.
Zachary Leighton
Yeah. Well, Kevin, let’s take a moment to hear from today’s sponsor, but when we return, we’ll continue learning from you and what you guys are doing at Idaho ATC. Great. Are you looking to grow your ministry but don’t have the money in marketing knowledge to make that happen? There’s good news. Google offers an advertising grant to churches and ministries that is worth $10,000 per month. This means that if your ministry is a 501 C three nonprofit, you are eligible to receive $120,000 per year in free advertising dollars. This allows you to place ads at the top of Google search results pages, and drive 1000s of visitors to your ministry website every month. Our sponsor, click nonprofit helps your ministry acquire this Google Ad grant and then manages your Google ads to ensure you get the most out of the grain and schedule a free consultation at clique nonprofit.com. To learn more about how this grant can help your specific ministry mentioned the ministry growth. So when you sign up to get 20% off your first three months of management. Welcome back to the ministry growth show, we’ve been talking with Kevin Zelinsky. As he shares his expertise and passion for fighting back against human trafficking, specifically in Idaho, with Idaho ATC. You guys are not explicitly faith based as an organization. But as a man of faith. We talked about this offline. What role do you guys see the church playing in this fight?
Kevin Zielinski
No, we’ve had some huge support early on with with the church here in the Treasure Valley, specifically the vineyard Christian church. They were actually a pivotal point in regards to a end of your giving, that allowed us to go into our our office and Eagle when we first got established, so very supportive in regards to that we actually had our first big function in regards to just educating the community on human trafficking. There at the church, I think our first one we had about 250 individuals show up and, and again, this was early on, I was still a volunteer, but I did participate in regards to starting the education aspect and getting that launched. But it’s been pivotal. And we’ve had a lot of churches that have opened up their space to us in regards to hosting what we kind of refer to as a human trafficking one on one training. Yeah, we are not faith based. You know, I again, I’m a man of faith. One of the one of the things that we decided not to do that was mainly was twofold event in regards to getting grant funding. And the other thing too, and and usually when I had these conversations with with pastors that asked me that same question I try to answer the best of my abilities essentially is, you know, we’re dealing with a population that has had endured you know, undescribable amount of exploitation not only from the traffickers but from multiple buyers to whereas the best way that from a from a mental health perspective as they identify survivors of human trafficking with what they term Complex PTSD. So essentially, they’re being been violated and not only from their buyers and their traffickers repeatedly on and on, it’s it’s probably victimization where there’s multiple people that are violated and exploiting them. So they have a huge amount of trauma. And essentially, the way that we sell them is that we didn’t want to have them have to proclaim or do anything in regards to fulfilling our need that we may have, in order to receive direct services and supports, we get them right where they’re at. You know, a lot of times with this particular population, it’s not kind of a one and done where they come to us. And then they’re, they’re out of their life. They say typically, you can take anywhere from six to seven interactions with law enforcement or direct providers before that individuals have a space where they’re able to go into that healing and restoration. We have had victims that we walked alongside with for six months to a year to two years to whereas they’re still back with their trafficker, but they’ll send a text on our hotline, just saying, hey, just want to let you know that I’m still alive. And that’s a positive outcome for us. And we just say, hey, well, we’re here when you need us. We don’t put any expectations on them, they have full autonomy, we don’t take ownership of them. We don’t rescue them. That’s, you know, I think that’s one of the things in this industry, too, in regards to the fact of this whole rescuing mentality, that’s not how we, how our organization is aligned, we are here to walk alongside them to find direct victim of services to be their advocate, and get them into a place of healing and restoration. But just kind of going back to Yeah, we don’t we don’t ask them to do anything, or proclaim anything in order to receive any type of services. And it also allows us to then kind of branch off and more so in regards to grants and funding from a federal level that you know, so that’s that’s mainly why that that this was established as a non faith based organization. But I can tell you that there’s a good handful of us that are people of faith. And when I say handful, that I really mean that only a handful of us, we are doing statewide efforts, and there’s only five of us. But based on last year’s numbers, as I mentioned, what those hotline calls are direct victim assistance, numbers were over 6000. And those are broken down in different care categories as far as information and referral, personal advocacy and accompaniment, emotional support and safety assistance, shelter and housing assistance, and criminal and civil justice assistance. So depending on what that individual is going through, if they need immediate housing, out of that 172 individuals that we serve last year, 61 of them were provided housing for. And I mentioned before, sometimes those individuals just need to get out Idaho to wherever providing that, that safety assistance, and that transportation as well. And then we also advocate and all will be well beside them in regards to any type of police interviews or forensics, basically, whatever that individual needs, whether that’s getting them referred to a counselor, or whatever those needs may be but yeah, there’s only five of us doing statewide efforts here. And it’s, it’s, it’s a big deal. It’s a big undertaking, but you know, it’s one of those, if you build it, they will come and unfortunately, there’s there’s a lot of victims out there. And there’s still a lot of victims and survivors that don’t know we exist. So a lot of that is just trying to get that awareness out there. Through our crisis hotline has really kind of been that lifeline for those victims and survivors that have seen posters, or or I’ve seen some social media or our website or something to know that they can reach out and they get, they’ll have someone that will assist them with but no expectations.
Zachary Leighton
But sounds like you guys are kind of uniquely set up to be an intermediary opportunity for the church to come alongside you in partnership. Whereas as not a explicitly faith based organization, you can come alongside and work within school systems work alongside agencies, police departments, etc. And, and have a intermediary that the church can come alongside and partner with to gain access to places they might not otherwise be able to gain access to.
Kevin Zielinski
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I know that a lot of church based or a lot of churches also that may do have some human trafficking efforts. A lot of them are ministries that are in, you know, in third world countries, and that’s great. And that’s, you know, I think that’s phenomenal. But at the same time doing the work that I do here is I’m just trying to also know that there’s very much a need here and I Idaho in regards to Idaho wins. It’s not that are being trafficked by Idaho. And so it’s not just a Third World missionary problem, it’s in our backyard.
Zachary Leighton
Well, and then even for you and your staff, like if you guys are that small, the amount of brokenness and evil that you’re seeing on a daily basis, like opportunity to come alongside you and care for you guys, I mean, that can’t be working in the space that you guys work. And seeing the things that you see on a regular basis has got to be difficult. So, man, yeah, for stepping into that call and, and walking in that space. Because I think that there’s a tendency for us to maybe even specifically within the church to go ask, I don’t know what I can do problems too big. And so let’s go focus on something else.
Kevin Zielinski
We have had, like I mentioned before, just using the vineyard as, as an example is that we have had other churches that, you know, we’ve come and spoken to maybe their church group or their men’s missionary, and, you know, they’ll give a small donation, whether that’s financial, or, you know, maybe some hygiene products or something, we also have a resource room within our, our office here, a dry pantry, and we have, you know, we do winter coats and all that stuff. And we have hygiene products. So whenever that individuals I mentioned, a lot of times, they come with us with just the clothing on their back, too, whereas that’s when we had them give full access to our resource room, we also partner with an organization called purses for a purpose where they have they donate purses, and they’re all filled with hygiene products and such. So we do welcome all faith based organizations in regards to supporting whether that’s, you know, monetarily, or and or with other resources that can fill our resource room or open up their church, or in order for us to come speak to the congregation in regards to training and just kind of educating those individuals as well.
Zachary Leighton
Yeah. What are what are some of the long term goals of the anti Idaho anti trafficking coalition? How do you guys see the organization evolving in the future? And maybe? How are you innovating to work towards solving some of like the root causes of human trafficking? Trafficking? Like? Sounds like there’s a lot of work on the surface level things that are front and foremost, the thing the priority, right, but underlying, how do we solve some of these root causes that are causing this?
Kevin Zielinski
Yeah, I think just from a organizational aspect, again, you know, capacity is always an issue. And a lot of that, again, a lot of that comes back to the funding aspect. And what what we’re able to do as far as having, you know, employees and then getting paid for the work so that that’s always an issue with with any type of nonprofit. But from an organizational standpoint, it would be ideal for us obviously to even though we have statewide efforts with our partners and our hotline, it would be nice to have more physical case manager employees throughout the state, a lot of our model is that we partner with, like the pathways crisis center, or the Western Community crisis center to whereas it’s always nice when we have already state crisis centers or private crisis centers throughout Idaho too, whereas we can use them as a hub to direct individuals. And then it would be nice if we would have a physical case manager that is representing Idaho anti trafficking coalition to then work with that individual they’re face to face as opposed to having to do something over the phone or via zoom so we can create and build that relationship. And I do have to say our case managers are phenomenal. And you had mentioned earlier with regards to kind of just that, that heaviness and the weight in regards to just what we do here and how we help individuals. A lot of that is more so on the shoulders are case managers that are really the frontline, you know, myself and Jennifer are kind of quarterbacking them and also assisting with the victims needs and doing more. Our job is more of the systemic training and kind of getting movement that way where else the case managers are really kind of, you know, building that rapport and walking alongside these individuals and are really kind of given those stories that are pretty heavy on them now, and again, we always want to make sure that they do have self care and that you know, they’re not getting that secondary trauma as well. But again, it’s kind of going back would be getting more case managers getting more educators throughout the state, such as myself and Jennifer to just really get more of a prevalence on you know, this topic at hand and just Are they making it a priority, that’s really what we need to do here in Idaho, just from the state level, it’s just really made this a priority. And that would be kind of our long term goal as we go is just really, from the top down is making this more of a priority. And then at the same time, kind of arming us with all the resources in order to meet that demand. And hopefully, and even longer term is that we have, you know, laws in place that are really going to make people. Second thing in regards to making purchasing someone for sex, putting some stricter laws making more federal felony approaches more, you know, more harsher imprisonment and or fines, there’s ways in which you can deter people from, you know, going down that path, but it’s nothing that’s ever going to go away. I mean, essentially, it’s a cancer. You know, you know, the positive thing about my job is that, you know, there’s stability, which is also, the unfortunate part of my job is that human trafficking is not going away. But there is a way in which we can make it a lot harder for the demand and kind of making it more easy to prosecute traffickers. So you know that that’s going to be more of a long term goal, that’s going to take a lot of people to come to the table and start making those those decisions.
Zachary Leighton
Yeah, well, it’s, it’s encouraging to see that you guys are putting so much effort into education and helping people understand what’s really going on. And maybe, compared to some other states, Idaho, doesn’t have maybe it does per capita, I don’t know what your what your statistics would show. But we might be in a position where, like, it’s not quite as bad here. And let’s not allow it to get to that point. Right. Like, we’re ahead of the game. Let’s keep it that way. I don’t know. Maybe that’s not the case.
Kevin Zielinski
Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately. I mean, it’s, it’s all it’s all hidden in plain sight, essentially, like I said, people aren’t self identifying. So there’s, like, we know, there’s a lot more victims and survivors out there. Not only in Idaho, but throughout the United States. So the numbers that we throw out there, even from Polaris projects, and all that, that’s just based on kind of, you know, kind of their their call data and such, and we know that, you know, not only from the sex trafficking, but but also the labor trafficking is another huge hurdle. And, you know, places like Idaho, where we have agricultural needs and construction. And, you know, these are also businesses that are taken advantage of, and whereas we may have individuals that are brought through a smuggling process, where they voluntarily pay a coyote in order to, to cross the border. But the aspect of the intention that they’re feeling is that they’re going into a place of legitimate work that they can fulfill the need and bring the rest of their family over. But more likely than not, they find themselves in the labor, or sex trafficking situation, or both, depending on the industry. So yeah, it’s unfortunate, the, the numbers don’t really even I don’t think they really even get into near what’s going on, not only here in Idaho, but I mean, I can only share you share with you what our data shows. Right. But essentially, you’re not going to see data from from the law enforcement aspect. Usually, it’s something that was a secondary type of crime, or it was something as I mentioned, it was more so they were criminalized for a different offense, whether that’s prostitution or petty theft or drugs to whereas they weren’t really identified as a victim. Yeah, but I will say the law enforcement is there, they’re, they’re coming to the table, they’re there, they’re opening the conversations, they’re understanding that, hey, these people don’t willingly want to do this, that they’re victims. So my hat’s off to them. And you know, and I’m always fearful when I have conversations like this that that might be perceived as someone that’s bashing law enforcement, I have nothing but the utmost respect for them. And again, it’s something to wear as it’s just nothing that they’re trained on in their training. There’s there’s no topics or training on human trafficking and I kind of relate that same aspects to medical students when they’re going to get you know, become doctors. They have all this medical school but they may have like 15 or 20 minute lecture on nutrition it’s almost the same aspect you know, you’re you’re putting all this food in your body that’s going to create all these ailments and in but yet You’re not really kind of understanding the root behind all these other symptoms. It’s kind of how I can describe it from the law enforcement aspect.
Zachary Leighton
How are you guys communicating the stories of what what’s taking place through Idaho ATC, communicating with your well in your guys’s situation you’ve got you’re primarily funded through grant money. How do you communicate story and and the good work that you are doing, when it’s so difficult to communicate those stories without exploiting those that you’ve served your beneficiary, the participant, that the person that you’re, you exist to serve, who are oftentimes, or maybe even in most cases coming out with some form of trauma, in most cases, large T trauma, like sharing those stories can be difficult. And I think that’s one of the hard parts about this. Human trafficking discussion in general is the numbers are gigantic. The data, the statistics, it’s overwhelming when I hear whatever millions of people are oppressed, or and in slavery in some way, shape, or form around the world. Those data, those statistics, it’s just kind of like my eyes glaze over, because it’s so big, how can I help? But when I tell a single individual story, it’s like, oh, man, I can, I can be a part of helping one person who is like, like this person I just saw. But the challenge is, it’s hard to tell those stories, right? Oftentimes, those stories are not ready to be told, sometimes we tell them and we shouldn’t be telling them. Like there’s, it’s that story is not ready to be told. So how are you guys dealing with that within your organization?
Kevin Zielinski
Now? That’s a great question. And that’s one thing too, in regards to, you know, early on in our conversation, as we’re talking about, we’re very transparent in regards to what we do. And the one aspect is privacy. So we don’t, yeah, we’re not going to further exploit individuals. And we’re not going to tell a story about them unless it’s something to wear as they’re comfortable with us sharing. And we will never use the individual’s real name, if that’s the case. And it’s unfortunate, too, because there are organizations that may be doing the same type of efforts as us, but they really kind of use a level of exploitation on their victims and survivors in order to benefit their organization from a profitable level or whatever that may be. But that’s something that we will not do or ever do. Unless that individual willingly wanted to share their story with the general public or wanted us to do something like that we have had articles in the Idaho statesman to whereas we have had an individual that shared their story, actually was, excuse me, wasn’t a statesman, I think it was an Eastern Idaho Falls News article where she’s shared her whole story in regards to how she was arrested and incarcerated and the way she was treated there. And, you know, that was something that she wanted to get her story out there. And she felt empowerment by by doing that, and we 100% supported her in regards to whatever that need was, again, it’s kind of going back to that full autonomy. You know, we’re just walking alongside of them. Well, we don’t we don’t do that. On our side, I think that, you know, we’ll share some testimonies of of how an individual was thankful how we were able to do this, that and the other, we might share something like that within our newsletter, or occasionally on our social media platform. But yeah, it’s one of those, we’re not really looking to tell someone else’s story and further exploit them to gain any type of financial or personal gain. We’re not, we’re not that organization that wants our face on the rock kind of thing. We’re not we don’t roll that way. But if it is something to where as an individual does want to go to a function and tell their story, by all means, we want to make sure first and foremost that they’re adequately okay in their healing process in order to share that. Because you never know if they start telling it and then all of a sudden, it’s just going to trigger re traumatize them. So we don’t ever even ask, it’s nothing that we will go out and ask, we may occasionally just, you know, if someone wants to share something about how we help them in a certain way, how we were able to do this, that and the other and they wanted to write a short little testimony, we may share that. But yes, it’s a fine line when you’re talking about, you know, you kind of hit the nail on the head when you’re talking about human trafficking, because you do, in a sense want to pull on the heartstrings of the individual in order to support whether that’s financially or just kind of getting invested buying in regards to educating themselves, but you don’t want to do it at the expense of an individual. So yeah, so Oh, yeah, at our aspect, we will share little tidbits on things, but we won’t. We don’t use that as a platform in order for us to get buy in from people and or anything that’s going to benefit us. It just it’s, it’s just not the right way to do things.
Zachary Leighton
Yeah. Well, Kevin, this has been really enlightening, especially for Idaho and resident. Thank you so much for being on the show for providing your insights and expertise and educating us in this way, if people want to get a hold of you, if church leaders want to get a hold of you and look into what it would look like to partner with you guys, how can they do so
Kevin Zielinski
I’d like to do it a couple of ways, they get to pick up the phone and call me. And it’s also the same number to our crisis hotline, it’s 208-630-6601, an extension five. But for victims and survivors, they would hit extension nine in order to speak to our crisis hotline, or they can visit our websites and Idaho atc.org All the resources there. Also, my contact information is on there as well. As far as my email, it’s Kevin at Idaho atc.org. So those are some of the ways in which you can contact me and I would, we’d love to partner with anybody that is willing to kind of move this effort forward, whether that’s more so as I mentioned, providing a space for us to come and do some training for the congregation and or just inviting the general public. Or if it’s something they want to donate to our resource center, or write us a check we’d like we’d like checks. So we know, this is an effort that, you know, it’s something that we can’t, we can’t do it alone, it takes a village. And you know, we’re open to those partnerships. And that’s something that we invite, especially the church, we know the church needs to be here at the forefront, when it comes to the healing and restoration and actually supporting these, these individuals that have been exploited and abused. And it’s just the right thing to do. So those are some of the ways in which the church can help and the ways that you can contact me and find out more information through our website.
Zachary Leighton
Okay, cool. Well, we’ll be sure to put that information in the show notes. Lastly, can I pray for you and I don’t need to ATC? Absolutely. Awesome. Father, we just thank you so much. For this opportunity to chat and learn from Kevin, thank you for the work that he’s doing. And his team had a whole anti trafficking coalition. I pray that You would bless and guide and lead I pray that churches would come alongside and partner with this organization to fight back against this injustice. That’s taking place not only here in Idaho, but all over the country in the world. Father, I pray that you would just step into this brokenness and provide healing and care and guide Kevin and his team as they fight back in this against this was such a small team, I pray that you would grow their team and pray that you would bring volunteers and people that want to be a part of this fight. Lord, we love you so much. And thank you that we get to be a part of what you’re doing. And you’ve called, called us to stuff like this. Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen. Thank you, Kevin, thanks so much for being on the show. Man. It was nice to meet you and spend some time with you.
Kevin Zielinski
Thank you. I appreciate it. Zach was great to know you too, as well. Awesome.
Bye.
