Plattsburgh and Clinton County Interfaith Council hosts March 3 event on human trafficking

Feb. 16—PLATTSBURGH — Mary Skillan is a member of the Plattsburgh and Clinton County Interfaith Council as well as a lay representative of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Watertown.

The order has been making winter hats for the Council's work with Plattsburgh Cares, "a coalition working to assist immigrants and others in our community to achieve their goals safely and responsibly with compassion, justice and respect for all," according to its website.

"We've been volunteering with Plattsburgh Cares since August because our Interfaith Council felt it aligns very well with our Council's mission and it gets all our member congregations engaged," Bonnie Black, Interfaith Council president, said.

"Mary brought up at one of our meetings that she has been sitting for awhile on the North Country, I don't know it's real name, (North Country Human Trafficking Task Force). It's out of Watertown, and it's a nine-county council. Especially with our connection to Plattsburgh Cares where we're providing very vulnerable people at least or night or two sustenance of food, we need to make people around here much more aware that it's happening right here in Clinton County. And, it is."

MARCH PANELISTS

January was Human Trafficking Prevention Month, but the Council is alerting the community to increased regional human trafficking at an event on Sunday, March 3 at Temple Beth Israel, 1 Bowman St., Plattsburgh.

At 1 p.m., the Council will show the 20-minute film, "Chosen," which is produced by Shared Hope International. Following the viewing, a panel discussion will continue the conversation with Jonathan Phillips who played the part of a predator in the true-life film, "Finding Faith," with Eric Estrada about the Garretts whose faith was challenged when their 14-year-old daughter was lured into trafficking online.

This is a compelling faith-based film families can watch together on YouTube and discuss. Phillips, pastor at the North Argyle Community Church near Glens Falls, will speak on how predators groom young people online and the red flags adults should look for.

"Mary already had a lot of materials from Homeland Security," Black said.

"They have what's called the Blue Campaign. Their tagline is 'One Voice. One Mission. End Human Trafficking.' So, we have a lot of those materials to get into people's hands."

The second panelist is Colleen Brown, the Safe Harbour Ambassador at the Prevention Team of Essex County. She will also bring information to be distributed which empowers people to take a stand on human trafficking.

"Mary was connecting with Colleen," Black said.

"Colleen is the Safe Harbour Ambassador. It's part of the Office of Children and Family Services in New York State, which makes sure that counties are developing capacity for identifying youth that have been trafficked or sexually exploited or are at risk of victimization, and then how to network within the state in a safe way."

Brown connected the Council to Phillips.

"He was in the movie 'Finding Faith,' which is a true story about a young girl who was trafficked for an online predator," Black said.

"That's a lot of what this region has also seen, online predation."

'REAL RIGHT NOW'

At a Thursday morning meeting of the Clinton County Coalition to Prevent Suicide, a member told her about the FBI raising awareness of online predators.

"I said whoa, things are coming together here. So I actually went to a couple of the FBI sites, and went wow, they've got a lot of stuff on human trafficking and sex trafficking and online predation and all of that," Black said.

"We just want to make sure that we can begin a discussion that people can actually become more aware so that will stop trafficking of anybody, let alone young people, which is really hard. Colleen is bringing some information for other tables that will be about to support women and children who have come out of trafficking. It's called non-slavery goods and products and things like that to help get them on their feet now that they've come out of years of human slavery. It's like oh my goodness, it's 2024. How can we have human trafficking like this?"

The Council's executive committee researched human trafficking and brought it to the other members.

"It's very prevalent, and we don't talk about it," Black said.

"Little Clinton County, no, of course not. No, of course, yes. Because we've had for years asylum seekers, refugees, homeless people, the vulnerable population that can readily be preyed upon. and with online let's face it, youngsters are at risk all the time. If we can educate parents that certainly will help. If we just help one person, that's great. One family."

HAND OUTS/DONATIONS

After the discussion with the audience on March 3, informational tables will be available for attendees to peruse materials and find reputable sources for fair-trade items created by slave-free women who are now out of danger in our country.

Homeland Security information and posters will also be available as part of their "Blue Campaign."

If you would like to bring a non-perishable food item for the Interfaith Food Shelf as a donation, the Interfaith Council would greatly appreciate it.

"Maybe next year depending upon the traffic we can get on this maybe we will hold it at Cumberland 12 or something," Black said.

"Right now, it's like getting Plattsburgh and Clinton County's toes wet. We have to begin this exploration that this is real right now."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell