Human Trafficking awareness mobile on display at Darlington Raceway

DARLINGTON, SC (WMBF) - Human trafficking organization, One Child at a Time, is using this weekend's massive NASCAR event to raise awareness through an interactive mobile exhibit setup right outside the Darlington Raceway.

Glenda Skipper, who founded the organization, said its purpose is to educate the community on preventing human trafficking.

"It's easier to educate our children on prevention than it is to rescue them," Skipper said.

Skipper said she started One Child in January of this year after seeing the impact of human trafficking in the US and other countries.

"Children from the ages of 8 to 18, they seek them out because they are vulnerable and they're easily coerced," Skipper said.

Inside the mobile, an array of human trafficking statistics and powerful stories are on display. Visitors can explore human trafficking statistics, what human trafficking is and ways to prevent it.

Global Connection International, a worldwide human trafficking nonprofit provided the mobile. CEO, Jim Weber, said a big focus of human trafficking prevention is social media, which is how most offenders find out more about the victim.

Weber said the platforms make it easy for children to fall prey, all it takes it one post.

"They'll stay with those post for weeks until they find out the kids are going to get together to meet and they'll show up," Weber said.

Some signs parents should look out for in their child, Skipper said, is isolation, bruising, or if they suddenly have expensive clothes. 

"It they have an older boyfriend or if they just don't share their life anymore that would be a sign to sit down and have a talk," Skipper said.

It's a conversation she and Weber hope will make people more proactive than reactive when it comes to human trafficking.

"Educating on the prevention of human trafficking will help our local and state officials in combating this threat," Skipper said.

"We wanted to take it from the front end and try to cut it off before it happens and just get that word out to everybody," Weber said.

The mobile will be set up here at the raceway all weekend. Afterward, it will be set up in other places across the Pee Dee throughout September.

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