The National Association of University Women — Southern New Jersey Branch, in partnership with Impacting Your World Christian Center of Cherry Hill, hosted a free workshop for the community on Jan. 11 as part of Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
The group presented a fascinating workshop for approximately 100 attendees, explaining what human trafficking is and providing insight into how best to protect yourself and the children in your community from falling prey to traffickers. Gina, a human trafficking survivor, shared some of her harrowing experiences as a survivor of trafficking and her road back to reclaiming a life all her own. Each speaker urged attendees to pay attention to the signs that someone might be a human trafficking victim and to report it immediately. “Know it. See it. Report it.”
Senior Pastor Ray Bernard graciously offered his church as a venue and welcomed those who addressed the crowd, including Moderator Jennifer Lewis-Hall of WPHL-TV; Leesa Branch, Vice President of the National Association of University Women; Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer; Jennifer Crea Aydijan from the Office of New Jersey Senator Troy Singleton; Kathleen Freiss of the Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey; Acting Assistant Prosecutor Nevan Soumilas of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office; Detective Sgt. Robert Schuenemann of the Cherry Hill Police Department; Petra Gaskin, Outreach Coordinator for the Office of Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman; Dawne Lomangino-DiMauro, Director of Avanzar, formerly the Women’s Center and Gina, a human trafficking survivor.
More information on human trafficking can be found at https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/humantrafficking/.
