For the past 7 years, Rahab’s Daughters has visited the city that hosts the Super Bowl to help rescue potential human trafficking victims. This year, Rahab’s Daughters staff, along with 16 volunteers, visited both Orlando and Miami, FL for to perform rescues at both the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl. Our mission involves several partner organizations, whose help with on the ground coordination, data collection and analysis, and tireless labor is invaluable.

According to the ASU School of Social Work, there is an “estimate of 10,000 victims flooding host cities to be offered to willing purchasers intent on buying sex.” Rescuing human trafficking victims being sold at the Super Bowl is close to Rahab’s Daughters mission because our founder, Sharmila (Sam) Wijeyakumar understands the intensity of the connection between human trafficking and the Super Bowl. Sam is a survivor of human trafficking and was sold at Super Bowl for several years in a row. This memory drives Sam to be a force during the mission trip. Sam and our co-founder, Rev. Dr. Denardo Ramos, have one goal when it comes to the mission trip, rescue as many people as possible!

Organizations Form Partnerships!

We would not be able to accomplish this goal alone. Rahab’s Daughters is proud to partner with multiple organizations this year in the fight against trafficking. The first partner is The Convergence Resource Center (CRC), which provides client-focused, trauma-informed care for trafficking survivors, including education and training for community organizations and service providers. Their founders Dr. Debbie Lassiter & Carla Mckiver, are 16-year veterans in the fight against human trafficking and have some trademark programs like HEMAD to stop demand. Rahab’s Daughters entire team in Miami participated in HEMAD, led by Rev, Dr. Denardo Ramos.

The second partner is Focus Martial Arts, which includes self-defense classes to help prevent potential human trafficking. The third partner is The Village Church of Bartlett, who provided volunteers and assisted with the 24-hour call center. The fourth partner is Ground Secure, part of the 611 networks, working to provide a faith-based network of resources nationally for survivors. Finally, Rahab’s Daughters partnered with MITRE. MITRE is a not-for-profit dedicated to solving problems for a safer world.

What is so unique about MITRE?

Rahab’s Daughters’ unique partnership with MITRE, a not-for-profit research and development company, provides a tool that tracks illicit online discussions and flags the data for law enforcement. MITRE’s Hermes Project team, based in McLean, Virginia, created the technology to target the trafficking of people, weapons and, drugs.