Rising Up And Getting Loud

By CHARLENE PAUL

The Progress

Virgin Valley residents Cassey Dahl (right) and Erika Lamoreaux (left), with Erika’s two sons Clark and Miller, attend an OUR rally in St. George, Utah last week to raise funds in a fight against Human Trafficking.

Individuals and businesses in the local communities, and across the nation, joined with the national activist group Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) on Thursday, July 31, to raise awareness of the problem of Human Trafficking and to celebrate the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Over 100 U.S. locations held fundraisers and hosted the RISE UP and GET LOUD for Children rallies.

Led on by a group of local residents calling themselves “Abolitionists”, area residents were urged to decorate homes, places of business, vehicles and even their own clothing in yellow and blue to recognize that day. The color yellow represents the O.U.R. organization, and blue represents child abuse awareness and is internationally recognized as the universal color for human trafficking prevention.

Several businesses and homes in both the Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley displayed signs, balloons, and streamers in support of the rallies.

Many local residents attended major rallies in St. George and Salt Lake City, Utah. A few of Overton resident Lori Rust’s children and their friends even attended a rally in far-off St. Louis, Missouri.

Logandale resident Bev Qualheim and her grandson Joren decorate the front door of the Qualheim home with yellow and blue hearts in celebration of the OUR awareness event to End Human Trafficking on Thursday last week.

In St. George, approximately 3,000 people attended the event held at Town Square Park. Utah State Attorney General Sean Reyes and O.U.R. Founder and CEO Tim Ballard spoke at the event.

Ballard explained that one of the major reasons child abuse is on the rise in the United States is because of the COVID-19 shutdown of infrastructure.

Child sex trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal enterprise in the world, he said. There has been a 90.46 percent increase in CyberTipline reports between January and June of 2020 versus the same time period in 2019.

“We’ve got to keep our kids safe by understanding the threat and how predators get to our kids,” Ballard explained. “Parents are the first line of defense; parents need to educate.”

Virgin Valley resident Cassey Dahl said that she was happy to go to the @ourrescue walk in St. George.
“So many people showed up!” she said. “There were 150 rallies going on today for World Day Against Trafficking and Tim Ballard chose to come personally to the one in St. George! It was very moving to hear him speak. I won’t ever forget it.”

Shanan Kelly and his son Hunter attended the rally in Salt Lake City. Hunter has a personal stake in the movement. He held a fundraiser for O.U.R. as his Eagle Scout project in 2018.

O.U.R. Promise: To the children who we pray for daily, we say: Your long night is coming to an end. Hold on. We are on our way. And to those captors and perpetrators, even you monsters who dare offend God’s precious children, we declare to you: Be afraid. We are coming for you.

For more information about Operation Underground Railroad and how to get involved to help wipe out human trafficking, go to ourrescue.org.