For Purdue seniors Heidi Melton, Brianna Powell, and Andrea Magruder, the need for a human trafficking awareness organization on campus was just too great to ignore. These three entrepreneurially skilled women decided to use their power for change by starting Trafick Signs, an organization aimed to spread awareness to the Purdue community about the un-ignorable truth of human trafficking.
As Founder and President of Purdue’s Traffick Signs, Heidi felt the pull towards human trafficking awareness after an internship in Washington D.C., where she learned about the millions of people hurting in the world today. The spark of change turned into a flame after she attended Passion 2012, a conference in Atlanta, GA. After hearing about the shocking statistics and the overwhelming lack of awareness, she knew she needed to do something about it.
“The statistics broke my heart and that’s all I needed to know to get something rolling here at Purdue,” said Heidi.
Andrea Magruder, the Vice President of Creative Marketing of Traffick Signs, would never have even thought that slavery would be at the forefront of the world’s biggest issues in 2012. For her, she thought it was just a thing in the past, but after attending a conference that brought light to this tragedy, she realized that she wouldn’t be able to forget about this heartbreaking problem.
“I just don’t think it’s acceptable to be indifferent on a problem that is happening right under our noses,” said Andrea.
Vice President of Research and Development Brianna Powell agreed with Andrea in the way that human trafficking is an ignored issue in this day in age. She believes that there are many ways to get involved in some aspect for the end of human trafficking, such as joining organizations like Traffick Signs.
“More people need to be aware of its presence in today’s society,” said Brianna.
As a new organization on campus, Traffick Signs needs all the help they can get in spreading their cause around campus, so if you feel empowered to change the tide in slavery, the way to start would be to come to a meeting. The meetings will be held bi-weekly, and will basically be full of brainstorming and discussing sessions on how to raise awareness for human trafficking and how to get Purdue’s community involved in the efforts of their organization.
Visit their website www.trafficksigns.com to get information about upcoming meetins, and follow @TraffickSigns, along with ‘liking’ their page on Facebook. Any questions can be directed to either Heidi, Andrea, and Brianna to their emails, listed on their website.
And don’t forget to attend Starry Night: Music and Arts Festival down on Chauncey on September 21st where Traffick Signs will be partnering with Threads of Hope to sell bracelets made by freed women from sex slavery.
Photo Credits: Heidi Melton