COMMUNITY & CULTURE
TAKE IT FROM ME…
with Kimberly Ritter
FIGHTER. TOUGH-EDGED PRINCESS. HUMAN TRAFFICKING CRUSADER.
By Diane Kline
F
or professional meeting planner Kimberly Ritter, a
client request opened her eyes to the cruel world of sex
trafficking and turned her into an advocate for its victims.
The client – a group of nuns planning a conference in St.
Louis – would only book a hotel that had signed the Child
Protection Code of Conduct. This requires that the staff be trained to
identify and stop human trafficking taking place on the premises.
As she and her colleagues, Molly Hackett and Jane Quinn (owners
of Nix Conference and Meeting Management), learned more about
the ravaged lives of young women and men sold into prostitution, they
could have turned a blind eye. Instead, they are opening the eyes of
parents, young people and even the authorities through an organization
they founded, called The Exchange Initiative.
Honored locally and nationally, Ritter is the winner of the 2012 FBI
Director’s Community Leadership Award. The wife and mother of
children ages 17 to 25, shared a little of her journey that has changed the
lives of victims and transformed her personally.
I am not on this earth to live a life of houses, cars and vacations
You couldn’t have told me 13 years ago that I would be on a social justice
crusade. The first time I saw a girl online and recognized her hotel
room, I worked with the police to help free her. I didn’t know I could
do that. If I try to pull away, it calls me back. So, I’ve surrendered. This
is now part of who I am.
For months, I cried every night on my way home
I was tormented that people do this to other people. The problem was
so widespread. Then the nuns taught me to ask, “Did I help just one
person today?” That’s all I need to do. I’ve learned that if you poke a
hole, the light will come through. And if you poke another hole, the light
gets brighter.
If there’s a computer in your daughter’s room, she is at risk
Girls are not snatched off the street, but are lured through social media.
As young as 12 years old, they come from nice families living in cities and
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suburbs. They’re contacted by pimps (who may be the soccer coach or
your neighbor) promising modeling careers and celebrity lifestyles. The
victims willingly meet their traffickers, who quickly turn them into drug
addicts. Then the girls can be held captive, forced into sex for drugs, or
are threatened to make them stay.
Everyone can fight the sex trade with the Traffickcam app
Since the victims’ online photos are often taken in hotel rooms, we
created Traffickcam, a free app that helps pinpoint where they’re
being held. Citizens can upload photos of their hotel rooms and when
authorities are searching for a victim, an algorithm identifies the hotel
based on the bedspread pattern or artwork, or even dimensions of the
furniture. Now every business person, vacationer or soccer mom at the
Super 8 for her child’s soccer tournament can fight the sex trade.
Parents need to monitor social media 24/7
Parents think, “This won’t happen to my children because we’ve raised
them right.” But predators are clever. Teach your children: “Unless you
can see somebody face-to-face and shake his hand, you do not know
who this person is.” Know everything about the apps your children use.
Go into their messages and read everything up and down. And take
away their devices whenever you’re concerned.
I appreciate life more since I’ve seen how terrible life can be
I’ve become harder. I’ve learned not to emote in front of a victim. No
tears. Just face someone with understanding, not sadness or judgment.
It’s a passion to talk to parents and young people about what’s
happening. Even my children help by going to my presentations and
fighting the fight.
My friends call me "The Bulldog"
I don’t give up. I may just be a meeting planner, but I can change lives.
Friends would say, “This is what she was meant to do. She’s a little
rough around the edges and a little tougher than a girl should be for the
princess she is.”