Merced human trafficking awareness efforts continue with summit

Efforts to bring awareness to the issue of human trafficking in the San Joaquin Valley continue.

Next week, St. Nicholas Episcopal Church will join other parishes of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin in putting together a Human Trafficking Awareness to Action Summit. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. July 8 in the Sam Pipes Room at the Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St.

The summit, according to organizers, will feature the film “A Trafficked Life” by Bakersfield filmmaker Michael Fagans. The film will be followed by a question and answer session.

Merced police investigators and local community leaders will also be present to answer questions.

Bruce Fultz, senior warden at St. Nicholas, said every parish in the diocese will put on a summit. A similar event took place in Fresno about two weeks ago.

“This is one of those things we can take upon ourselves; we can do something about it,” Fultz said. “There’s lots of things that need to be fixed around us, this is one of the things we can focus on.”

Locally, police have recently made a greater effort to investigate such issues, noting it as a growing problem in the area.

Merced police officers receive training on spotting the signs of human trafficking.

At least four trafficking incidents in the past year have involved minors, according to Merced police, and in those cases the person was removed from the situation and offered counseling services.

Studies from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that as many as 325,000 children in the U.S., Canada and Mexico are at risk each year of becoming victims of sexual exploitation. It is estimated that 30 percent of shelter youths and 70 percent of street youths are victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Those children may be coerced into prostitution in exchange for food, shelter or drugs.

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin is also organizing the Tour Against Trafficking for October, a bicycle pilgrimage from Bakersfield to Modesto that will aim to raise awareness and funds for organizations seeking to end trafficking in California.

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 10:08 AM with the headline "Merced human trafficking awareness efforts continue with summit."