Not4Sale is a local non-profit that works against human trafficking, especially in youth.
The group’s focus is on preventative education by speaking with schools, youth groups, churches, frontline workers, businesses, and organizations to empower and equip the community with tools to prevent human trafficking before it begins.
On Nov. 24, Not4Sale is hosting a free Parent Night to present tools to help safeguard children.
“Sadly, we hear far too often people saying, ‘It doesn’t happen here,’ when the reality is it happens under our roofs, without our knowledge, in safe, stable, and supportive homes. Through education, we can all play a part in prevention and stop harm before it happens,” said Executive Director Joy-Lynn Stickel.
Not4Sale has been around for 17 years, Stickel noted. “We’ve had three international safe homes helping kids who’ve been trafficked and just giving them a place to call home and a place to be children.”
“We’re able to support those children there and help them have a family and hopefully be able to just go back to the innocence of childhood again after these atrocities have happened to them,” Stickel shared.
Locally, in Canada, Not4Sale is raising awareness and helping people understand what human trafficking is, what it looks like, and what to look for.
“What to be aware of as children, and what to be aware of as parents,” said Stickel. “Hopefully, we can nip this in the bud before it’s a problem people need to heal from.”
Stickel and her husband started Not4Sale 17 years ago organically. “I went to a conference and heard about human trafficking and sex trafficking and how it affects children. I heard about that for the first time.”
“I had no clue that was a thing. I came home and it really just gripped me. I wouldn’t let go,” Stickel added.
Along with other organizations, the Stickels were able to jump right in and help. “That’s when we opened our home in Cambodia to help kids and women who were stuck in trafficking.”
“We didn’t know what we could do, but we knew we had to do something. And if it helped one child, it was worth our time and worth our efforts and whatever we needed to put into it,” Stickel said.
With the upcoming Parent Night, the Stickels are building an online course for parents who just want to know what this looks like and how they can help their children.
“And what to watch for with their children and how they can kind of build that connection, so their children feel safe to come to them if something happens in real life or online,” Stickel explained.
The idea of the Parent Night is to pass along important information to parents, who can spread that information to their spheres of influence, including friends and family.
“What does this look like? What can we do to help,” added Stickel. “It’s such a wonderful thing when people get involved with helping change the lives of other kids, especially if they don’t even know them.”
To become an advocate or find out more information, visit online at not4sale.ca.
