The newly formed O.U.R. Long Island NY Volunteer Team (with over 200 volunteers) has certainly wasted no time in garnering support for the fight against human trafficking and child exploitation. In the first half of 2020 alone, they have held an Operation Toussaint documentary screening at a library, planned a spirit night at Panera Bread, and even put on a dance-a-thon for 10 hours to raise money for O.U.R. 

COVID-19 couldn’t stop the force of this team and their leader, Janet Lombardo, from bringing awareness to child sex trafficking. They partnered with the Suffolk County District Attorney Office of Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau to hold a virtual online internet safety class. “Now that our children are expected to be online for their school assignments most of their day during quarantine, we felt it is extremely important to bring the message to children and their parents about the dangers of the internet,” Lombardo said. “I am very involved with my community and have been able to build relationships with both the Police Commissioner and District Attorney, as I work in prevention of substance misuse.” 

all 5 NY BOROUGHS ATTENDED

The team organized the event through Eventbrite so attendees could register and receive a Zoom link. They used all advertising tools available to them; Facebook, newsletters, email marketing, and more. People attended from all 5 boroughs, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. 

District Attorney and guest speaker Tim Sini kicked off the meeting. “He thanked us for the work we are doing and mentioned how important it is to partner with organizations like O.U.R.  As a new team, his talk was instrumental in building our credibility in our community.  He also posted a thank you on his Facebook page tagging O.U.R.,” said Lombardo. 

Janet Lombardo followed up by showing a short video explaining what O.U.R. does, setting the stage for the topic. The Assistant DA’s smoothly picked up the presentation, thoroughly highlighting how predators groom children they meet online and on different social media apps. The Long Island NY Team plans to repeat this again, whether it be online or in person. 

BECOME A VOLUNTEER

O.U.R. Volunteers are at the heart of our organization. With over 13,000 volunteers worldwide, we can raise our voices together to show our communities and circles of influence how they can directly support the cause to help us rescue more children from modern-day slavery. Become an O.U.R. Volunteer today!