Community Awareness - Human Trafficking Movie and Town Hall

Being chosen usually means something good is going to happen to you. You are chosen to receive an award, a scholarship, a promotion, a job, a place on a team. You feel excited and proud that someone recognized your special qualities and chose you above the rest.
In the world of human trafficking however, being chosen means something else altogether. Traffickers seek out vulnerable young people at schools, malls, coffee shops, and on social media and when they believe they’ve found a potential target, they begin their campaign of manipulation against their “chosen” victim. Traffickers are often older, buy their victims expensive gifts of clothes or jewelry, take them to nice restaurants, put them on a pedestal above all others. They do whatever it takes to lure their “chosen” victim in, to make them believe they are special, cared for, loved. Because so many young people long for these very things, traffickers are able to trick them into a life they never imagined. The “chosen” feel flattered by the attention they receive from the trafficker and do not recognize the signs until it is much too late.
The film, “Chosen” tells the story of two girls tricked into trafficking. Brianna, 18, was a star student, cheerleader, and waitress. Lacy, 13, enjoyed church and volunteering in her community. Both were manipulated. Both were exploited. Both were chosen.