Welcome to the Rotary Club To End Human Trafficking

We meet via Zoom on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month at 7 AM US CT. 
Email President@endHTrotaryclub.org to request the meeting link.
PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Engaging Young Leaders 

In Our Mission In this letter, I want to invite us into an honest and compassionate conversation about pornography and its connection to sexual exploitation. Human trafficking prevention requires us to understand the culture and demand that make exploitation possible. Pornography can normalize the treatment of people especially women and girls as products for consumption. When sexual content is consumed without regard for consent, dignity or the real circumstances behind an image,

it can reinforce attitudes that make trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation easier to ignore. Our work is not about shaming individuals; it is about awakening conscience, challenging harmful norms and protecting human dignity.

I am especially grateful that Deanna Spangler will join us as our speaker in November. Deanna was exploited in sex trafficking and pornography, and she now speaks openly about her journey from exploitation to healing, advocacy and leadership. Her story reminds us that behind every statistic there is a person with inherent worth, resilience and a future.

We will continue the conversation in January 2027, featuring Gene McConnell, who will offer a former buyer’s perspective. Gene’s testimony confronts the demand side of exploitation and helps us understand how attitudes, shame and cultural messages can shape harmful choices and how change and accountability are possible.

As Rotarians, we are called to model values that counter exploitation: empathy, integrity, respect and service above self. Let us speak about these issues with care, refuse language that dehumanizes anyone, support survivors without judgment and teach young people that real relationships are built on consent, equality and dignity. I also believe that leaders, men and women in positions of power and responsibility in our societies, should be held to high moral standards.

May we be people who see clearly, care deeply, and act justly. Together, we can help build a community where no person is treated as a commodity and where compassion becomes prevention.

In Rotary,

Laura Dryjanska

President, Rotary Club to End Human Trafficking

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Economic Development Initiative Update August 2026

SMALL STEPS BUILDING PROGRESS

We have said this before. Economic Development… true Economic Development…is not for the impatient or those who get easily frustrated.

Economic Development that will change the conditions of societies where trafficking is rampant requires overcoming massive ingrained behavioral and external factors. There are reasons why various parts of the world don’t have solid economies.

From our founding, EDI has preached this. However, we are starting to see our tiny yeast cells showing growth. The most notable of these is the Theodora Africa project. The small group that has developed in Ghana is not fully paying their own way, and (with funding from the District Grant led by the club) has added new participants that have been trained exclusively by the current participants in the program.

However, we are exceedingly pleased that our second EDI effort, our grassroots entrepreneur training and development program, after several misstarts, has gotten a partner which is seeing real success.

The Jerome Fleischer School in Lusaka, Zambia is a grade 1 to 12 program for orphans. Thus, it serves one of the most potentially vulnerable populations. For many years, they have worried about what happens to their students once they are done with school. There is little in the way of support systems for orphans in countries such as Zambia once a child is out of school.

In line with the RCEHT & EDI goal of working on prevention, developing a pathway for solid self-employment is ideal. Our first class going through this program is about halfway done. Already, they are developing ideas for businesses and are being guided toward how to create a ‘real’ business, not just a subsistence hustle.

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Local Task Forces: Prevention through Partnership

Local human-trafficking task forces create the relationships that turn concern into coordinated action. They bring together people who may encounter exploitation in very different settings: schools, hospitals, shelters, courts, social-service agencies, businesses, faith communities, and law enforcement. By learning one another’s roles, referral pathways and limits, partners can recognize warning signs sooner, respond in a survivor-centered way and avoid leaving vulnerable people to navigate fragmented systems on their own. Is there an anti-trafficking task force in your area? Or a similar joint effort in your country or region?

Prevention depends especially on this interdisciplinary approach. It means identifying vulnerabilities before traffickers exploit them: housing instability, unmet mental-health needs, family conflict, online exploitation, economic hardship and isolation. It also means equipping adults and young people with practical information, strengthening protective community connections, and creating accessible avenues for help.

While living in California, I regularly attended the meetings of the Orange Country anti-trafficking task force. After moving to Kentucky, I joined the state task force and became active in the Education and Prevention Work Group, very much in line with the mission of our Rotary Club. A good example of what we do is the Human Trafficking Service Providers Summit that took place on September 3, 2026, with participation of about thirty service providers, advocates, educators, law-enforcement professionals, health-care workers and community leaders in Shelbyville (KY), United States.

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Speakers
Deanna Spangler
Dec 10, 2026
Behind the Screen:When People Become Products. Pornography, Demand, and Human Trafficking Prevention
María Celeste Tortosa
Jan 14, 2027
"The identification of victims of human trafficking and prevention mechanisms"
Gene McConnell
Jan 28, 2027
"Ending Trafficking for Real: Why We Must Address the Demand"
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Club Executives & Directors
President
Laura Dryjanska
President-Elect
Mary Fiadese
Immediate Past President
Bassey Kooffreh
Treasurer
Karen Walkowski
Rotary Foundation
Bassey Kooffreh
Programs & Projects Chair
Erin Maloney
Fundraising Chair
Mary Fiadese
Economic Development Chair
Michael Podolny
Meeting Speakers Chair
Maria Moreyra
Social Chair
Anne Clark
Endorsements