Speaker 1: 0:34

Hey everyone, welcome back to that's Delivered. Today we have a special one. We're your guests here, truck and Ray. I have the honor to have on the show an incredible guest that's going to be close to our hearts, fighting human trafficking alongside incredible people of Truckers Against Trafficking, and you may remember the powerful episode that we had with Kyle Allen there. She talked a lot about her journey and how she got to where she's at today.

Speaker 1: 1:01

We're welcoming a new voice to the show. It's going to be Micah Larson. Does a little bit of everything from nonprofit strategy to outreach and education. He's using a wide skill set, made a big impact at TAT and we're learning more about who Micah is and what led him to his work and what he has seen and learned since joining the organization and what's next for TAT. Please welcome him to the show. We'll talk about the truckers that, like you listening, can continue to make a difference out there on the road. So, micah, thanks for being here today to make a difference out there on the road. So, micah, thanks for being here today. Micah, welcome to the show. I'm glad to have you on. How are you doing?

Speaker 2: 1:40

Yes, sir, thanks for having me. I'm doing well, how are you?

Speaker 1: 1:46

I'm doing well too. Man, I have the honor to have you here and talk about your story and your journey. I think it's huge. I think a lot of people can learn from your story, so getting to know you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, let's start with. Let's walk through a bit of your background and career path and how you got joined TAT.

Speaker 2: 1:59

Yeah, it's actually a pretty small career. I graduated from college in 2020 with my bachelor's degree in theater arts and a minor in film and, you know, bounced around between a couple of different jobs, and then I heard about the position at TAT and thought that that was really interesting. Uh, but I didn't know the true extent of modern day slavery until I did research for the role at TAT, as I was interviewing, um, and was just kind of mortified, um, to realize just how big of an issue it is, not just in our country, but around the globe as well.

Speaker 1: 2:30

Yeah, yeah. That's a sad situation that continues. Hope, to put it to rest, be done with it right, eliminate these guys. So what's some of the pivotal roles and experiences that shape your approach to nonprofit work?

Speaker 2: 2:44

Yeah, good question. You know I wore a lot of different hats, if you will, in college. You know, I'd say, being a part of so many different teams throughout my time in university and multiple different aspects kind of helped prepare me for nonprofit work. Because when you do this kind of work you really do wear multiple different hats. Everybody on the team is all invested in the same work and that just really reflects in the different aspects that each of us works in. So I might be on one team primarily, but I work with almost every other single department at TAP one way or another and you just kind of help where you can in order to further the work.

Speaker 1: 3:26

Nice, and what's a specific moment or story that made you passionate about the issue with human trafficking? Was there something that stood out?

Speaker 2: 3:32

the issue with human trafficking.

Speaker 2: 3:35

Was there something that stood out?

Speaker 2: 3:40

Yeah, early on, when I was doing some research, as I was interviewing, I happened to read a book on human trafficking that kind of goes into the details of a survivor who runs her own organization that provides for victims of human trafficking and right away in the first chapter and right away in the first chapter she's talking to it's like a POV of her talking to a 12-year-old girl who's currently being trafficked, and it was so overwhelming to read just a real-life situation of a real person I just had to put the book down and I just cried and kind of went to my wife and was like this, this is tough, you know, this is tough to stomach, it's tough to learn about, but that makes it, you know.

Speaker 2: 4:20

That's just one of the examples of why it's important to learn about, right? So after that I kind of knew that, even if I didn't get the job at TAT, that I would be invested in anti-human trafficking initiatives of some of some sort for some capacity for the rest of my life, whether that was, uh, either in in work in a job or in tithing or donations of some sort.

Speaker 1: 4:42

Nice. Yeah, that's awesome. That's a. I made a great impression on you from tragedy Um, sometimes pain can take, turn things into power. Yeah, a hundred percent. That's great that it helped you in that way. So what was some of the first impressions of the trucking industry and its role in this fight against trafficking.

Speaker 2: 5:00

Gosh, I knew nothing about the trucking industry before starting this job, and so I just kind of jumped in blind. You know, and I remember when somebody told me at TAT on my first day that soon we would be attending a trucking rodeo with the mobile exhibit, and I knew right there that I was about to enter an entirely new world that I'd never really experienced before. And boy was I right. I had no idea how much of a lucrative industry trucking can be. I was delighted to be surrounded by so many different truckers who have such an intense passion for what they do. It really just was shocking and impressive. Truckers put safety first. They have a healthy amount of pride for their skills and their expertise in their area of work, and truly truckers can be some of the just the best people you'll ever meet. And when you realize that that pride and that passion for their job extends into anti-human trafficking work, it's almost like a pair of gloves that just kind of fit perfectly together, right.

Speaker 1: 6:03

Yeah, fit like glove in the hand, hand in the glove. That's awesome. So, man, how nice is it to have that perspective of being involved with TAT. How has it changed your perspective working with them, seeing that at those like rodeos and places like that?

Speaker 2: 6:20

Yeah, there was so much new, there was so much that I didn't know, and so a lot of the perspective that I've gained from this job and the education that I am constantly learning on a day-to-day is that there's always more to learn in this industry, but just in life in general, my worldview has honestly changed because of this job. I've gotten to travel to so many different places that I would have never gone to otherwise. I've experienced industries that I never could have imagined ever being a part of. I've experienced industries that I never could have imagined, you know, ever being a part of and, just to be honest, seeing the horrors of what some people have to go through it's made me realize just how good I have it in my life and to never take that for granted and why this kind of work is so important.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Nice, Nice. That's good to hear. So TAT's mission and momentum. What are some of the key programs or initiatives that you are currently working on at TAT?

Speaker 2: 7:17

Yeah, my position at TAT. I basically I work within our mobile exhibit division, so I'm TAT's mobile exhibit specialist. My boss, brandy, is the director of mobile exhibits. The one that we currently have in our arsenal is the Freedom Drivers Project, which travels to different parts of North America to just bring a little bit more education and awareness to the public and to our corporate partners on human trafficking and other just partners in the sectors that we work within. So this exhibit on the inside there are artifacts from real survivors of human trafficking, paired with some of their stories as well as other statistics on human trafficking and then the work that TAD does with our partners in all of those sectors.

Speaker 2: 8:00

I also work with TAD's ambassador program, which is a unique situation where ATA road team captains. We partner with ATA to send those captains on our behalf to events that we don't have the capacity to attend or, if it makes sense for a driver to give a presentation under the TAT name. So I work within that program as well. I'm a regular guest on the Dave Nemo Show, so I do a ton of different radio interviews and a lot of podcasts, just like this one, and I attend conferences and industry events either with the FTP, or on my own, where I just give presentations on human trafficking training and how TAT and the industries that we work with help combat human trafficking on a day-to-day basis Nice.

Speaker 1: 8:48

Yeah, that's great. That's great work. I mean that trailer has a huge impact.

Speaker 2: 8:53

Yeah, when people are able to walk through there and see the exhibit, read about those articles, see the material, see how those survivors time, and actually seeing one of those artifacts and seeing that person, evidence of that person's story in front of you, it's just, it's a really harrowing experience and it can change your perspective quite a bit.

Speaker 1: 9:23

Yeah, absolutely. What's something you wish more people outside of the industry of trucking understood about human trafficking in America.

Speaker 2: 9:31

Yeah, that's a really great question. Human trafficking in America yeah, that's a really great question, I'd say. You know, I wish more people understood that the vast majority of sex trafficking victims in the United States are actually United States citizens. It's kind of it's easy to be blindsided by the belief that a crime like this just couldn't happen in our country because it's such a horrible thing, right? You think, well, that doesn't happen here, right? When in reality there are confirmed cases of human trafficking in all 50 states every single year. So kind of understanding that and then understanding the vulnerabilities that put some people at a higher risk of becoming a victim of human trafficking can really highlight just how much you might not know about the issue, which is.

Speaker 2: 10:12

This. All took me by surprise when I first started and was like, oh man, you know, it's great that that work is being done to educate people and I'm glad that we're still doing this kind of thing. We also kind of live in a culture where we've been told to mind your own business, and that's something that I mentioned in a lot of my presentations, because traffickers absolutely use this to their advantage in a lot of my presentations, because traffickers absolutely use this to their advantage. In those presentations I always just like to remind people that take the training. You know we offer the training. We offer as a first step, but the second step is to pay attention to your surroundings and then use that. Trading Don't don't mind your business is often what I'll say. So if there's something that just doesn't look right or you see, you know some of those red flags that we talk about in our trading say something call the hotline, call law enforcement, call both. You never just you never know the impact that you might make by just making one simple phone call.

Speaker 1: 11:06

Absolutely. I mean, that's a huge impact that you guys are making. Are there any partnerships or upcoming campaigns where we should keep an eye on for you, for TAT?

Speaker 2: 11:16

Yeah, we're anticipating the release of our brand new mobile exhibit, the Driving Change Project, which is being worked on right now and it's been in development for the last year about year and a half. This exhibit will be different from the FTP in that the FTP focuses a lot on sex trafficking. Be different from the FTP in that the FTP focuses a lot on sex trafficking because 10 to 15 years ago that's where we found the need to be placed at on an exhibit like the FTP. But with this new exhibit it'll actually focus both on sex trafficking and labor trafficking and it'll be a lot more interactive of an exhibit. So we're very excited to see what that looks like. Right now we don't have a release date for it, but we're hoping for sometime next year.

Speaker 1: 11:58

Nice, that's awesome. Excited for that. Yeah, it's very cool. You have more than one truck. There's two out there now.

Speaker 2: 12:04

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 12:05

So what's that like logistics-wise, you know, with that trailer? Yeah, Get those sites for people to see, for it to be there, get it ready.

Speaker 2: 12:15

Yeah, gosh, it's a lot of work. A lot of work on our end, it's a lot of work on our partner's end, of work on our end. It's a lot of work on our partner's end. You know, I would say, typically we attend each year fluctuates, but we attend about 40 to 60 events with the Freedom Drivers Project in a calendar year. So, with two mobile exhibits, that work is. You know, we've got a lot more events to go to, which is awesome and great to be able to say that we get to go to so many more events. But yeah, yeah, it's a lot of work.

Speaker 2: 12:42

You know, we we also don't move the trailer on our own either. We have a program called our elite haulers program, um, in which partners sign on to basically be um be the ones to haul the trailer to and from each event. Um, we truly could not do the work that we do with the mobile exhibits without them. So um shout out to our elite haulers, to quality carriers and Walmart for um for taking that on for us. We really appreciate the work that they do. Um, just a lot of time and energy and logistics and, um, you know, pick up, drop off. What time, you know, are we going to be open. What time do you want us to close Um? Travel accommodations all that, so that keeps my boss and I pretty busy. Travel accommodations all that, so that keeps my boss and I pretty busy.

Speaker 1: 13:24

Nice, yeah, that's awesome. I mean I'm glad it's there. Every time I go to an event I'm like, hey, let me go check out the TAT team. Absolutely, yeah, that's great, Right on. So for truckers out there listening, they're tuned in. Maybe they're listening today. What's one of the most important ways they can stay alert and be helpful? Maybe some tips to help out.

Speaker 2: 13:46

Yeah, you know, just see something, say something, and I would say that if you aren't trained on what to look out for, I would encourage you to go to our website at wwwtatnonprofitorg to take whatever training is relevant to you and your field. So we have an over the road training, but if you're a local driver, we have a training for that too. We've got a training video for school bus drivers, in-home delivery personnel, et cetera. So we've got all sorts of different types of trainings that are relevant to your area of work. Become a certified TAP. And, at the end of the day, in all my presentations I always say if there's one thing you take away from this presentation, we'd love for you to report potential human trafficking situations if you think you see them, because at the end of the day, if that's all you take, then it's absolutely worth my time.

Speaker 1: 14:43

Tubman Award. Let's talk about that for a little bit. Maybe add that in. Yeah, That'd be effective way of helping drivers be incentivized or to help them see the importance of it.

Speaker 2: 14:48

Yeah, the Harriet Tubman Award is a really amazing opportunity that we provide every single year. It's an annual award that we give out to either a member of the trucking, bus or energy industry whose actions have either helped recover or improve the lives of victims or prevented human trafficking or sexual exploitation from taking place. Oftentimes, one of the questions I'll get is you know well, how many people have you saved? You know what's the impact of this kind of training on human trafficking? And I think that's a really fair question, but it's a difficult one to answer because human trafficking is such a complex crime that tracking all the data and everything surrounding it can be incredibly difficult.

Speaker 2: 15:29

But what makes the Harriet Tubman Award so great is that this is an example, almost every single year, of yet another story of somebody who made a call right, of somebody who noticed something wasn't right, uh, and then we're able to tell their real life story about how they ended up, um, making an impact, um, and so, if it's okay with you, I'd I'd love to kind of uh, to go through one or two of the stories, um, um, of that award, of that we've given out in the past. Go ahead.

Speaker 1: 15:59

Awesome.

Speaker 2: 16:00

Cool, like, uh, awesome. So our recent winner uh, he is a recent winner, in 2023. His name is joe guayo. He's a professional truck driver for winco foods. Uh, and in september of 2022, joe was driving um one of his routes in a remote area of the country known for its lack of hot springs or for its hot springs and its lack of cell phone service, excuse me. And as he was driving around the curve, he saw something that he knew was wrong right away. What he witnessed was a very young woman whose head was completely shaved, she was looking up at the mountains as if she had no idea where she was, and she was wearing nothing but a beach towel. So, while obeying an explicit company policy prohibiting unapproved riders in the cab, he continued driving until he saw the next roadside police call box. Once he did, he pulled his truck over, he called law enforcement, gave her description and the location that he was at. A few months later, joe was actually driving the same route again and he ended up having a weather-related accident. Unfortunately, and as he was conversing with law enforcement on the scene, he actually thought you know what? I should ask the officer if he knows what happened to the woman that I had made that call about a couple of months prior. Right, and to Joe's surprise, the trooper that had also assisted in his call for the woman was the same trooper that was helping him with his accident, and they were both kind of amazed to be reunited with each other, since it had happened so many months ago. And it turns out that the young woman was a 27-year-old victim of human trafficking who had been drugged and then dumped in that area by her traffickers. She was in really rough shape, and the trooper was able to transport her to a hospital where she was able to make a full recovery. The trooper told Joe that, because he had used the police call box instead of waiting for his own cell phone to come back into service, he had actually likely saved that woman's life. If he hadn't done that, her story probably would have ended very differently. So it's because of that that we are very proud to name Joe our 2023 Harriet Tubman Award winner.

Speaker 2: 18:07

And then another example is our story about a truck driver named Kevin Kimmel, who was a past winner of ours as well, who was at a Virginia truck stop. He saw something that he didn't think was right. He saw a young woman's head pop out from a curtain and then saw her head kind of snap back quickly and the curtains were drawn pretty abruptly. He kind of thought to himself you know, I should probably make a call. That just didn't really sit right with me.

Speaker 2: 18:34

And when law enforcement got to the scene they kind of knew something was wrong right away. Both of the perpetrators, laura Sorensen and Aldair Hadza, were just really giddy with law enforcement. They were over-answering their questions, offering them cookies and even kind of insisting that they sit down and relax, which is not normal behavior for somebody who's being interrogated by police. And there was another person in the vehicle at the time, in the RV, and she was a very young woman. She was heavily caked in makeup, she was thin and, most importantly, she would not look anybody in the eye while they were all in the trailer together of the window of their RV towards a local landmark and they were telling police that they were hoping to visit that landmark later that day.

Speaker 2: 19:26

And it was at this time, where everyone's attention was pointed out of the window of the vehicle, that she was able to look up and signal to the officer nearest her that she needed help and was not okay when they removed her from the vehicle, she was able to kind of tell her horrific story.

Speaker 2: 19:40

She was a very young woman who had been kidnapped from her, her Iowa home, weeks prior. Um, these uh perpetrators were friends of her sisters and they took advantage of that uh and and kidnapped her and put her on Craigslist, um, where men were coming out to the RV and they were raping her. Uh, she she did not remember the last time she had had anything to eat, couldn't remember the last time she'd had anything to drink. Uh, and she told the law enforcement officer that, um, if she were to keep going, she felt as though she were going to die. Um, and uh, doctors actually said that if she had not, uh, if that call, the law enforcement, had not been made, she likely would have died shortly thereafter due to the malnutrition and the torture that she had suffered from those people. So you know, that's just. It's a great example all of our past winners to be able to use those stories as evidence that what we're doing works right. The work that we're doing truly does make an impact and it does actually change lives.

Speaker 1: 20:40

Yeah, thanks for sharing that, and those are real stories that many people can actually have a same, similar experience if they just, you know, like you said, see something, say something, right, that's good how that those individuals probably feel being able to make that difference and that change in those individuals' lives that were held against their will. So thanks for sharing that. Man, yeah, of course. Yeah, they received a gift in itself right there. You know, a successful phone call, that's, that's yeah yeah, she actually.

Speaker 2: 21:14

She called kevin from uh for his story. She called him from her hospital room and and said you know, you're my guardian angel. And uh, he was like I'm just a trucker against trafficking, you know doing my part.

Speaker 1: 21:24

Awesome, that's great. So TIT TAT is known for training material. How often should drivers refresh their knowledge and what's new on the resources and maybe on the app, or even as an employer, what should they do?

Speaker 2: 21:41

Yeah, good question. Even just as an employee of TAT, I oftentimes will go and retake the trainings myself. Our portal on our website is super user-friendly. And the trainings, you know, they're built to give you some video, some education, but then also answer some questions. They're really quite useful. So I would say just retaking the training on our portals is a big one, but then also downloading some questions. They're really quite useful. So I would say just retaking the training on our portals is a big one, but then also downloading our app.

Speaker 2: 22:07

Our app is a really great resource that's got tailored red flag content on it. It has local service provider information relevant to wherever you're at in the country. So if you think that somebody you're experiencing a situation where somebody might need to go to, uh, you know, a home that might be able to provide for them, you can look up in the service provider information to see if there's, uh, an organization or a nonprofit that's nearby that provides those kinds of services. Uh, so our app is really a phenomenal tool. Um, you know it's. I like to say it's all the good parts about our physical materials that we provide, but all on a digital one app all together, you know. So I would say those are the two things. You know, our portal is really great, really great tool, but then our app is really useful as well.

Speaker 1: 22:54

Nice. Oh man, that's a great tool. If you've taken the training, why not retake it so? That's because we always need reminders, keep things fresh. Conversations from the road, what, what trucking shows or individual events that you've been industry events have you been a personally part of that that you've seen recently and to see the impact?

Speaker 2: 23:19

have you been a partially part of that that you've seen recently and to see the impact? Yeah, good question, it's. It's been one crazy year. You know we've. We've gotten to go to some really great events or recently have attended several corporate events with Walmart, ruan Transportation, lindy, pepsico and CN Railway. I'm actually going to a UPS facility in Chicago in two days. You have the cash facility there, so I'm looking forward to doing that event. But then we've you know we've also. We went to the Indy 500 this year thanks to our partnership with Bridgestone. That was a major event and a crazy milestone where hundreds of people were able to go through the trailer. And then we were also a part of the Iowa 80 Walcott Jamboree in July as well, and that's always great to be a part of as well.

Speaker 1: 24:04

Nice. I think they put the dates out for next year, 2026, for men. Oh, right on, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah yeah, see you guys there too.

Speaker 2: 24:12

Yeah, we'll definitely be there. I think my boss actually was just talking today about how they just reached out. We're getting our booth details and everything like that all settled, so we'll definitely see you guys there.

Speaker 1: 24:23

Nice, how nice. I was thinking too that a lot of people maybe, if they're not a part of it, they could be a part of it. So the conversation is also going into what kind of feedback have you received from drivers or companies when you speak at these events or when you guys are there? What things can they look forward to?

Speaker 2: 24:43

Yeah, the response that I get is always just a great reminder as to why you know we do this.

Speaker 2: 24:49

It's always amazing to see drivers, employees or even just parents go through the exhibit and take in all the information that we have to offer.

Speaker 2: 24:59

It's just always really very heartwarming to kind of see the community rally behind an issue like this, especially the transportation family, the trucking, bus and energy industries.

Speaker 2: 25:09

They really just take this matter to heart and you feel that when you go to an event, especially in my capacity with the mobile exhibit we actually had a driver recently who said he was surprised at how little he actually understood about human trafficking and that there were things that he thought he understood about it that were incorrect. We always hand out tons of materials, we have great conversations and I'm always just surprised to see how many cash donations or donations through t-shirt sales that we get and the companies that we do these events with are just all in. You know they do everything that they can to make each event as successful as possible and it's always very encouraging to see the amount of effort that so many corporations just go through to promote the education that we have to offer and support the work that we do Nice to promote the education that we have to offer and support the work that we do Nice.

Speaker 1: 25:59

So, looking ahead, where will TAP be in the coming months? Any events or appearances, maybe, or goals you would like to highlight so that people can be there?

Speaker 2: 26:13

Yeah, absolutely yeah. So, like I said, I'll be in Chicago in two days. I think it's this Thursday. I fly on Wednesday, but it's this Thursday. I'll be in Chicago at the UPS facility the cash facility on August 14th. So if there are any feeder drivers out there listening, come and see me in the FTP at the event. I'm excited to be there and talk to you guys about human trafficking. We also have some pretty exciting events coming up in the next month or so. We'll be at the Intermodal Association of North America's annual expo in Long Beach, california, from September 15th to the 17th. We'll also be at ATA's MC&E in October and also WIT Accelerate Conference in November as well. So there's a number of other events that we're attending as well that I just can't think of off the top of my head. But if you're interested in seeing where the FTP will be for the rest of the year, I would say check out the Freedom Drivers Project landing page on our website at wwwtatnonprofitorg.

Speaker 1: 27:04

Wow. And how can companies or individual drivers you know how can they get involved if they haven't already?

Speaker 2: 27:12

Yeah, Our website's a really phenomenal resource. I think I just looked at it for an entire week when I got hired and was taking in so much information. It's truly, really well built. So I'd go to our website, take the training that we have available on there. I kind of talked about the app a little bit.

Speaker 2: 27:30

That's another really great way for you to learn more and get involved. If you haven't been, in a pretty easy, less intense way, I feel like most people. They have their phones on them all the time and getting on a computer is actually, you know, so much harder than it used to be back in the day. But with our app and with our phone, it's just so easy. The content is right there in front of you and you can utilize those resources that we provided completely free of charge. So if you're interested in donating to TAT as either a company or as an individual donor, you can always send me an email at mlarsen that's M-L-A-R-S-E-N at tatnonprofitorg and we can just start that conversation, get you invested in what we're doing in the industry Nice.

Speaker 1: 28:16

Yeah, you know they say your freedom of speech can also be displayed by where you put your money. So that's good, your support helping individuals out to continue to do what they're doing, to help those that are, you know, that need to help, that are being exploited. Yeah, micah, that's awesome and we'll just wrap it up. I know you did a great job of telling about your mission and the work you're doing. I really appreciate you joining us sharing much of your insight. You're doing a great and important work. We'll hope that the drivers out there walk away with this episode feeling empowered and they can also play their part in stopping human trafficking, like I said, using the app and also going on the website, retraining if you have already taken the training, and also sharing it with other individuals that don't know that, have questions. So yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:06

I appreciate that so much, anything else.

Speaker 2: 29:10

I was just going to say I appreciate you for having me on and thank you to you and all the other truckers who are listening. I have an immense amount of respect for what you guys do. If you've seen it, if you've tasted it, if you've touched it, if you smell it, it probably came in on a truck at some point. So you guys really do make the country run and I just appreciate you guys for what you do. Wow, thanks man. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 1: 29:35

Great. Appreciate that. So big shout out to all the truckers out there and, if you're listening, please go ahead and head on over to truckersagainsttraffickingorg and check out their free training resources at upcoming events. You never know where life can lead you. You can help someone save their life. You can do this by just being informed and aware. So great resources and also, as an employer, you guys can get more involved and help out drivers and help your workforce be informed as well, so of the things that they can be aware of out there to save someone's life. So thank you so much for this episode of that's the Limit and stay safe out there and keep your eyes open and we'll catch you next time. Awesome.