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Share your thoughts on that whole subject. 866-348-7884, 86634, Truth, we need your feedback. This is a live show. And wow, we're loaded for bear today on this whole idea of child exploitation. Oh my goodness, for many of you, you've listened to Land and Rescue in the past, and you might even taken place, you might even taken part in the rescue run last year. But we got Whitney Miller here with the Invictus Project. And we got another run coming up in Ashboro this weekend, Saturday. It is our second annual rescue run. And the Invictus Project is really that domestic focus and effort on partnering with law enforcement to combat child exploitation and trafficking right here in our community. So we're actually partnered up with four different sheriff's offices, Alamance County, Davidson County, Forsyth County, and Randolph County.
And amongst all of us is our task force division, which combats a lot of our community. So, our run is dedicated to to running for those that are exploited for being that voice in combating child exploitation in our communities and to raise some awareness around it. So we're super excited to have year number two coming under our belt with the rescue run in Ashboro. And, man, we have been excited about that. to have year number two coming under our belt with the rescue run in Ashboro. And, man, we have been excited to see the community pour out that comes along with it as well. And we're excited here at the Truth Network to be there live.
I'm going to be broadcasting both Christian Kargai and Kingdom Pursuits out there Saturday. But, you know, the interesting thing about the face of this one, and so this is like, if you've got children and you're concerned, you know, when we listen to Land and Rescue, usually it's international stuff we're talking about. This is completely domestic. This is like completely like we're talking about counties in North Carolina, right, that they're very much. And so what do you mean my child could be exploited? This is not it's it's almost unbelievable to me what I'm almost wish I didn't know what I know about what the Internet does. And it's not the white van pulling up and grabbing your kid anymore. But oh, my goodness, are kids vulnerable like never before? They are.
They are. You know, and you're right, Robbie, this is home, right? We're talking about home.
We're not talking about a faraway land. We are talking about our children. And, you know, unfortunately, I think so often we find ourselves still engaged in that white van mentality, right? 30 years ago, if a predator was seeking to exploit or abuse a child, they were looking at the local playground to find their next victim. Unfortunately, that's not where our children are anymore. You know, our children are handed devices at a very young age.
And because of that, the predators that are out there recognize that the playground is no longer their hunting ground anymore. The Internet is now their hunting ground. And so we are seeing just this unfathomable number. Matter of fact, in 2019, we had about 4000 cases of Internet crimes against children in the state of North Carolina. To give you an idea, this year we are on track to hit 30,000 in the state of North Carolina Internet crimes against children tips that come in. And so to give you a little bit of an idea about what that looks like is these, these tips may flow in from Snapchat, Instagram, you know, you name the the platform of choice, which there are many video games included, where there have been some depiction or images shared of children being sexually abused. And those tips are then filed up through a stream of people and then they come back down, if you will. And I'm taking and making this pretty palatable because it's a process that is much deeper than this. But for the sake of time, comes back down and flows to those individual states where the the officers are then able to handle those particular cases. One tip could encompass hundreds of images of children being abused.
One tip. So within that 30,000 that could look like an unbelievable number of pictures and videos of child of children being exploited. Yeah, and it's way broader than I think a lot of our listeners may think because they think, oh, you know, this is the poor child that, you know, is going to be lured into going someplace and doing that.
And it's nowhere that this is expanded beyond my wildest imagination. And not just little girls, little boys are super vulnerable. Because the reason why you don't say sex trafficking anymore and we say exploitation is because the way that they're being exploited is crazy.
And when you begin to understand the kind of bait they're using to grab your sons and the head of the basketball team and these kind of people that are their targets. And can you speak to that a bit? Absolutely. So let's talk about that. Right. Because, you know, we can look at that playground piece and those individuals back then the predators would look for physical vulnerabilities or, you know, just vulnerabilities that were obvious to the eye.
Well, now we've introduced the Internet. Right. And that is a playing field that leveled out every child as an opportunity to a predator. Right. So when our kids get on Instagram, on Snapchat, on their video games.
Right. Those are the places that these individuals are seeking to lure our children out. And so we don't call it trafficking necessarily. There is trafficking aspect to it. But what I'll say about what we are focused on is the Invictus Project is what do we do proactively to keep it from getting to that point?
Because trafficking is is the it's the furthest level. Right. That we would go to. And so what do we do in advance of that?
Well, there's usually types of grooming techniques that come into play first. And let me let me set the stage. Right. So you have your eight year old son who and I have a son as well who loves the idea of video games. Unfortunately, he is not allowed to play a lot of video games because I know way too much at this point. Right. But I have a son as well.
And so you have your your eight year old son who is on Roblox with all of his buddies and you come home and you've had a long day of work as a parent. Right. And you hear the video game in the background. And instead of, you know, just saying, hey, turn it down because you've probably already said that four times now. Right.
You say, you know what, just do what? Put your headphones on. And now all of a sudden you have allowed an individual to tap into your child's ears. Right. And say whatever they'd like to say. And it's unmonitored because you're not hearing it anymore. Right. Headphones are on.
Now, all of a sudden, there's someone that comes across that that video game and says, man, your mom sounds really annoying. Right. Now, there you have the first step into grooming your child to exploit them. And we're coming up on a break. And I bet you got questions or maybe you would like to tell us how far you would run to stop this exploitation, which, by the way, we got all different ways that you can go to the Invictus run in Ashboro. There's still plenty of time to sign up for that. We'll be right back with a whole lot more.
Stay tuned. Welcome back to Truth Talk live today. The question is, how far would you run to rescue your child from exploitation? And oh, my goodness, you're going to find out there's a lot more to this exploitation than you really would ever dream and how easily they get suckered into it. And the horrible consequences that don't end up necessarily in sex trafficking, but end up in suicide, can end up in all sorts of horrible things as they become open to what's going on here. And so we want to remind you that our phone number to call in is 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884. You got a question for Whitney or you want to tell us just, you know, a comment on the whole thing.
Maybe you've been involved in this somehow and you've had a horrible experience. We would love to hear your testimony, 866-348-7884. And we want to tell you again that we're going to be out there this Saturday. The run is going to start early and you can actually go register at 745 to 830 Saturday morning out there at the courthouse in Ashboro. At Bicentennial Park. Oh, excuse me. If you're at the courthouse, I don't want to know why you're there. Because Robbie said no. Because you're supposed to be at the Bicentennial Park where I'm going to be on Saturday morning.
And or you can go to the InvictusProject.org slash rescue run or if you actually just go to the InvictusProject.org, it'll show you how to get to the rescue run. And you can go register and for $45. Yeah. And that includes a T-shirt and a cool swag bag. We want to we want to make sure that we get some good stuff out to you. And you get a chance to. Now, my wife won't be running, I'm told, but she will be walking. And so Tammy's going to be there and you can get to meet us. All that's going to be out there.
We want you to come join the support. And if you heard the first segment, you can see how critical this information is. And so, you know, Truth Talk Live becomes a podcast. If you go to Truth Network dot com, you can get the podcast. You can share that with people.
But obviously, any way that you can share this information, I would certainly do it because there just is not enough discussion. People have no understanding of what little boys are susceptible to, what little girls are susceptible, even big boys, 15, 16, 17, 18, whatever. Believe me, they're out there and they can be captured way too easy. And then the consequences are unbelievable.
Yeah, it really is. Robbie, you know, and I love that we set the stage with how far would you run? But the real question is, how far would the father run to rescue his children? How far did he run for you?
Right. And are we willing to step in as a community and run for not just our children, but other people's children as well to raise awareness? And so I hope as you're listening to this, that whether you are an avid runner or like me, you're if you're running, something's chasing you. I'll be probably alongside Tammy walking.
Tammy's not an avid runner. We'll be the caboose to bring everybody up. But but it's really the heart of of what this mission is, you know, and this day is going to set the stage and make a community more aware and eyes open to the realities that our children are facing. And they're not telling us about because they are they feel shameful. Right. When you when you receive that message from someone saying, hey, will you send me X, Y, Z picture, you know, or you fall into the idea of of sharing an intimate part of yourself as a child that you you later learn is not was not OK. Right. There's shame in that. And the enemy likes to use that to keep our children silenced in this fight.
And so, you know, part of my heart in this is is that we reveal to parents and grandparents an understanding of what our children are up against, because there is a reason they're not telling us this is what they're facing. Right. To give you an idea, you know, our most reported platform right now is Snapchat. Snapchat is reporting to us an incredible amount of tips that are coming in. And a lot of those tips. Now, this is this is another area that we that could probably prompt a much longer discussion. But so a large portion of these tips that are coming in are self generated images. Right.
So now we're going to take a twist here. And I hope our parents are listening into this. But those self generated images mean that there are our children, the still considered child sexual abuse material.
They call it CSAM. There are children taking pictures of themselves and sending it. Now, you may be thinking, oh, not my child.
My child would never do that. Right. But statistically, one in seven over the age of 14 are sending this. So think of your children and think of seven friends and one or six friends. One out of all of them has sent a nude photo of themselves.
Right. And what they do, from what I understand, and you're way more on this than me, but even little boys. And the way they're lured is they send them like, hi, I'm this hot girl, da da da da. And here's some of my pictures.
Now you send me some of your pictures. Yeah. And so as soon as they send those pictures, your son is in deep, deep weeds. Yeah. And so what you're touching base on is called sextortion. And sextortion is a growing concern across really across the country, across the world. At this point, it has hit very a lot of areas. Right. But we're seeing it especially kind of amping up here in the US and in exactly what you just said.
Right. There is an individual that pretends to approach them. And we'll use Instagram as a platform because a lot of kids have Instagram, even though there's an age requirement. It's a click of the box and our kids have Instagram.
So they bypass the age piece pretty easily, you know, so they have their Instagram account. And it's like you just said, hey, you know, this new friend request comes about and it's this beautiful, attractive young girl. And it is, you know, it's it's to the head football, you know, athlete, whatever you can name the sport, football, soccer, baseball, whatever of the school. This request comes across to him and he accepts the request and gets a message almost instantly that says, hey, I didn't realize you were at XYZ High School.
I'm right down the road from you. Right. Something as simple as that case. So now a conversation is sparked and he's interested because she's beautiful. And oh, my gosh, she's talking to me. And and clearly she's not far from she doesn't live far from me. Right.
And so and honestly, our kids are immune to the the idea of distance because that gap has completely been closed when it comes to the Internet. Right. Distance isn't really a thing for them anymore. But that begins a process. And it's like you just said, all of a sudden she sends him a late night picture and ask for one in return. And that young man sends one or a young girl, whatever. But we see an uptick in our in the boys that are being approached in this. He sends a photo and now all of a sudden the next messages coming through become intense and they are. Hey, I need you to send me five hundred dollars if you don't want this picture sent to all of your friends list, because what happened. And we don't understand.
We don't always understand the backside of technology right that our children are using. But what happened is when he accepted that friend request, she now has access to every single friend he has on Instagram, his followers. Right. And so now she sees who's liking his pictures, who is who's listed in that friends list. And so and it's usually not a she behind it to begin with.
Right. It is an individual probably in some foreign country that has solicited this child. And now all of a sudden they are saying, hey, you I need five hundred dollars from you. And if you don't send me five hundred dollars in the next 20 minutes, I'm sending this out to all of your friends list.
I'm also going to send it to all of your parents. You know, how would you feel if your your parents friends saw this photo of you and only that the A.I. has allowed for a lot of distortion to occur, too. Because now what happens is if they had that component on the other side of this. Now, all of a sudden, that picture of that boy, you know. Right.
And you can see where the suicide ends up. Where are we going with this and all these kind of things. And it's it's why we need to be running. Yeah.
Right. Why we need to go to the Bicentennial Park in Ashboro this coming Saturday or go to InvictusProject.org or share this podcast. We got a lot more coming.
Stay tuned. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Welcome back to Truth Talk live as my producer today's question is, how far would you run to rescue your child? Really, how far would you run to rescue your child from exploitation? And we're talking about the Invictus Project to rescue run that's going on in Ashboro, actually this Saturday, Ashboro, North Carolina. If you're in Ohio, you're going, Robbie, where's Ashboro? Well, it's a long run from Ohio today. But, you know, I bet you got stuff like this going on in your state and you need to be aware of it and you need to be talking about it. Because I can assure you, what we're talking about is very relevant everywhere right now, especially United States.
The idea of exploitation exploitation on the Internet has gone way beyond trafficking in so many different ways. If you got a question or comment, we would love to hear from you. Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four, eight, six, six, if you're digitally gifted, eight, six, six, three, four, truth.
I can't do that, but you can do eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. We would love to talk to you. I'm talking with Whitney Miller.
She is with the Invictus Project who's putting on this particular event. But we were talking about the break that you got the statistic in on what this we were talking about. Did you say 15 million?
Yeah. So according to a well, reports from October of twenty twenty to March twenty twenty three, the FBI and Homeland Security investigation investigations received over 15 million reports of sexual exploitation. Fifteen million. Ninety percent of those were boys aged 14 to 17. So this is this is a reality of what our children are facing. And here's the even scarier part of that.
If you read further into that statistic, one in eight of those of those boys, of those people that you know, of those children that were victimized or or extorted in this way had conversations of self-harm or committed suicide. Right. So it put them in a place so deep in shame that they thought the only way out, because most of these kids don't have five hundred dollars to throw at this individual on the other side of the screen that's saying, hey, pay me or I'm going to send these photos out. And your question at break is, well, do these people actually send the photos? Yes, they do. They got nothing to lose.
They do send these photos out to their friends list. Right. And so this is a very real concern for this child on the other end of this. This I don't know, many kids, many 14 to 17 year olds that have five hundred five thousand dollars in their bank account. Right.
Or have easy access to send, you know, one hundred and fifty dollars. And these people will push for whatever amount they can get out of these kids. And so the threat is real to them. All of a sudden, this person is threatening, threatening to send these very personal photos of themselves to all of their friends list, their parents friends list, you know, their school, whoever.
Right. Whoever they know that is valuable to this individual and our kids, let's be honest, live their life out loud on the Internet. So gaining information is pretty easy when you're even on the outside.
And so all you do is look at their their Instagram feed, you know, and be able to pull that information. But so they work on that shame component, you know, and the pressure that are on our kids in that moment is driving them to the idea that it is better to end their life than to have to walk out the shame that that photo would place on them. And that's a sad that's a sad reality that our kids are up against. But that is a sad acknowledgment of how far the enemy is willing to take our children. We know that the enemy looks to seeks to devour and still and kill.
And this is evidence of that in the live form in a way that is is not it's not segmenting out a certain group, a certain individual. This is something that that touches every child. Right. That has the ability to be in front of your child. So often we put these protectors up around our children. Hey, you know, you know, long gone are the days of your kids probably being able to ride their bike outside in the neighborhood or up and down the driveway or whatever.
We've become reserved in that regard. But now this is. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, they they get on these places, whether it's a video, because they got all this, the chats and the video games. They can. You can get all that done. Pictures and all that stuff you can get done through a video game. You can get them.
You can get it done through, you know, all the different social media places. All those things are just so accessible to every single, like you said, completely level playing ground. But again, we have more authority. We do. We we have the ultimate. We have Jesus Christ. I mean, he is.
He's at the top of the food chain. It just is. And so your prayers, if you can't run, you can't make it from Ohio. I understand, you know, but you can't you can be in prayer for this.
It just constantly, vigilantly let God rise up people like Invictus Project, rise up people like Land and Rescue to come up against this because we're going to have to run as hard as they're running. Right. We've got to be. Yeah.
We had a run. We our job is to run to the father, you know, and to protect our children. Right. Don't get me wrong. There is an actionable side to this.
But that first step of action should be running to the father in prayer. Right. Not just over my children, but over all children, not just over your children, but over all children. Truly because they live in a time far different than what we grew up in. You know, they are up against a lot. And it is it is hand served to them on the Internet. It's hand served to them, you know, by people that are are not pure of intent. You know, I mean, everything now, the world we live in, Robbie, so much is over sexualized. Right.
And our children see that and feel the pressure to live up to that. You know, let me tell you, I was telling Whitney before the show, I was selling a car and I put it on Craigslist. I put it on Facebook. And within hours, I was attempting to be scammed by all these people that wanted me to go get it, go get a Carfax kind of thing that, you know, they needed it on their platform. When you looked into those, they were all scams. And I mean, boom, boom, boom, boom. Here I am, the Christian car guy and all these people are trying to scam me.
One guy is going to send me all the money in cash and overpay me for the freight. And, you know, it's all that. Yeah. But now put that in front of our children. Right. That scamming mentality. Now put that in front of our children without the life experience that we have to say something's not right there. You know, or even that spellings a little off. I mean, there's little things that are red flags for us. That's like that area code is not anywhere in North Carolina. Like, why are you, you know, so those but those they don't have that filter.
They don't have that filter. And the people on the other side of this know that, you know, but we're not just talking about scamming here. And so much of this we're talking about the the the essence of life being taken from them. Right. But also their innocence. The enemy. Look, if the enemy can't take our child out and and and have them commit suicide. Right.
He's going to work to steal their innocence. You know, and one of the things we if we don't fail to mention this, we are also missing the mark on it. Because this is one of those pre cursors to exploitation, truly.
But understanding the impact of child sexual abuse. Right. Because that so often comes from that grooming mentality. So we want to look at like online as the grooming component. But we got to step back for a moment and also recognize while there's grooming occurring online.
There's also grooming occurring right here. Right. In our in our close circle of trust. And that's something that we have to consider. And we can't close our eyes to that either. Oh, I know it's the older I get, the more I hear.
I don't know why I didn't hear it when I was younger when I had kids that would go do sleepovers. But it's amazing how many kids are abused and sleepover. Yes. Yeah. I mean, statistically, right.
We'll talk on stats for a minute because those make people feel like a part of it. Right. One in four girls and one in 20 boys experience child sexual abuse. Approximately 20 percent of those victims are under the age of eight. And there's a grooming component to that.
So with the Invictus project, you know, we have that task force component where it is our law enforcement combined with the work that we're doing as a nonprofit. And, you know, they are they are taking not just a reactive stance like, hey, there has been something that's occurred and now we are investigating. Right. But their heart is also to take a proactive stance and say, hey, we have recognized and we're seeing that these people that are viewing these images of children online typically have hands on offenses of a child or will lead to a hands on offense of a child.
Now, that doesn't mean that they're going to go out. The picture that they saw of that child doesn't mean they're going out to find that child. Right. We'd like to think that that's how that occurs.
No, they are looking for that close circle around them of children that they can exploit. Right. And that is that's where we have to be vigilant and train our children to be vigilant in these things.
Help them understand, hey, when you don't feel comfortable around certain individuals, it's OK to let me know. And you don't have to hug that person. Right. Or if you have this feeling. Right.
I mean, there's so many I wish we had so much more time because that is probably one of the things that I feel so strongly about is is empowering our children to recognize those people that may be sheep or wolves in sheep clothing, because that's where exploitation becomes a hands on offense. Right. And that's that's concerning. Last year at this time, when we ran the rescue run, we had just finished out a operation, one of the largest in North Carolina, where 19 individuals were arrested in Randolph County because they were coming to Randolph County under the assumption that they were going to be able to exploit. And we'll say it that way for radio purposes.
This is live and you can't edit out what I'd like to say. But to exploit a 11 year old non verbal child, autistic child. That's what they came to Randolph County to do. And these individuals, they were people that sat in churches. They were people that sat in high, high affluent jobs. They were bus drivers.
They were across the spectrum. So this is a reality that that is right in front of us and we can't ignore it anymore. Yes.
And we're glad you're listening and we're glad you're praying, but we're also glad to see you out at the run. It's going to be this Saturday. Right. This is 17th. You've got to come out to the Bicentennial Park. Yep.
Ashboro, North Carolina. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Welcome back to Truth Talk live today, we're talking about how far would you run?
How far would you run to protect your child, to save your child from exploitation? And oh, my goodness, what we've learned this hour, I know what I've learned is more than amazing. And so we would again urge you to share this information now that you know, you know, what what exactly are you going to do about that? And obviously, or maybe not obviously, this show has been not only sent out, will be a podcast at Truth Network dot com. It's also on Facebook live right this very moment, if you want to see what I mean. And she but, you know, in her vigor to get this information, you know, the passion that God has given her to, you know, to help us all on this particular subject.
But you can share that it's on my Facebook page, Robbie Gilmore, or you can go to my YouTube channel, which is Christian Kargai. And so either way, it's there both places. And you can share this because to me, this is just vital information that needs to get out there. And who knows who's kid, right, that you touch the right parent, you touch the right.
And of course, like Whitney has said, all three. And I love the way she coined the idea of running to the father. Right. Like running to the father on this. So prayer is a huge thing.
But what are some of the other things that we can do, Whitney, to take action? You know, now that we know this, we obviously can run, but we can even if you're in Ohio, you can run virtually. You can run virtually. You can. Absolutely. And you can sign up to register on the same place.
Right. The Invictus Project dot org backslash rescue run. And it's under the Invent tab if you just go to the Invictus Project Web site. So we'd love for you to run virtually. We actually have a couple of virtual runners signed up. So you still get your T-shirt, you still get all the good stuff and you make an impact. And, you know, financially, the rescue run is the impact that it makes for the Invictus Project and our law enforcement partners is just incredible.
And so that's what you're that's what you're stewarding your fun to when you decide to sign up for the rescue run. So I think that's an important piece. But you're right, Robbie. Right. We now know we have the veil has been torn. Right. And we now know more than what we did before you signed on to listen to this show. And there is a call to action in that.
Right. What will you do now with what you know? And so we want to empower you with some tools. One of those tools is a free digital parent resource on our Web site. And it really begins to talk through what are those signs of grooming? What are those signs of online grooming? Is your child being groomed? How can you tell?
And it talks you through those steps. So you have to have that conversation with your child. Even, you know, like that aunt, that uncle. I mean, how many times have you heard those stories that that was an aunt? It was an uncle.
It was a brother, a coach. Right. I mean, a lot, a lot. Or even in their church. Unfortunately, I know a few of those. You know, we don't have the time to go into that. But I mean, let me just tell you, if you come, we'll call them out.
Right. If our chickens didn't call in today, if you decided not to call in today, I hope that that when your heart hears this and is burdened for this, that you don't hesitate to reach out still with those questions. Because my heart is to empower our parents and empower our children to take this fight on. And you can do that on our Web site. You can reach out to me. Or if you didn't want to be chickens, I guarantee if you have this question, everybody listening just about has this question.
And you can still dial 866-348-7884. Don't really. If the Holy Spirit's pushing you, don't quench it. Ask the question. Yeah, ask the question. You know, and that's one of the things we talk to parents about, right, is ask the hard questions. It might be an uncomfortable conversation. That's OK, because if it means that you have been able to safeguard your child, you'll never regret asking the question.
Right. So some ways that they can continue to get involved. If you're not able to come out to the rescue run, please visit our Web site.
There is a place where you can ask for a speaker to come out. So, again, we partner with law enforcement. Our law enforcement partners will come alongside of us and speak at school systems. I've spoken at multiple churches and youth groups because we have to get in front of our kids. Our kids see this fight.
They don't know that we see this fight. And the truth of the matter is, as parents, we are often very blind to it. So we need them to know, hey, this is a place you can come and talk to me about this. And it's not going to freak me out as a parent to where I don't know what to say.
And the first thing I do is jerk your phone away and say no technology. Right. Because that's not the answer. But we do need to give solutions to parents to be able to have hard conversations. And the thing I like about that is if you think about it, you know, because I've heard the stories of the children that came to their parents. Because the parents had the guts to say something, it's like, oh, mommy, this person did say this or this kind of this kind of got me because they'd had the conversation. Right.
How many times do we hear that? And it stopped the situation, you know, like Barney Fife would say, you got to nip it in the bud. Really. I mean, and what we're talking about here is the lives of our children. Right. The innocence that can easily be stolen from them by the wrong person.
And man, I just I have such a heart for this. And I know you know that, Robbie, but I do desire deeply to empower our teachers, our educators, our parents, our children. We have to empower our children. They need a safe space to say, hey, this has happened to me. And walk out of that shame that the enemy has placed on them, you know, because so often our kids stay in that place of shame. There's a reason that our our kidnapping rates have gone down and our runaway rates have gone up. Right. Our children are running to that thing and away from having to confront it.
And I think that if we will just give them that place as parents, when we learn how to do that, instead of immediately react with with anger and frustration, we give them a safe space to to tell us hard things. And grandparents with with. Yes. Our parents. Right.
Yes. Because it's not the grandparents position or it's not my view. It is to go directly to the child. It's my it's my position to talk to my children.
But not every situation is has created that safe place to be at. And maybe the parents are not the good person in this. You know, so I do think that grandparents have a role to play in that as well. Sometimes your kids are going to be more likely to go outside of who's right there in front of them all the time.
Why not that why not that outsider be someone that loves and cares about them deeply, not someone that would further exploit them. Right. Right.
And it's just so scary to me as I have become I guess the more I've got become involved in ministry in the later part of my life, you know, and I have counseled with and been involved with this stuff coming out. And when you gave the statistics about how many boys have been abused, that's only because boys won't talk. Yes. Right. You're right.
You know, the fact that that statistic is so different because boys is just as common, if not more common, that they just aren't going to come share with everybody the stuff that happened. But that grooming stuff is real. It is. It is. And that's what we're fighting. Right.
That is what we are as the Invictus Project. If we can nip it at at the grooming process, it never becomes the exploitation and trafficking piece. Right.
This is a three tier work. And if we can get in there when the grooming is occurring and ideally before it, let's proactively set up our children for those red flags to pop up when things aren't right, you know, and that is that's where we win this fight. It's not once they've been trafficked. It is.
We got to get in there before then. Right. And at the same point, you know, God wins because he put families in a specific order for a very good reason that, you know, that that deepens the relationship and the trust between the parents and the children and the grandparents and the grandkids, whatever that may be, that, you know, it's it's good to feel like I'm part of something where people really do love me and care about my innocence. They care about my sexuality. They care about who I really am at my core.
And and they're willing to talk about hard things. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We have to give them that space.
So I hope that that that digital resource becomes something that all of our parents take the time to download. And I would be remiss to say, you know, this is this is we are a nonprofit. Right. And so there is a call for people to steward their funds to this fight.
You may not be able to get out and run and you may not feel comfortable having hard conversations, but there is a place for you to steward those funds to a work that is combating this head on, whether it be in our education school system that we're stepping into these conversations or in our churches and our communities. You know, we're willing to fight this fight. And a big part from my standpoint of what Invictus has been involved in is connecting law enforcement agencies. Right.
Because you've got all these different fingers, but if they're not connected to the same hand. Right. And, you know, honestly, unfortunately, our our law enforcement is at a hard place financially. They don't always have the things they need, the tools they need to make an effective impact on this fight proactively.
And so that is where the nonprofit arm comes into play. Hey, there's not a bunch of red tape. Tell us what you need and let's make it happen because we understand the end game. We understand what's at stake and we want to be that partner that comes alongside our law enforcement and says you need security cameras. Don't wait for the red tape.
Let's get them in your hands. So we've we've had the ability to do that. And that has been a blessing to us and to them.
And so that is what your money stewards to when you are a part of the rest. And really, and a big part of Invictus project is people that were former law enforcement are currently right. You guys have their also all of the task force component is currently sworn in law enforcement.
I know oftentimes people want to step into that world. But when we're talking about things like this, there are investigations that have to occur. And if someone outside of law enforcement steps into the investigation portion, it could hinder what it would be for the ultimate, you know, punishment for that individual that's exploiting a child. So we never want to put that at stake because since you put each one of those behind bars, yes, there's this many more children that don't get exploited. Exactly right. And that's a huge part of what, you know, essentially law enforcement's looking to do. Absolutely. Especially when the average hands on offense is 13 for an individual that is an offender.
13 individuals have been offended average by that one individual. So, yes, it is vital that we put them behind bars and then begin to wrap our arms around that victim and give them the services that they need. And that's where building those community partners is so vital. And our community partners will actually be out there at the rescue run as well. So you'll get to see that. I also do have to say one more thing, Robbie, because I know we're pushing time.
But I would be I would be in trouble if I didn't say this. No, not really. I just think it's really important to share with you some of the businesses that have come alongside. You know, and Dario is local right in her community. And they have stepped alongside of us for the second year now to sponsor this rescue run. And I am so thankful for that because what that what that shows the community is we have people in business willing to steward their funds and their reputation to the fight for our children. So Dario, incredible sponsor. We are so incredibly thankful for that group of people. They're going to be volunteering and running.
So and then the Richard Petty Foundation as well and Carolina Custom Finishings, all of which have been wonderful alongside many other sponsors. And I was taught to mention that Whitney is doing the Wednesday in the Word now in Aspero. Well, Thursday for the women. Thursday, excuse me, Thursday in the Word. Anyway, by all means, go to the Invictus Project dot o r g. Get involved. Thanks for listening. Another program powered by the Truth Network.
