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We all know the benefits of hospitality: human connection, community building, relationship bonding. However, our ability to be hospitable can have a larger effect—one that brings awareness to the plight of others and leads us into ways we can help limit human suffering. One issue that gets a lot of attention on a global scale is the issue of human trafficking, but what many of us don’t realize this huge problem isn’t just happening overseas, but in our own backyards. Law enforcement says the number-one way to fight human trafficking is to raise awareness around the issue. That’s why today’s guest, Terri Ingraham, founded the nonprofit beLydia, which empowers women to raise awareness around human trafficking. beLydia equips people to facilitate ways to talk about this issue and learn what it looks like in your neighborhood, what to do if you see it, and how you can help prevent it. In our discussion today, Terri is going to educate and inform us, and walk us through how we can fight this problem by opening up the conversation with our neighbors.
[Parents, this is a tough topic. We’re going to talk about some situations right off the bat regarding the horrors of human trafficking, which may not be suitable for younger kids.]
Show Summary:
Our guest today is someone who is doing hard, important, life-changing work. I want you to meet her and learn about what she’s doing.
Terri Ingraham is the founder of the nonprofit beLydia, an organization that empowers women to raise awareness around human trafficking, which continues to be a huge problem not only around the world, but even in our own backyards.
This issue seems so overwhelming, it’s hard to know what we can do to help. Law enforcement says the number-one way to fight human trafficking is to raise awareness around the issue. That’s why beLydia equips women and men to facilitate ways to talk about this issue and learn what it looks like in your neighborhood, what to do if you see it, and how you can help prevent it.
Here’s how they do it: beLydia helps people use the hospitality they’re already extending in their homes to hold hard, important conversations with people around this issue. What an impactful way to use hospitality, to take it a step further and do something enormously important by opening up our homes.
I want to let you know that this is a tough topic. We’re going to talk about some situations right off the bat about the horrors of human trafficking that are not suitable for younger kids. So if you listen to this episode with little ones nearby, I would suggest playing this episode out of their earshot.
So with that said, we’re honored to have Terri on the show to educate and inform us, and to walk us through how we can fight this problem by opening up the conversation with our neighbors.
Links/Products/Recipes Discussed:
Instagram Giveaway! [winners receive 1 Party with a Purpose Kit or 1 Deluxe Host Kit]
Kitchen Segment: Weeknight White Chicken Chili
Interview Quotes:
“We spoke to the police department and asked them, “What is the best way to fight sex trafficking?” And they said, “Hands down, it’s creating awareness.””
– Terri Ingraham
“We want the women who are afraid to open the door. There’s two kinds of women: the one who’s afraid to open the door and have people over, and also the one who hospitality is easy for them, they love baking and cooking and inviting the whole neighborhood over, or putting a Turquoise Table in their front lawn. We want to make it super easy for both types of women just to create awareness.”
– Terri Ingraham
“I believe that we cannot stay stagnant in our hospitality journey. And this is so empowering, because once you hear a story—in this case, obviously once you hear and are aware of sex trafficking—you can’t unsee it. You can’t unhear it. You can’t ignore it. So this gives us something that we can do to still be faithful in helping and noticing and [bringing] awareness of it.”
– Kristin Schell
“We want to teach our kids to be strong, confident, wise.”
– Terri Ingraham
“Having the conversations with parents, friends, neighbors or whoever that your people are is such an incredible first step.”
– Kristin Schell
“We had one great-grandmother who’s, like, 83 or 84 from a tiny town in Nebraska, population 4,000. She’s the most fired up beLydia backer out there because it’s going on in her community and she won’t stand for it. So we need more people to have that same mentality of, Not on my watch is this going to go on.”
– Terri Ingraham
