Elyse Schweikert, a senior at Mercy this year, is working towards the Gold Award, the highest award possible in Girl Scouts. Before earning the Gold Award, you must receive Bronze and Silver Awards, so this shows she is truly on a mission to accomplish this goal. Requirements for this major award are: the project needs to work towards solving a problem in the community, it needs to be sustainable, and it must include 80 hours of work. Elyse has been diligently planning out a concept for her project, but she needs outside support to make this project a success. So, what is her project about and how can others help her achieve this?
“My project is called ‘Enough to Stop Traffic’ and my goal is to increase awareness and help victims of human trafficking,” she says. She chose this topic because she watched the movie Priceless, which is based on a true story of two girls stuck in the cycle of human trafficking and a man who puts his life on hold to help them escape it. She continues, “It was really compelling and made me want to do something about the issue…” As a part of the project, she will be showing Priceless to the senior class and she will work with teachers to add human trafficking awareness to the senior year theology curriculum.
Besides the movie and addition to curriculum, she has planned many other events around Mercy and the Omaha community. A cold weather drive will be held at Mercy next week to collect socks, gloves, and hats which will be donated to Rejuvenating Women, a non-profit organization for human trafficking victims in Omaha. She is also hoping to begin a Prayer Partner Program between Mercy and various organizations in Omaha. A dress down day at Mercy will also he held to raise money for Rejuvenating Women and Magdalene Omaha, two of the organizations she is partnered with for the project.
Overall she wants to affect the Mercy community and the Omaha community by raising awareness of this pressing issue in our world. With everyone’s help, much can be done to spread the word about her project and how it will help victims of human trafficking. All are encouraged to participate in this project to help make a positive change in our community!
