Light in the Valley advisor and history teacher Marisa Mathias said that “human trafficking happens to the most vulnerable part of the population.”

Despite many attempts, human trafficking has not ended and countries all around the world are still suffering, according to the History of Human Trafficking. Each year, one million human trafficking cases occur around the world — twenty thousand to fifty thousand of the cases come from the United States.

“Even here, like at the Super Bowl, so many people are getting sex or human trafficked,” said junior Kay Disalvo, a member of Light in the Valley. “In places like hotels, there is sex trafficking. It is a really big issue in our community,” 

The Pascack Period class, Light in the Valley, is centered around educating students on human trafficking. During the month of January, which is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, magnets have been posted throughout the school, and the class is encouraging students to post pictures of the magnets on their social media accounts with the hashtag #NJStudentsForFreedom.

“We hope that the magnets and posters will encourage people to be aware of this problem,” Mathias said. “To go beyond just knowledge and watch out for signs of people being enslaved.”

Light in the Valley President Jessica Flatley learned about Locker Slam, the organization that provided the magnets, through a Justice Rocks event on Nov. 15, 2019 at High Mountain Church in North Haledon. After filling out an online application, Light in the Valley was selected by Locker Slam to help spread awareness for its cause throughout Pascack Valley.

“We need to be aware of our surroundings and what is happening in the world, [being that] there are more slaves now than ever before,” Flatley said.

Human Trafficking Reported by States in 2019
According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline