Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by Mitre Brands University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sheri Conner and I am your host.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: So good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are recording in the Hershey Lodge. We've been out on the golf course all day and we came back in and said, let's do an episode. So I'm going to let you ladies introduce yourselves and then we're going to talk a little bit about what you do. So we'll start with you, Dr. Bellows.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Yes. Well, I am affectionately called Dr. B.
Dr. Brooke, but my friends call me Parker. So, Brooke, Parker Bellow. I'm the founder and CEO of More to Life, rebranding now to More to Living, with our main office in Sarasota, Florida, and then Wynwood in Miami, and then 2 satellite office, St. Pete and also Tampa.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Wonderful. And how funny that you're in Sarasota and I'm in Sarasota. But we meet when we're, you know, I think Hershey's away. I know, right? And you as well, right? You're in Sarasota as well.
[00:01:16] Speaker C: Thanks to Mike Thompson down in Sarasota. Mike, if you listen to this. Thank you.
[00:01:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I know Mike. Yeah.
[00:01:21] Speaker D: Hey, y'. All, my name's Dawn6, and I'm the executive director with More to Life, More to Living, Soon To Be. And thanks for having me.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: So, Dr. Bella, you had a very powerful keynote last night talking about your organization and a little bit about that. So can you talk about that just for those that weren't here last night and didn't get to hear that?
[00:01:42] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks, Sherry. Just speaking with you and then Gwen and then Matt, Mike from Mitre was really extraordinary. And I think that just because. Let's just talk about today before I go to last night. What amazing suppliers and golfers out on the course. Today we got the opportunity to shake the hand of each and every one at hole seven. So talking about what we do, thanking people for just being a part of donations to the Mitre foundation and what the Mitre Foundation's work really does for organizations like ours and Children's first and other nonprofits that it supports, oddly enough, I had never been to Hershey, Pa, and I didn't really know what I was going to share last night because how I am instinctively, I really wanted to read the room and learn firsthand in person. You know, coming from Sarasota and being connected to some folks from pgt. What are the people from Mater going to be like when I meet them in person and the suppliers. And I wanted to fill the room and hear other speakers and really get a taste of what to say. Especially when we think of counter trafficking organization, sometimes people think that these types of things are hard to hear. And they can be, but they can be very inspirational at the same time. And so once I did that, we had our buddy and I was talking to him, Dave Trusky, who's on the board of the Miner Foundation. His son Lance is on a supplier side working now. And so I really was inspired, especially as a woman of faith. I just didn't want to plan it all this time. And then it all kind of came to me. And then Dave said, you got this? And I said, yeah, I think I do. And so there was this great painter on stage doing this kind of like inspirational movement.
[00:03:15] Speaker A: Yeah, Cody.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: Cody. Yeah, he was fantastic. And they said, when he starts painting, put your mic on.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:21] Speaker C: And in that moment, I was ready. And so Gwen introduced me. And when I went up there, the first thing that I said was in a whole different light. Because I think when you're speaking and the crowd is there, you're looking in everyone's faces and I said, listen. Less than half of 1% of victims are rescued or recovered globally when it comes to counter trafficking, being exploited in traffic. Again, less than half of 1%. And that stat comes from an incredible research data analytic from John Cotton Richmond, who was a trafficking person ambassador for the United States.
And he actually was the founder of the Human Trafficking Institute and was a prosecutor for the State Department for quite some time. And before that he worked for igm. He did a bunch of stuff globally and extraordinary attorney. And so I started with that and then I said, I'm one of them.
I'm one of the half of 1%.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Okay, so you've given me chills twice on that now. Thank you.
Absolute chills. And we were talking today on the golf course about how when people are in those really devastating situations, they need a model to show them that they can get out and how powerful for you to really understand where these victims are and to be able to shine that light for them and to say, you can like, look, if I can do it, you can do it. And to be that living source of inspiration for them, that's so powerful.
[00:04:51] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. I'm sitting with Jessica Don Sakes. He's the executive director down in Sarasota, and she's gonna speak in a moment. But one of the things I loved about Freud and there's complexities of what about Freud was great? What about Freud wasn't? Who? Who knows? Clinicians have this conversation about the history of mental health. But one thing that everyone agrees with for sure, and we don't have to kind of mitigate indecision, is that observational learning is surmountable in the life of a child. We see and we do or we think, we ideate and you know, I told someone one day, since Mike Thompson is down in Sarasota and he's from PGT and we got connected through Mitre from him and some other people. He has this really great British accent.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:05:36] Speaker C: Oh my God, bro, it's so nice to meet you. I can't believe what you guys are doing over there. At more to life is like so great or more to life is more to living? Now I'm so confused. Oh, so great. Oh, amazing rebranding. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Well, no one would have told Mike to have an accent that's observational.
Listening and watching as a child.
[00:05:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:58] Speaker C: So the first daddy, mama, whatever, you know, when he was one would have been because of that.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:06] Speaker C: It's instinctive. It's the impact and action deep in the soul from observation. It's the same for victims of human trafficking. And so when a violator manipulates you over time, if your upbringing isn't strong, if your identity isn't perpetually developed to have a security, then a violator will manipulate your psyche and over time groom you.
And this becomes a part of what you're believing, what you're thinking, because your brain isn't developed. And if you're around friends who are not great friends, maybe they're not friends at all, we just call them that. And you're a child, but you've been bullied and you have these root causes, these issues that you struggled with. Then a trafficker, an exploiter, is like, ah, I can exploit that even more. I can exploit fatherlessness, I can exploit loneliness. I can exploit that you're a bully. I can exploit that you don't think you're pretty because I can make you feel all of those things. And it becomes a part of your soul, your mind, your heart.
And so you learn by seeing. And eventually, when you're in the midst of it, you no longer look like a victim, Oftentimes, especially in the grooming stage or in the beginning and sometimes in the trenches.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: Wow. Yeah. I have a son in law who's British. It's so fun to hang around him. And you did a pretty good Job with that British accent. Nicely done.
[00:07:26] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Nicely done.
I'll tell Mike. She's starting to sound like you. Be careful.
So, dawn, tell us a little bit about maybe the practical side of what you're doing and how people can help and support. Give us like day to day. Like, what does it look like for your organization?
[00:07:45] Speaker D: Yeah, I mean, so day to day, our team is doing the work. We have a small and mighty team. And it's referrals. We're in the courtroom, you know, we have judges that refer kids to us. We go into the court in circuit 12 and we work directly with the judges. And they have a group of high risk youth that are vulnerable. They've been trafficked. And it's almost like a therapeutic session where we're able to connect with them and we talk about those vulnerabilities, we teach them about those vulnerabilities, and we all have them, and it just looks different for each person. So if it's a referral that comes in, you know, we determine what the needs are of that person.
These are people at the end of the day, and sometimes they don't even know they're a victim.
And so when we talk to them and educate them as to what this looks like, you see that light bulb go off and they're like, wow, I was a victim and now I know what to look for. Now I know what the signs are. And if someone's trying to perpetrate on my vulnerabilities.
So it really is trying to determine what their needs are and wrap through those services. So we connect them to mental health. If they need housing, if they need job assistance, whatever that need is, we make sure they're connected to it.
[00:09:02] Speaker C: And they typically need all those things? Yes, oftentimes they do housing, mental behavioral health. So psychiatric care, sometimes medical care, sometimes issues with, you know, substance abuse. So they have to detox, sometimes they have to face their traffickers. So mock court settings and the ability to teach them how to get through a court case and face us rather than the trafficker. We sort of led Dragoneye, which people can see that video on our website soon with Federal marshals, the 60 victims from them helping create that coordination of care for them and working with a ton of other amazing partners, organizations to do that, getting them back home. The mental, behavioral health, any kits that might have to happen to determine the types of violence. And there are harder cases. We had a case of a young girl who was. This will be hard to say in Florida, but who was trafficked, murdered, and dismembered. And when you're working those cases, you're looking at working with the family, you're looking at working with prosecuting attorneys so you can stack the deck against the individuals that did that. Because the issue of counter trafficking in Florida and around the nation is predicated by not sometimes long enough sentences.
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Right?
[00:10:17] Speaker C: And so what we do in terms of advocacy, things around public policy, working with our lobbyists, that we're a non profit and so we don't lobby, but we lobby in a sense that we provide information that assists legislators in understanding what should happen in order for organizations to have funding or what law should be passed. We're instrumental in Florida in bills that mandated the signage on the back of doors and bathrooms and bus stations. You know, over 12 years ago, we worked on the legislation in Florida which mandated sort of the first school for men, typically called a John School, but I know a lot of nice guys named John.
And so a buyer's school for men who violate so they can go through education for prevention, mandated pre or post incarceration. Those things are absolutely important.
We also mine for victims. And the difficult thing about mining for victims is that federal and state funding won't allow us to go into Department of Juvenile justice for kids that are committed to. But we always used to do that because that funding is so necessary. Because believe it or not, Sherry, many of those kids are trafficker in the grooming stage during the part where they've done a few different things with traffickers. But they're not missing yet. They're in and out. Maybe they're not in class, maybe they are, maybe they're not at home, maybe they are. You know, we have girls who were just like that and eventually they were gone. Sometimes they were found months later, sometimes they weren't. Some girls have been murdered. I think the profound thing is that when that is able to happen, we're able to. And we're able to go into these committed programs like Department of Juvenile justice and we teach kids, say, that's me right now. When I leave here, there's someone waiting for me. And it's not my mom, it's not my dad. And we give them a diversion and so they can get out, go into a program that we put them in far away from that trafficker or that violator. And then that allows them to grow and be safe. And there was a Tampa, the Children's Home Network. They actually didn't take trafficking victims. And so I went in there, I think, with Erica Siobhan Reed. She does A lot of consulting for us now, dawn and others. And we convinced them that part of the kids you have here are already trafficked. You just don't know that they're in that stage or in that grooming stage that's already happened or it's happening. And so after our training and them giving us a satellite officer, that decided and Children's Home Network is a very large organization and they have many beds for kids. And so, and many are young teens with babies. And some of the girls there that we met, these babies were by violators. And so because our presence was there, because we did training with them, they began to take victims and still do. And we love organizations like that. I was passionate about it. But the day to day is in the weeds, in court, in homes, in school, doing prevention, working with victims. For one person, we say it more to life, victim to survivor, survivor to thriver, thriver to champion. Last thing I'll say is that most individuals, most victims don't realize that they're victims.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: Right?
[00:13:21] Speaker C: So when we say that you're not a victim in life, but you were the victim of a crime and it's when you realize you're a victim of the crime, then you survive something. Now you're a survivor, right? And once we establish that the mental health can be 45 minutes an hour a week. But it's that journey that Don can talk about of what mentoring actually means. And mentoring is every day.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: We are sharing our expertise around all topics relating to the window and door industry. Whether you are a customer selling our products or a homeowner doing research, the Clear Impact podcast provides helpful content that makes an impact. Subscribe today wherever you listen to podcasts.
[00:14:01] Speaker D: So, yeah, I mean, the day to day is in the weeds with them. We're working with their families, their grandparents, if you know, they need assistance, really working with the family to assist them or foster care case managers. One of the things that our team identified through this work is that a lot of people, a lot of service organizations have received trauma informed care trainings. So they've been trained on trauma informed care, but it's not being implemented.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: So.
[00:14:30] Speaker D: So a lot of the systems aren't actually trauma responsive. And so one of the things that we identified was that a lot of times these kids are getting triggered and then they'll leave, they'll run away because service providers, case managers don't understand that trauma responsive piece of it. And that's the problem. They're the ones sometimes triggering them. And so we've created trauma responsive training specific to victims and survivors to teach other people on how to work with them. A great example. She's our lead advocacy specialist for our law enforcement. You know, one of the things that she said is that the term proud is a triggering term to her.
Whereas in some cases kids want to hear a proud that I'm so proud of you for what you've done. But that was something that traffickers used. And so even your language, you have to be careful with the terminology you use with them. So that's what this training really dives into. It goes into the vulnerabilities. And then it also talks about self care. It's different modules, but the last module is also self care and taking care of yourself as providers ourselves. If you're not in a space to where you are healthy and you're not practicing that self care in your own life, sometimes it's hard to continue that work. And so trying to create that space to where they don't get the compassion fatigue and and encouraging that own self reflection because you know, they're exposed to secondary trauma on a daily basis. And so that in itself can be impactful on service providers because they don't realize that they're absorbing that same trauma that they're witnessing.
[00:16:10] Speaker A: Oh yeah. Caretakers take on a huge burden with the audiences that they serve. So what is the scope of your organization? Are you just in Florida or do you have national connections?
[00:16:20] Speaker C: So most of our recoveries are in Florida, but we're going national with our model and national with the Got Life campaign that's going to launch on October 29, which is partnering with organizations like Nicosi, Spotlight Street Grace, National Trafficking Center, Jerome Elon and Tomas Lares, United Abolitionists in Orlando area, Hopeland, Nick Evans out of London and New York. And the whole idea is that in this work there's never been this sort of synergistic collective impact and campaign so that people understand prevention and exploitation from the point of root causes like foster care and vulnerable youth and then victims as they are now and the undulating care that's needed. And so no one ever knows how much federal funding there's going to be because the VOCA said, well, we may have much less in 2026, 2027, maybe even less. One never knows. And a lot of nonprofits operate in federal funds. Some of the numbers have gone up in terms of percentile and prosecutions have gone down. We know that during the pandemic the issues was like 44%.
And so if we're able to do that, well with PSAs, Hulu and Netflix, and really provide national understanding to everyone. It's a way to support these 12 organizations in addition to giving grants to so many nationwide who are doing incredible work, going to the places like us that no one dares to go. And then my work partnering with other leaders and other CEOs, other leaders of federal agencies around the nation, even around the world, does take our work national because I'm an expert consultant not just on cases, but for organizations and national policy and legislation in addition to the global connectedness and bridge building around the world, you know, licking and working with companies, Romania or Singapore, London or Brussels, all of that matters. And so I think me that's some of the work that I do with all the other leadership organizations around the world. And then our team obviously gets training from other partnership organizations around the United States. And I think that finally with the model and bringing on more team members in the weeks and months and years to come, our model is something that everyone probably needs to fully embrace because we've been doing it for 21 years.
[00:18:39] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:18:40] Speaker C: This is our 21st year anniversary. And so for the first time are really sharing who we are and what we do. I want to say this too, I think as a survivor thriver champion.
So kids, if you listen to this, I don't know who's going to hear this, but I know that you can go deep down a rabbit hole in only doing services. And one of the things I loved about Mitre listening last night is I was really wonking today on the golf course about last night and today about winnows and doors and windows and doors have such an incredible analogy about safety and structure and Persona in addition to safety, you know, what kind of windows are they? What kind of doors, like you were saying earlier, Sherry, the type that we need in Florida, are they hurricane proof, Are they trauma proof?
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Right.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: You know, are they going to hold up in a situation and are they cracked? Do you close them at night? Is it open? Are there locks? Are they secure? Are they not? What's the material? And so providing for victims is like that. And we have to be our own windows and doors and we have to understand safety. And so I was thinking about that analogy because we get to partner with Mitre now, we get to partner with PGT now Mitre. And that's just so fantastic. And so as we launch nationally our model, that'll probably be in some of the talks, but if not, there's just an incredible metaphor there about the open door and the shut door.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: Yeah, wow. That's so insightful. And so if somebody wants to get involved with your organization or learn more about your organization or donate to your organization, what is the best way for them to reach you, learn about you? I'm assuming you have a website and other things. Tell us about that.
[00:20:13] Speaker D: Yeah. So our new website's going to be launching. And so it is www.m o r e t o l I v I n g dot o r g. And.
[00:20:25] Speaker C: You can go there now and it goes to our more T O O l I f e.org so either way, you're gonna get there.
[00:20:32] Speaker D: Absolutely. Okay, so moretoliving.org and you can also email me. We also have a biz email. Is Dawn d a w noretoliving.org Our Instagram, Facebook, we're on all of those platforms, LinkedIn. So definitely come check us out. Reach out. Happy to talk to anyone.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Do you take volunteers? Like, what does it look like to volunteer for you?
[00:20:56] Speaker C: We do, but here's what we have to say to volunteers. Volunteers can't really work with victims in person.
[00:21:01] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:21:02] Speaker C: Putting together gift bags. We're doing financial literacy coming up across Florida. And so if anyone wants to teach a financial literacy class, investing your first savings account. The jobs coming related to AI and how someone might learn to code or learn what's going to be available for them in five years, just financial literacy and stability and then Tenille as well, kind of handle volunteers.
And so it's a bit of a tightrope just because we work mostly with minors when we work with adults, adults being 18 and up, but we look at them as more 21 and up because 18 year olds are like 14 year olds sometimes. Then sometimes we will create mentors and train mentors or create mentor positions for survivors. And they can be around some of the older survivors. Older meaning 1920.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow.
[00:21:54] Speaker C: Dawn, did you have an add to that?
[00:21:55] Speaker D: Yeah. I mean, and here's the really cool thing with Christmas coming up. A tradition we started years ago and it has really become our tradition in Mike Thompson's. His group helped us last year. But we do stockings for kids every Christmas.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:22:12] Speaker D: And so they came and they helped stuff stockings. They helped get some funding for that. Because what we like to do is put a nice gift card in there for them so they can go pick out something that they love. It's also an opportunity for them to budget management. Sometimes our mentors will take them to Target or take them to Walmart or wherever the gift card is and help them budget that out to determine what it is that they need or want. And so that is a great opportunity for them to have that moment. So those are some ways that people can get involved with volunteering as well.
[00:22:43] Speaker C: Yeah. We're sourcing new board members in Florida, so. Interviewing We've been around for 21 years, so a couple of board members are retiring out. And so obviously our regular board, our advisory board, people can volunteer in ways like social media. Obviously that's so important. As you know, Sherry working for a business and data entry in our software, that's absolutely crucial.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Because sometimes people aren't comfortable working with victims. Like, I don't know that I would have the time to invest in the training so that I could do a good job in that. But, like, I can fill Christmas stockings. Like, I can solicit for donations to fill Christmas stockings. Like, there's always something to do if you get really creative about it. Right. And so.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: And we do at the center, too. You come to our center and we'll serve coffee and tea, like a hot toddy, like apple cider, whatever during Christmas and have cookies and stuff. And so the volunteers do that together as a camaraderie.
[00:23:36] Speaker A: Yeah. And even like just special occasion things like how do you celebrate their birthdays or do you do makeovers or clothing closet things? Or, you know, there's a lot of different ways that you can build people's spirits by helping them in those practical ways.
[00:23:50] Speaker D: And I do want to just do a shout out to the Guardian ad Litem Fund, who we just recently became partners with, and they have a great fund that helps with birthday gifts, whatever their needs are. We were finding a barrier with that. And so they partnered with us. We're doing a pilot project with them on that specific piece of it because they usually just would work with the foster care system. So they're stepping out of what they normally do to work with us. And you know, the thing is not all of our kids are in foster care. So the only kids that benefit from that are those who have had experience or currently in the foster care system.
So it is, you know, those opportunities for birthdays and things like that for the kids that don't qualify for that specific program. You know, I think what's important when we have someone that's interested in volunteering, we really want to get to know them and understand what is their talent, what can they bring, you know, if it's restorative justice to in demand, if it's speaking. I'm always looking for one of their classes to work with the Men and.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: The men go through the restorative justice and education. That's the quarter program in Florida and it's an incredible program that we've been doing for over 11 years and that's important. We have a faith based one too now, Kingdom Son's legacy of Fatherhood. But when we vet men to talk to the men digitally via our software, and that's really, really important for men to hear from other men about the track and the journey they're on to heal past the pain that they've caused but also the percentile of those who had undealt trauma earlier on.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Sure. Because healed people. Healed people. So.
[00:25:22] Speaker C: Oh, I have to give an amen to that. That's exactly right. Sherry.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:25:26] Speaker D: One of the stories I want to tell, when I first started at More to Life mtl, one of our old advocates, he was talking about the story of this guy who was court appointed to take the RJED program. And this is when it was in person and he came in the class and was like, I'm not going to learn anything. I'm just here because I have to be here and let's basically get this over with. And by the end of the class he was in tears and coming up and just talking about the impact. I mean it's bringing tears to my eyes too because that to me like shows the impact of that program.
[00:26:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:04] Speaker D: And there aren't a lot of people doing that because a lot of people are like, oh, I mean they just need to be killed or whatever, you know, whatever. But you know, it's like we said earlier, like they're hurt too. They've got high A scores. They may have been themselves victims and don't know anything else. So if we can, you know, at least minimize recidivism or stop it all together through this program, then the legacy of father, the legacy of fatherhood. Absolutely.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and just providing hope for people is so powerful and then being able to back it up with practical things. So.
[00:26:42] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Anyway, ladies, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for sharing with us and telling us a little bit more about what you guys do. It's been an honor and a pleasure to talk to get to know you today.
[00:26:52] Speaker D: Thank you so much for having me.
[00:26:53] Speaker C: Thank you, Sherry. Have a blessed one.
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