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Dear Friends of ECPAT-USA,
We had planned to be together tonight for ECPAT-USA’s annual Freedom Awards. In many wonderful ways, we are.
In the face of enormous disruption and grief, our community of allies and advocates for the safety of children continues to support, to safeguard and to act in the best interests of kids - and for that, today we celebrate you. For all of your efforts this year in the fight against the commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children, we see you.
We see that you’re willing to engage on the tough topics many would prefer not to raise, just as ECPAT-USA first brought the reality of child sexual exploitation to the attention of the American public and lawmakers nearly thirty years ago. Today, we celebrate our collective courage in continuing to protect, educate, and fight for the safety of our children, even when others find it too unpleasant or uncomfortable to discuss.
With your support, we have bolstered our youth education program with new online safety guides for students, parents, and teachers, and provided free resources for the hospitality industry, including a groundbreaking municipal partnership. We continue advocating for progress in Washington, DC, and changing the public conversation around these issues.
The week of July 30 - August 6, ECPAT-USA will host a virtual Freedom Awards auction of unique prizes. We hope you’ll bid in support of all of the work yet to be done. And, if you would like to support our work as you would have at our live event, contributions of any amount are always welcome.
We are honored to acknowledge our event sponsors: the American Hotel & Lodging Association, American Airlines, CWT and Mercy Investments, for their tremendous commitment to our mission. To them and to all of you: we see your partnership on behalf of exploited and vulnerable children, and we hope to see you in person, very soon. The work continues!
Wishing you health and safety,
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