Goya Cares campaign fights human trafficking through education and awareness

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and Saturday is Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Our partner, Goya, as part of its Goya Cares initiative, is working to shine a light on this problem.

Goya has shared these important, troubling facts about human trafficking:

Today, thousands of children fall victim to human trafficking in the United States. One out of three is a child.

Every 60 seconds two children are trafficked.

This is a billion-dollar business in the U.S. and the U.S. is the largest consumer of this service provided by traffickers; human trafficking produces more money than drug trafficking

The top U.S. states for trafficking routes include Texas, Georgia, New York, Florida, and California.

Human and child trafficking is the largest modern-day slavery of our time and it is on the rise.

Goya is stepping up to stem this problem through Goya Cares, a global initiative aimed at educating parents, teachers, and children and leveraging Goya's platform to raise awareness about abuse, trafficking, online exploitation, and mental health challenges.

Goya Cares teams are committed to raising mental health awareness among children and teenagers. The statistics surrounding mental illness in our country are concerning and require urgent attention. It is crucial for individuals to receive the support they need and to be informed about how to access professional help.

With the help of our Goya Cares Coalition Partners, the company wants to emphasize the importance of education and prevention by uniting businesses and communities so that we can work together to protect our children from harm.

Here are other key steps Goya is taking, focused on education:

Together with Goya Cares coalition partners, Goya is offering schools free assemblies and a preventative education curriculum nationwide. So far, we've hosted these assemblies for close to 200,000 students. These assemblies include the LIGHT and PRESS PAUSE videos.

Goya is training educators to effectively deliver this curriculum to their students in collaboration with the Monique Burr Foundation.

Goya has stamped the Goya Cares QR code that directs users to the Human Trafficking Hotline on GoyaCares.com on millions of their products sold worldwide.

Goya continues to promote at events and produce advertising campaigns, videos, and social media content to enhance awareness.

Goya is sharing these tips for parents and guardians:

Open and honest communication between you and your child is so important.

Be in tune with changes in the way your child is acting. Ie. Normal teen behavior versus something is wrong.

Know what your child is doing online. A lot of predators use social media and video-gaming to reach out to children.

Red flags to watch out for:

Lack of eye contact

Depression

Anxiety

Secretive behavior

Bed wetting

Branding or tattoos on body

Call to Action:

Go to Goya Cares for more information and how you can get help if you are being abused, trafficked or know someone who needs help.

For educators, sign up for a free school assembly at Goya Cares.