YouTube funnyman and recent White Chair feature, Chaz Smith, is teaming up with Saving Innocence, an organization dedicated to helping sex trafficking victims in the Los Angelos area. We got to sit down with Chaz and the folks over at Saving Innocence to learn what it really looks like to rescue women and young girls from sex trafficking. Plus the organization is hosting an online gala that lets people like you learn first hand what this work looks like. This will be both an inspirational and highly informative night for anyone wanting to know more about the real life heroes working right here in the US. Here’s what they had to say:
Doug Bender: Chaz, you came to us recently wanting to introduce us to this organization, Saving Innocence, and the work they do. What is your role there and why are you excited to get people connected with them?
Chaz Smith: I originally got connected with them because of a Gala that happens tonight. Throughout the night people are going to get to see behind the scenes what this work really looks like. I’ll be interviewing people who are involved with them and what it’s like working with these children. I’m involved with them because I hate seeing people being taken advantage of, especially people who can’t take care of themselves or are more susceptible to being taken advantage of. Saving Innocence provides me and anyone with a great opportunity to actually make a difference. This is a calling that God places on all of our lives.
Doug Bender: LeDreeya Taylor, I’m excited to hear from you, you actually are on staff with them. I understand the big idea of what Saving Innocence does: you help rescue women and young girls from sex trafficking in the Los Angelos area. But I think a lot of people wonder what that kind of work actually looks like on a day-to-day basis.
LeDreeya Taylor, Director of Development at Saving Innocence:
Our work begins when we are contacted by the authorities of a woman or a young girl in need of our services. Once we are contacted by the authorities we are on the scene within 90 minutes. We get them any medical care they need right away. We make sure to provide these women and young girls anything they might need from that point forward. That can be everything from rides back and forth to court. We provide food and meals. Anything they need, even something basic like hygiene items or getting their hair done. We make sure they have their needs met. If they have children or a baby, we also make sure they are taken care of, too. That means things like a stroller or a carseat, really anything they need. We are trying to make sure they don’t ever have to go back to the streets.
DB: Many times you are working with underaged girls, as well. Do you help the families of these youth as well?
LT: Yes. We provide support for the families of the youth as well. Let’s say for example there is a child of a single parent and she has five other kids and she needs help. We will make sure this parent has resources as well, so their child is protected and cared for. We are there to provide any basic need that a child might need that is not available in their home.
DB: And beyond providing the basic physical necessities when you first meet them, you also are with them long-term helping them with a ton of other things too right?
LT: Yes, absolutely. Every case manager makes sure these girls are safe every day, making sure they are not back on the streets and on the right path and that their needs are being supplied. We are with them from the beginning to the end, making sure they can flourish on their own. Many times it is necessary to put the child in a foster home, and we help make that happen and find them a good home. And when they are older we even help them with job training to make sure they can thrive and support themselves.
Saving Innocence is a fantastic organization run by dedicated people who are doing truly heroic work helping women and young girls out of sex trafficking. To learn more about this organization and watch Chaz Smith interview some of the frontline workers doing this work sign up for the Gala and watch live on September 9.
Back to All Posts