Rotary World Peace Conference 2020

Joined in the opportunity to share solutions, discuss possibilities and left with new thoughts on how to put these ideas into practice! The two-day conference on January 17 – 18 at the Ontario Convention Center here in California was well worth the time. It was an opportunity to engage with so many thought leaders, social good driven agencies, and authentic servant leaders that are thriving in their lives and agencies while making a massive impact.

It was such a blessing to have my wife and two young children join for a night of the conference. Having an 18-month-old and three-year-old in tow and in the midst of such incredible world leaders are memories and stories I can share with them for a lifetime. They are in the midst of having impact before they even realize what that means and are breathing the same air of some people that are making a difference not just in their own communities but on a global scale.

My primary focuses this year is raising awareness and finances for human trafficking awareness, legislation, prevention, and rescue and so the rest of this post is about the hero’s that I met in that arena. I had the opportunity to join Past District Governor Cozette Vergari at her booth promoting Rotarians Fighting Human Trafficking. Throughout the weekend I was able to meet over a dozen other agencies doing collaborative work in this field including The Vice Chair for the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery (RAGAS) Dave Mccleary, The CEO and co-Founder of 3Strands the premier educational resource in combating human trafficking, Matt Christl the West Coast Director of Advancement for Destiny Rescue USA who has the primary goal of growing awareness and funds to combat the global issue of Human Trafficking, specifically Child Sex Trafficking.

The President and CEO of Million Kids Opal Singleton who serves as the training outreach coordinator for the anti-human trafficking task force of Riverside County and has educated more than 250,000 government and individual leaders about labor trafficking, sex trafficking, sextortion, child pornography, and social media exploitation. Bianca Morales-Egan was also a notable speaker with Project Concern International with human trafficking initiatives centered around primary prevention efforts, including the Project ROOTS youth prevention program, and the CEASE San Diego Network to reduce the demand for illegal commercial sex and the Employers Ending Exploitation (E3) to engage the private sector in the local anti-trafficking movement.

A few notable people I ran into outside of the trafficking prevention space was my good friend Hardeep Girn from Know My Group and does videos for World Made Good highlighting people and organizations that are making an impact. My wife Kristin’s world and mine collide at an event like this. In the booth right next to the one I spent the two days was Direct Relief International (DRI) where she worked for half a decade. One of the ladies she helped on-ramp at DRI was Kerri Murray who is now the President of ShelterBox USA that had a booth and was presenting at the conference. Another Senior Program Manager at DRI Paulina Ospina remembered her work with Kristin and was we had a great interaction while spending time connecting with people at our informational booths.

I was overly impressed with the conference and would recommend attending a follow-up conference without hesitation. Incredible people seeking and making impact in the world all around us!