User:Cm195011/sandbox
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I would like to create an Info box and am having trouble doing so as in not being able to figure out what I should put in it?
Please give me feedback as to what sections I could add but there is limited information on her family today.
I would like to put a picture of Theresa but was also having troubles.
Thanks for your time and feedback!
-Cm195011
Theresa Flores (birth date – N/A) Theresa Flores is your typical American girl who participated in high school sports. She is the older sister to three younger brothers. Ms. Flores received her bachelor's degree from Ball State University in Social work and continued her education at the University of Dayton (OH) getting her Master's degree in Counseling Education. Theresa is the founder of S.O.A.P. which is an organization that's goal is to Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution. She has now been a licensed counselor for twenty plus years. Theresa is the current spokeswoman and director of education and training from Gracehaven House in which provides a safe, faith based, rehabilitation center for young persons under the age of eighteen who have been a victim of human trafficking. Flores was chosen to the Ohio Attorney General's Commission to study human trafficking in the year of 2009. With this she has presented evidence and educated the Ohio House of Representatives and also the Ohio Senate on the problems facing human trafficking. In 2010 she was a major part of the passing of Senate Bill 235 in Ohio which would make the crime of human trafficking to become a felony in the state of Ohio. Theresa is a very popular and highly recognized international speaker in turn, presenting about the subject of human trafficking. She is a unique speaker because she gives her personal experiences along with her expert opinions due to what she has faced as a victim and also a counselor/ social worker. Flores has been the author of two books now "The Sacred Bath" (the newest book), and "The Slave Across the Street." "The Sacred Bath" audio version has been rewarded the Audie Award. Theresa's story has been seen all over the world and on major news series. In 2009 she was awarded The honor of Columbus "20 women you should know" the 2009 Soroptimist “Women Making A Difference” award and the 2010 Ruby Award. [1]
Early Life[edit]
As a child Theresa's father was a business advocate and his job always required their family to move from city to city. A stop along the way, the family believed the it was just another new city and the family just had to start over again. Theresa was 15 years old when the family moved to a high class Detroit suburb. Throughout school she had a slight love for one of her male classmates. As they grew closer the boy offered her a ride home after school one day. She accepted thinking nothing of it, when the boy took her to his house her life changed forever. Upon entering the house she was drugged and then raped. Shocked and mentally destroyed by what had happened Theresa kept it a secret from her family and went to school the next day. When she got to school she was approached by her once crush and he told her that his older cousin had taken pictures of her while the crime was being performed and she would have to "work" off the pictures. Her family was religious and she felt awful and could not let her family know of these events so over the next two years she was abused sexually. Theresa would be pulled out of class by the traffickers, and her classmates and also teachers knew not to bother as to what the consequences would be. She was also called in the middle of the night having to sneak out just to be exploited and used brutally in a basement full of men. The people who used her always knew where she was and threatened to take hers and her family members life if she spoke a word about what had been going on. All of this trauma happening Theresa's grades dropped as one would expect. Her family believed it was just a teenage girl with hormones and going through changes, no one ever thought or believed she could possibly be getting trafficked because she was home every night. One night she was taken from her house when she was driven to an old hotel with twenty men awaiting her and she was again brutally raped, the police found her and took her home but she refused to talk about what had happened. After two years of her sexual her dad was transferred to another city and the trafficking stopped.[2]
Theresa Flores Today[edit]
After her life as an adolescent Theresa spent many years studying the things she had been through. She proceeded to get her masters degree in Counseling Education, specializing in Human Development so she could help people who have gone through the same or similar things she has. [3] After these experiences she is now a mother of three children, still working as a licensed counselor. She is a published author of two books being "The Sacred Bath" and "The Slave Across the Street." [4] She is a highly sought after international motivational speaker. Theresa is also the founder of an organization called Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution, or also known as S.O.A.P. This organization partners with BE FREE DAYTON in which they make bars of soap giving them out to hotels and motels free of charge giving victims numbers to call on the bar which is stamped with the signature red band and the national hotline.[3] The main focus is to establish a safe haven for victims where human trafficking occurs most at big events such as The Super Bowl, Final Four (NCAA basketball), and The Indy 500 to name just a few major events where trafficking spikes. S.O.A.P. also provides hotel owners training to better recognize specific signs that might be going on of human trafficking. S.O.A.P. approached a total of 95 places to use their soap and 86 of them accepted the offer. This came out to be over 17,000 bars of awareness soap.[5] In the year 2008 Ms. Flores held an open home for victims of prostitution called Gracehaven. She has won many awards in her time sharing and writing about her story and also providing safe houses and organizations for such victims. [1]
Published Works[edit]
Awards[edit]
- Recognized by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Museum in a traveling exhibit entitled, Invisible Slavery
- Honor of Columbus 2009 “20 Women You Should Know,”
- The 2009 Soroptimist “Women Making A Difference” award
- The 2010 Ruby Award
- Ohio Attorney General Commission of studying Human Trafficking- 2010
- Audie Award- 2011, "The Slave Across the Street"[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e "Speakers/Performers / 2011: A Moment in Time Speakers & Performers / Theresa Flores". TEDx Columbus. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- ^ "The Sex-Slave Across the Street". The 700 Club. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
- ^ a b "Theresa Flores A Success Story". End Slavery Now. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ^ "A Teenage Sex Slave in an American Suburb". It Dawned On Me. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ^ "How bar of soap can save human trafficking victim". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 13 April 2015.