Annual Drive for Dragonfly raising thousands for human trafficking victims

One might wonder what donning a temporary hand tattoo in the shape of a QR code could do to help human trafficking victims.

Others may know it's the annual Drive for Dragonfly — supporting Oklahoma City's The Dragonfly Home, the state's first and only non-residential human trafficking crisis center — which features participants running personalized fundraising campaigns. More than $12,000 has been raised this month as of Tuesday.

The first annual drive in 2017 raised $7,500, while 2020 participants brought in $18,000, said Melissa Eick, Dragonfly co-founder and director of communications and development. The funds raised each year can go towards any of the Dragonfly's services, Eick said, including helping victims who've just escaped trafficking, case management and therapy.

The nonprofit is also excited to soon open a human trafficking transition home, Eick said.

The Dragonfly Home was founded in March 2016 and received certification from the Attorney General in November 2016. Since certification, more than 600 people have been served through the Dragonfly's human trafficking crisis center and the 24-hour, volunteer-operated human trafficking helpline has received more than 6,000 calls.

"The funds raised from Drive for Dragonfly are so that we can meet trafficking victims and survivors right where they are," Eick said.

'Putting a price tag on someone's life'

Human trafficking victims are often given some sort of "branding" by their traffickers, Eick said.

Forced tattoos — or even carvings — of the trafficker’s name, a gang symbol, or a bar code are examples of this.

Throughout the month of December, Drive for Dragonfly participants wear temporary hand tattoos that look like a QR code and say "A Future of Freedom."

"(Traffickers) treat people as products … as their 'property,'" Eick said. "It's also a way of putting a price tag on someone's life. So we're using this, our slogan on temporary tattoos, as a way of reclaiming that symbolism for freedom."

Photos of participants sporting the hand tattoos can be seen across social media under #DriveForDragonfly. Not only are participants asking their friends and family to donate to their fundraiser campaign, but they are sharing information about human trafficking and how The Dragonfly Home supports victims.

Jenna Dickenson, who has raised more than $6,400 this month, said she has found that social media is a big part in her fundraising each year. On her Instagram she has shared a post almost every day of December with a new statistic, survivor story, or example of what a donation could pay for.

However, most of her donations come from LinkedIn, and are often from people she's only met once or twice, she said.

"These are business professionals that have the money to spend and are potentially looking for tax write offs and looking for organizations that they want to partner with," Dickenson said.

With over 10,000 connections on the networking site, Dickenson said she is able to bring awareness to many people who may not otherwise learn about human trafficking.

"My heart is education, and advocating," she said. "And so if I'm getting 1,300 people in 20 minutes to be able to learn some real facts about what trafficking looks like in our state and who it's impacting, that is everything."

'This is a community issue, a family issue'

Dickenson said she first heard about The Dragonfly Home in 2016 while participating in a silent walk for human trafficking awareness. Since then, she has become a full-time volunteer for the Dragonfly and has participated in the drive each year since its inception in 2017.

Being involved with the Dragonfly has made Dickenson realize how uninformed she once was on the issue of human trafficking. Most people still are, she said, and her passion is in educating as many people as possible.

Some common misconceptions about human trafficking, Dickenson said, are that victims are most often being stolen out of parking lots, or that the majority of trafficking in Oklahoma is due to the intersecting of highways in Oklahoma City.

The truth is that a high majority of victims are trafficked by someone they know, and almost all victims report sexual abuse in their childhood, she said.

"When you start explaining some of that to people, they’re like 'What?'" Dickenson said. "This is a community issue, this is a family issue … I think awareness is the most important thing … that's what's going to help prevent it."

'God tells us to speak up'

For Marla O'Fallon, getting involved with The Dragonfly Home was a no-brainer.

In the summer of 2017, O'Fallon had just returned from a mission trip to Haiti, where she said she was first introduced to human trafficking. She got involved with Dragonfly through her friend and University of Oklahoma peer Maddie Smith, at the time Maddie McNeal, who came up with the Drive for Dragonfly idea.

Since the beginning, O'Fallon said she has felt that her discovery of Dragonfly was no coincidence but rather a purposeful calling from God.

The Christian Bible and faith is very clear, O'Fallon said, on how Jesus' followers are supposed to care for others.

“God tells us to speak up for the oppressed, speak up for the marginalized," she said. "When (Jesus) was on this earth, he stepped out of the normal limelight and looked at people that did not have the same privilege in life or were born into really unfortunate situations. And he saw them and actually went after them and helped them."

As a Christian, O'Fallon said her life is supposed to look like Jesus'.

She said she can't think of a better way to embody that than through doing what she can to help organizations like The Dragonfly Home. This month she has raised $250.

How to help or get involved

Whether it's donating, raising funds, signing up to answer helpline calls or volunteering in another way, Dickenson said there are plenty of options to get involved.

One of the most helpful things for her, she said, was going through the Dragonfly's advocate training. Participants learn about both sex and labor trafficking, including replacing stereotypes with fact-based knowledge.

"After going through the training, I've realized that I've known people that have been trafficked," Dickenson said. "I have had friends, and even family members, that have experienced this type of victimization and abuse. It's really eye opening."

To donate to this month's fundraiser, sign up to raise funds next December or to learn more about The Dragonfly Home's mission and services visit thedragonflyhome.org.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Drive for Dragonfly raising thousands for OKC's The Dragonfly Home