This blog available on the #1 Business/Investment podcast:
Join Jay Helms (W2 Capitalist) and Garry McIntosh (Operation Underground Railroad) as they talk about saving children from sex trafficking and what everyone can do to help. It’s his goal to raise global awareness that this issue persists that about 2 million children are still in the hands of traffickers. Garry explains how often this happens, how people end up being a trafficker, and how they get in contact with children. He details what OUR is doing to save these kids, who they’re working with, and how one could help make a difference.
By the end of this episode, you will acquire more awareness of trafficking, learn how to be vigilant, and know what to do when you identify it. Enjoy!
About Operation Underground Railroad (OUR):
Since being founded in December 2013, we’ve gathered the world’s experts in extraction operations and in anti-child trafficking efforts to bring an end to child slavery. O.U.R.’s Ops Team consists of former CIA, past and current law enforcement, and highly skilled operatives that lead coordinated identification and extraction efforts. These operations are always in conjunction with law enforcement throughout the world.
Once victims are rescued, a comprehensive process involving justice for the perpetrators and recovery and rehabilitation for the survivors begins.
It is time for private citizens and organizations to rise up and help. It is our duty as a free and blessed people.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OURrescue
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourrescue
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourrescue/
Website: http://ourrescue.org/
Connect with Garry:
- garry@ourrescue.org
Episode Affiliate:
Links mentioned in this episode:
- W2 Capitalist 2020 FundRaiser for O.U.R.
- EARN. INVEST. REPEAT. T-shirts
- Real Estate Investing for The W2 Employee Facebook Group
Raw transcript
[00:00:19] You are addressing the gap between your successful fulfilling W2 job and to building wealth for your family through real estate investing. You are ready to earn invest. Repeat. Welcome to the W2 Capitalist podcast. Now let’s get to work. Here is your host, Jay helds.
[00:00:47] Hey, what’s up, buddy? My name is Jay Helms, the founder of this moving site podcast, but it’s going to be a podcast, podcast, movement summit.
[00:00:57] What what have you. And today on interest to a special guest, Mr. Gary.
[00:01:03] Yes, to two hours, right. Andrew Macintosh from Operation Underground Railroad. One of the main reasons why we’re putting on this summit and you’re listening this podcast to talk for us to talk about what the heck Operation Underground Railroad is about. And Gary’s gonna help me out. And we’re going to give Gary a little bit of slack because he’s he’s brand new to the organization. But we were just chatting about his history a little bit. We’re going to get to that because he left a pretty good W-2 job to join this, which means that he’s got to be extremely passionate about what is going on there. So, Gary, welcome, sir. Thank you, man. I’m so excited to be here. Yeah. And sorry, I just want to cut you off there. But this is completely unscripted. We’re just. But this is day one. So we’re out of this summit and we’re pre-recording this because of several different things. Number one, we had our guest speaker spots completely fill up. I think within like 24 or 48 hours of e-mail go out. So we’re we want to make sure you guys had a voice in this. You sent me over some marketing material, some video that I’m going to attach to the back of this to be showing out through the entire summit, because this is really what what this is all about. Right. It is helping you guys raise awareness and raise money for what you’re doing.
[00:02:19] And so let’s dive into what operation Underground Railroad. Operation Underground Railroad is all about.
[00:02:28] Yeah, absolutely. So Operation Underground Railroad was founded in 2013, founded by a man named Tim Ballard. And Tim is has been the face of our organization for a long time. The man travels incessantly to spread the word and raise awareness about children, sex slavery. That’s why Aaliyah exists. We exist because there are two million children in the world right now being sold for sex. And, you know, we right now, I can maybe sense some people shifting uncomfortably in their seats just just bringing this topic up.
[00:03:10] Honestly, I Delmont just I don’t know. I mean, there’s literally run down my arm yakking about that.
[00:03:19] I want to say amazing. It’s also disgusting. Right. But it’s incredible to think that. That many kids are tied up into this.
[00:03:29] Yeah, it is. You know, it it’s crazy. I mean, if you would have spoken to me a year and a half ago and and told me to my face that slavery still exists, you know, I mean, it’s something you hear about and you think you think it’s happening. And, you know, third world, third world countries and other places, not here in the US, which it is, of course. But a lot of people are find a surprised that 30 to 40 percent of the cases that we work in, Operation Underground Railroad, are right here in the US. It happens in your community. I mean, there’s there’s predators right now online trying to coerce and manipulate youth and teenagers. And we exist to provide law enforcement, provide special agents, provide special projects here in the US and internationally with the tools and the resources that they need to comport excuse me, combat human trafficking and children, sex slavery, et on. So, you know, Tim Ballard found oh, you are in 2013. He had at that time about ten to twelve years experience as a Department of Homeland Security special agent. A few years into his his work there, he was asked to join a special task force that was called Internet Crimes Against Children.
[00:04:58] And in those days, nobody was really doing this. Nobody knew that, you know, this issue was that prevalent. There wasn’t funding. There weren’t resources in governmental institutions and law enforcement jurisdictions to really combat the issue. So Tim was asked to essentially found this this unit within his department in Southern California and start working these cases where kids were getting trafficked all over the over the border and southern California to and from both into the US and out of the US. And he was asked to start working cases and find out who these predators are and find out that these traffickers are. Through his experience, you know, there’s there’s good laws in place in the US. Good, good jurisdictional laws, you know, that that are in place because we can’t we can’t necessarily protect everyone in every country. And every country has their own their own domain and their own their own jurisdiction. But the issue specifically with child crimes is that Tim was finding that he knew where kids were getting hurt outside the US. But but, you know, rightfully so. He couldn’t get backing, couldn’t get funding, couldn’t get resources to actually protect, protect and go after and protect the children and prosecute those traffickers, even though he knew that that those situations were happening.
[00:06:25] So, you know, this is this is the short version of this. But, you know, throughout this this conversation, I’ll definitely point everyone towards some more resources so they can really get the whole story because it’s compelling and it’s important. But basically, there were two cases in particular that Tim couldn’t let go. He couldn’t let go. He knew that there were children that were not safe that needed to be rescued. And he had the wherewithal and the experience to do something about it. So he made a very illogical decision. And he left his pension. He left his his his job security. He left, you know, all all the resources and manpower that the U.S. government holds. And he decided to go out on his own, start a nonprofit. And he received just enough funding just to work these these two cases. And so there was no no sustainability plan beyond that. And they were successful. They rescued over over one hundred and twenty kids between those those two missions. And that’s really how o you are got started. That that’s that’s really the foundation that Tim set for us. Now, we work with operatives all over the world.
[00:07:44] We’re in twenty five countries. We’re in over twenty four states in the US assisting and working with law enforcement. And so we’ve expanded in that way. But as I mentioned earlier in this conversation, there’s there’s still two million children out there that need rescuing. And as long as that is the case or you are, we’ll be fighting the fight.
[00:08:03] Two million worldwide, right? That’s right. What you said and 30 to 40 percent of those are in the US.
[00:08:10] There’s 30 to 40 percent of the cases we work are actually here in the US, which is incredible.
[00:08:17] That’s amazing. So you said you guys are in 25 countries, only focus on the US for just a little bit because most of the listener base is going to be U.S. based. Can we guys like me in you right. We’re trying to provide for our family. We also have young kids. What? You know, one of the things that we always want to keep our kids safe. Right.
[00:08:37] We’re just talking about how I got introduced to you, asked me how before I recorded how we’re going to introduce to you. And it was through Ryan mclaird or man at his protec provide preside Montre. You said you guys are only in 24 states in the US. Does that mean that it’s only happening in 24 states in the U.S. or associations in those states have found that? Oh, yeah. We need your help. We’re going to bring you in. What? Tell me a little bit about that.
[00:09:04] Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, the high level answer to the question is absolutely not. It’s happening everywhere. It’s happening in every community. I get the question all the time. You know who specifically is at risk? A lot of homeless teens are are picked up by traffickers. They’re manipulated into a, you know, come work with me. You know, I have shelter for you. I have food for you. And all of a sudden, you know, these traffickers are they’re very crafty, they’re very manipulative. And they they really prey on the vulnerable in terms of why, as though you are only operating and that number of states is is. I mean, there are excellent law enforcement and special agents in every community combating child crimes. I mean, that’s that’s just the reality of it all to to downplay their efforts. And and we’re grateful for that. We. We have the flexibility and the mobility to kind of go from here to there.
[00:10:13] And all we do is we supplement we supplement their efforts. Right. So we have six years of experience with our operators working in the US and overseas. And so we educate them. We provide them with tools and resources that they may not be able to afford. You know, there’s murders happening every day on the street. There’s rapes happening every day on the street. And so, you know, funding and resources are prioritized accordingly. And what we do is we become alongside those special agents and come come alongside those law enforcement and we supplement what they’re already doing. So that that relationship works, works really well. And it’s very it’s a mutual relationship.
[00:10:58] Gotcha. So you say this is happening in every community. And if I’m I’m just like any normal listener.
[00:11:06] I have probably thought about it, but it never really has hit home that this could be happening. And when I think in my community, I’m thinking about the 10 mile radius around my house. Right. Are you telling me that with some with some uncertainty or with some certainty that this is going on within 10 miles of my house or 25 miles radius of my house?
[00:11:29] I can and I’m not trying to be in our midst. I’m just I’m just trying to be a realist.
[00:11:34] That’s good. And I’ve got to out. We’re talking I’ve got young kids. I’m going to start asking you what I should do to help protect. Exactly. I don’t know that the more guns is the answer, but maybe it is.
[00:11:45] Yeah, that’s it. That’s a topic for another one.
[00:11:48] Yeah, I know that conversation is hard, but, you know, you’re going to hear in this video there’s a sergeant who we worked with in the past and around twenty seventeen. And he’s going to tell you that every single time he sets up one of these sting operations in particularly even in small communities that, you know, maybe a few guys are going to come out of the woodwork and and and a few guys are gonna show up to actually actually rape children. And unfortunately, it’s always many more than that. And so it’s surprising. It’s shocking. I know the average person really can’t even maybe go there in their mind as to how there are so many people that participate in this, which is, you know, perhaps another another topic in this conversation as to how do people land in in such a, you know, a heinous situation. But but, yeah, it’s it is prevalent. And you know, what I always encourage folks to do is is just know what your kids are doing and know what they’re doing on the Internet. Know what they’re doing online. Foster those conversations, you know, create transparency, because, again, these traffickers are so manipulative. And what they do is they isolate the kids. You know, they they have a way of shutting them off from their friends and family. And so they no longer have that source of wisdom and truth and transparency to, you know, perhaps get them out of that situation. So I just encourage all the all the dads and moms out there that could never fathom or imagine. And I pray to God that they they never are in that situation. But I just I encourage them. I implore you just to know what your kids are into, to know what they’re doing online and do everything you can to protect them from situations like that.
[00:13:43] Do do most of the victims, are they first contacted through through Internet means? I mean, is it some through some sort of chat or Web site? How how do you how do these traffickers. I mean, these guys and you mentioned this, you know, how do they land in that chapter of their life or they say, hey, I’m going to be a human trafficker for sex reasons? I mean, number one, it pisses me the fuck off. I mean, it. I just can’t fathom.
[00:14:16] And then there’s the other side of me that that they’ve had to have a rough part of me that wants to empathize with them, but also say, OK, well, if that’s my daughter, there is no empathy. Right. Or if there’s my son, there is no empathy. There’s there’s just I can’t explain what may or may not happen. If I knew a person that was in my circle or in my community was doing this, you know what I’m saying? So how so? I guess really two questions.
[00:14:44] Number one, what is the biggest leading source for traffickers? As a parent, you know, if young kids are not fully into the Internet of Things just yet. Yeah, we’re pretty. We’re pretty. I wouldn’t say we’re helicopter parents, but we monitor what they do. And I want to make sure that continues. If that means that they hate us, but they’re kept safe. They’ll eventually come around and say it was for their good. But the other piece is, is how do I how do you how do people land in that world? Because while rescuing the kids is great, right. That’s not the source of the problem. The source of the problem is whatever is driving people to say, hey, I need that, you know, or I want to be that guy.
[00:15:25] So to pass that question.
[00:15:29] What is the biggest way these homeless teens and kids in general are getting contacted by traffickers were some of the things that we as parents should be looking out for number two? How do people typically land in that to where they want to be a trafficker?
[00:15:46] Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, we live in a digital age. Obviously, yes. There’s so much communication happening. There’s there’s there’s apps, there’s hidden apps. There’s there’s there’s a whole dark web that exists out there that you can’t you can’t access unless you’re invited into that. There’s a lot of child pornography that gets traded on that dark web. You know, we’re grateful for four companies, huge tech companies that we’ve had the chance to consult with and interact with that are doing things right now to identify, you know, using algebra algorithm to identify child pornography and finding where it was sourced from. And also obviously eliminating it from their servers. But yeah, a lot of a lot of that communication happens, happens, you know, through through Messenger or happens through Facebook, happens through what have you. And it’s it’s a process. It’s it’s it’s, you know, the technical term for it is grooming. Right. And these guys are they’re very guys and gals. They’re they’re very, very savvy at it. And I will share you once one story with you, one of the earlier missions that we did.
[00:16:56] There was an individual who was actually the current beauty queen of that country.
[00:17:05] And she was literally going house to house and inviting children to be on scholarships to come to beauty school or what have you and telling the parents that. And turns out that she was actually trafficking these kids and recruiter. Yeah, exactly. And selling them for sex. And she was using her popularity and her image to do that.
[00:17:27] So, you know, I’m like on the kids.
[00:17:31] I mean, we’re in this quarantine right now with Kevin anyway. They’re never leaving the house again. I know. I mean, a freaking beauty queen is out there and recruit for whatever country that was was recruiting.
[00:17:41] Yeah. Yeah. And so you just you just have to be vigilant. I mean, really? That’s the answer, really. I mean, you just you just have to be vigilant. And, you know, the second part of your question, how did these guys and gals get in these situations? And you alluded to it. You know, many of them are are are victims themselves. Right. And that’s that’s that’s the cycle in their life.
[00:18:05] The the other thing and this is an unpopular and popular theory or I don’t even want to call it a theory, because we’ve interviewed hundreds of of these predators and traffickers.
[00:18:16] And we know that this is their story. And it’s pornography. It’s being introduced orthography at an early age. And I’m going to stop at 17, a stop at 15. I must stop at 13. And all of a sudden buying a plane ticket overseas to go have sex with a little kid, you know, and that that’s just the story over, over and over again. And, you know, it’s not I’m not saying I have no opinion in this conversation about, you know, the the morality of pornography and that sort of thing. But but I can say that obviously a small percentage of people who look at pornography end up being these individuals. But but that is their story. That’s that’s their version of the story of how I got from, you know, adult pornography to having sex with kids.
[00:19:05] And when you say decent individuals are probably people listening, saying, well, these an individual wouldn’t look at pornography. What you meant by that was and just correct me if I’m wrong, a decent individual being somebody who can look at pornography and then not decide to go after somebody is under age or it end up being a sex trafficker themselves because they get easy access to it. Right. That’s right.
[00:19:28] Yeah. Yeah. I guess it’s a very small population, obviously, that not everybody that looks at pornography, obviously, as it has any intention to hurt it hurt a child. Right. But there are a small percentage of those who do that. That’s how they that’s their sort of gateway into into their sexual addiction, their attics, your at. And that’s that’s their gateway into that. Yes.
[00:19:49] So let’s change topics real quick. You are relatively new to. Oh, you are. But you did have a pretty successful W-2 job.
[00:19:59] I looked you up on LinkedIn. We were just chatting about that. And, you know, you’re in Texas. You look like you’ve been climbing the corporate ladder, which is something that we talk about on the debt to cap list a lot. And then, I mean, I’m looking at director of practice management, chief operating officer. So some some pretty big titles. Right.
[00:20:20] But eventually, at some point, Tom, you said I. I got to go. This is my passion.
[00:20:26] Because you have to be passionate about this in order to leave and be able to go and work with these guys. So, Tom, tell me a little bit about your story and why you left the W-2 world EU, maybe a W-2. But I mean, the. World. I’m saying don’t focus on this right now.
[00:20:44] Yeah, the for profit world. Right. Exactly. And, you know, I’d just come clean. I mean, I’m not some kind of, you know, big philanthropist or or I don’t you know, I’m not a social activist. I wouldn’t consider myself that right. You know, about a year and a half ago, I I stumbled on this, wasn’t even recommended to me. I didn’t know anyone else who was sort of in this world. I stumbled across a documentary on Amazon Prime. Called Operation to Say an operation to say is is the story of the foundation of. Oh, you are. And I would encourage in fact, I a I am asked seeing everyone in this audience to please go review that documentary, because it is it’s enlightening and it’s a light in the darkest places of humanity. But that that struck me. It struck me. It struck my wife a few days later. You know, I watched it by myself initially. A few days later, I’m like my wife, Jan. I’m like, you have to watch this. I mean, this is this is you again, either of us. I mean, we’ve always volunteered in different children’s ministries and things like that. So we definitely have a heart for kids. But this particular sort of social non-profit approach for us is is is new. Yeah. You know, so I’ve been following O U R for about a year and a half after watching that documentary and we decided that for our family we were gonna get involved.
[00:22:09] And so we we even did these little hot chocolate stands in liberty.
[00:22:14] And I have I have three kids under under five.
[00:22:18] And it was a great you know, it was a great, great approach, great way for us to just raise awareness in the community and raise a few bucks along the way, which we ended up, you know, pushing onto. Oh, you are. And this opportunity became available, available in January of this year. This is a very new decision for us as a family, as as was alluded to. You know, I was chief operating officer of a health care software company. I’ve been with that group of owners for almost nine years. So a huge part of my my professional life was spent there. And that was a hard decision. I mean, I’m not saying that, you know, this was this was all rainbows, but. But it was the right decision. And I felt like I had a skill set and some experience that could bring some value to. Oh, you are. And that we could contribute our our little piece to, you know, to rescue these kids. So. Yeah. You know, somebody that that I’ve I’ve respect a lot of the professional role told me recently that it may feel like you’re you’re you’re giving up, you know, pay or giving up certain benefits and things like that. But you’re actually you’re actually gaining you know, you’re gaining perspective. You’re gaining the ability to impact an important issue and in a big way. And so it’s opportunities like this that that I’m that I’m here for, you know, the opportunity to spread awareness and, you know, shout it from the rooftops because it’s happening. And these kids need they need light. They need hope. And. Oh, you are. Has been that.
[00:23:56] Yeah. And you know, that’s.
[00:24:00] No more and I commend you for doing that. I don’t know me raising this money, put it on the summit that’s pushing me out of my comfort zone. If somebody approached me with opportunity that you have cause you and I are on similar paths, right.
[00:24:11] I’ve been in the corporate role for. We’re not gonna go there. But I’m a little bit older than you. And I do have three kids, five and under. So we’re on similar paths. It looks like our schooling is very somewhere as well. Again, just referencing and but. So one of the in one of the things, especially in the real estate investing world, you know, there’s always your radars up for people trying to take advantage of you.
[00:24:39] There is a well, not I’m not going to mention him by name, but there’s a well-known guy who, you know, got convicted or one of these guys. They don’t know if it actually came out. But there’s enough evidence that, you know, he was raising money and basically to invest. Well, he he was investing in his property overseas where he would never have to come back. So there’s always this. If when you get into the real estate investor world, you. You cannot enter in with your guards up yet.
[00:25:16] Right. You want to make sure nobody’s going to take advantage of you. And there are other organizations, charity, that sometimes get a black eye because they’ve got the wrong leadership and at one point in time or whatnot, and they try to struggle to come back. So as people are seeing this and they feel called to do something. But that little piece is still talking to the hard. Hey, man, this is probably not what I told you before. This guy even called me out and said he was he was questionable about some conference. He was going to go. Not this one, not the summit, but conference he was going to go to because it was tied to raising money for a charity and all this. What is it that you got? You can say that will help people understand that this is not a scam. This is real. This is happening. And not only do you guys need the money to raise awareness, but what you guys do with the money, because you’re so much different stuff that you guys do from not only do you capture the bad guy, you rescue the kids. And then the aftercare program, which I think is is in the shadows. But probably the most important piece, right, is the aftercare program that you guys. Rehab these these kids and get them back to some sort of normalcy, never get there. So let’s talk a little bit about how listeners and viewers can understand that this is legitimate. You’re a legitimate organization and that we’re they’re not just taking their money and run. Here’s where your money goes to.
[00:26:39] Right. So, you know, first, just do some some technical groundwork for that question. It’s a great question. We’re we’re listed as a five or one C three, obviously. We have third party auditors that that audit our financials at least annually. And we’ve done that since since inception in 2013. You can find us on a nonprofit, nonprofit charity sites that rank and rate different nonprofits. And we have the highest standard available for the age of our of our our nonprofit. You know, you have to reach some certain tenure and on some of those rating sites in order to have a certain rating. But we have the highest rating available for any of those. We’re an incredibly lean organization. Eighty seven cents on the dollar goes towards rescuing, rescuing kids and providing care for them. And I’m not even that’s sort of an exclusive data point there, I guess, for this audience. But, you know, that actually was one of the compelling things that I found out in my interview process, because it I’m I’m sort of in the same couple weeks he was in the same seat as a lot of these folks, as you know, what’s really underneath the marketing and some of the resources that are out there.
[00:27:54] And so I did my due diligence, obviously, because I wanted to partner with an organization that was vetted and credible. Another thing is that, you know, we’re not vigilantes. We don’t we don’t bust down doors and and go places that we shouldn’t be. We’re always invited. We’re invited into the jurisdiction. And we work with local law enforcement and special agents. It doesn’t matter if it’s domestic or international. And so we act as consultants. We act as informants. We’re actually on our operatives are on their payroll during that process. And we allow we we facilitate the collection of evidence in order to prosecute those those traffickers. And so we’re it’s all on the up and up in that regard. You know, we’ve we have very good relationships with with these governments that we work with. And as I mentioned, we’re always invited there. So I think that’s an important note, because you’re right, there is a lot of attention on the rescue operations. And we work with, you know, former CIA, former Department of Homeland Security, former Navy SEALs, former Air Force Recon and Marine, so that, you know, these guys are trained to go and recover undercover and God bless them.
[00:29:02] It is rough, but they do you know, they have to smile in the face of evil. They have to pretend like a like a, you know, a sex addict in order to write evidence.
[00:29:12] Well, in the video that I’m going to show after we got through Chaton, Tim does a little bit of that. Right.
[00:29:17] And so he does. Yeah he does. And he I mean he he was he was the guy. He was the guy in the operations I talked about earlier. You know, and I think. Yeah. So there’ll be more on that in the video, particularly the Africa piece. So you’re right. There is a lot of attention on that side and perhaps less on. And we say that rescuing is only half the mission. Right. I mean, that is really important. We will. You know, contrary even to popular belief, sometimes we will not rescue the kid unless we have an aftercare facility that’s ready willing to accept him. And so that’s a lot of what we find now. I mean, we have many, many more kids in Africa than than we even rescued because we partner with other organizations and things like that as well, just to make sure that they have the right care to date. We’ve we’ve rescued 30, over 30, 300 individuals from sex trafficking and we’ve arrested nineteen hundred. We just reached the nineteen hundred mark of predators and perpetrators. We’ve arrested nine nineteen hundred of them again with with the assistance of local law enforcement.
[00:30:28] And just so those numbers just us or it’s worldwide. That’s worldwide the way it’s a freakin stat. It is sad.
[00:30:36] It’s powerful. And you know, it’s sometimes it takes months to get the evidence you need. So yeah, we we we have concurrent operations 24/7. And another point I want to mention is that this isn’t really your question. But, you know, everything going on right now, everyone hunker down, everyone quarantined. The reality is that these these predators and these traffickers have no regard for their commodities. This was a statement from our president of operations, John Lines, that we will. We are committed to these kids. We’re committed to finding them. We’re committed to continue rescuing them despite what’s what’s happening in the world. And obviously, we’re taking the right precautions to not continue to spread the virus. But. You know, something like this is not gonna slow us down and we’re fighting because it’s not gonna slow the predators down, right?
[00:31:28] It’s nice. One of the guys who are trafficking or wanting to go there. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s incredible. So that’s that’s awesome. Yeah. And then just, you know, we’re recording this. It’s middle of March when all this stuff has happened. And so everybody’s kind of. What’s gonna happen next. But it’s good that y’all are taking that stance and and going about it that way. So you said something earlier. That’s really it’s really stuck with me. You know, if this is going on in my community, how do I you know, in these I get these guys are pretty slick and they’re on top of it. What not. But is there something if I notice, like, what am I supposed to be looking for? And then if I notice something, what am I supposed to? Because right down the road there is this freakin hotel that is in the middle of a class, a neighborhood that. It shouldn’t be there, you know, and I sit your question, and of course, maybe in a real estate investor, I’ve looked up who owns it. When they bought it, what they bought it for, you know it and why it in its hands like this. There’s something weird in people who have lived in this area for a long time. They they’ve joked about it. Hey, that’s the sex trafficking hotel. And I’m like, well, let’s get the fuck out of here. You know? So every time I drive by that, I’m looking to see what’s happening. Right. The parking lot is usually empty. I don’t know. In my point of that whole story is I don’t know why that hotel still exists in the area that it does for what the guy bought it for.
[00:33:03] There’s no way in hell he’s making money on the books, don’t I’m saying.
[00:33:08] So if what’s there that aside, that’s just me ranting about something I don’t like and that has caught my attention. Yeah. But if there is something going on in my neighborhood, in my community, what what is it that would look for? And then if I notice it, what am I supposed to do with it?
[00:33:25] Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, there going to.
[00:33:30] This is the point where it’s probably best for me to just point you to some resources, anyone whose theories are on our side. We have a series of training courses that allow individuals to know the signs of trafficking, how to identify them, what to do when when you when you’ve noticed something. And I always encourage you to reach out to your local law enforcement. We have people call us all the time. You know, I won’t say all the time, but sometimes regarding issues like that. And that’s what we do, because we we we respect the infrastructure that’s in place in those communities and law enforcement. Again, I don’t want to downplay this. They do have the resources to to combat things like this, you know. And they have to have avenues and channels of navigating situations like that. So I would just encourage you to reach out to those folks. I won’t I won’t necessarily discourage, you know, doing some of the digging that that that you did, for example, you know, to find out some details. This is a kind of a shady situation. And I want to know more about that.
[00:34:38] Truth be know, I’m a real estate investor. I was looking at it as an investment opportunity. I got to it. It’s an a really good neighbor. It’s in a really good part of town. Yeah. Yeah. How does this work? And then as I’m looking at, I’m starting to ask questions that some of the consistent feedback coming to me. Oh, you’re talking about the sex trafficking with those guys.
[00:34:56] Yes.
[00:34:57] Yeah, that is very possible. That it is. Well, you said it is possible. Maybe that is where it’s coming from.
[00:35:02] Right. Yeah. And you know, a lot of people ask us, why is it so prevalent? It’s a it’s one hundred and fifty billion dollar industry. It’s the fastest.
[00:35:12] It’s the money. The money that’s involved in money. Right.
[00:35:14] It’s money. And this you know, this is a sort of glaring analogy, but it’s the reality that you can you can sell. You can sell, you know, an ounce of drugs once you can sell a child 5, 10 times a day for for 10 years. And just, you know, it’s it’s recurring income for them. And part of answering. Yes, it is. It really is. And and we we we have some materials out there that I’m not even going to say it on here because it might cry if I say, yeah.
[00:35:46] I’m sitting here thinking about, you know, we’re talking about this.
[00:35:49] And the reason why we’re having this summit and people get excited. But I also want to draw awareness that some sit here thinking about how do I go from this conversation is going to be day, you know, day one. First 30 minutes into aren’t guys get pumped up to learn about real estate. So the fact of the matter is, it is really happening. Some guys pressed on me now as much as is pressed upon you because you gave up your work for profit corporate life to come join these guys and do it. Which again, I commend you for that. But yeah, it’s it is a real thing is happening. Right. And we just need to know about it. And hopefully. And I’m kind of wrap this up here, because I’ve just now realized that we are out of time. And I’ve got to get back to work. But scuse me. Hopefully this gives you an avenue for for folks to understand. OK. I can I can donate. I can contribute. I can I can rest assured that someone is not taking advantage of me or my money, that I’m really helping rescue people’s lives and use your side is our rescue, dawg, who are rescued at work yet you are rescued for some reason.
[00:37:00] I always stumble when I say Operation Underground Railroad. And I think it’s because I don’t take my time to say it.
[00:37:05] Oh, yeah. I don’t know why. Oh, you are for sure. For sure.
[00:37:09] So other than donating, other than going to the side and picking up those materials to recognise what’s going on in our community and figuring out how to identify the right authorities, how can people get involved more? You mentioned something about lemonade stands.
[00:37:24] And in nature, you know, we get that question a lot. And and my response is always you you’re going to know how you can make a difference and in fact, more more than I can tell you.
[00:37:37] We do. We do have a few sort of infrastructural things in place. If you go to, oh, you are rescued out or for its last join the fight. It’s the second tab on the Web site there. You know, you’ll see that we we host events that we do fund raisers, things like you guys are doing here at capitalises is excellent. I mean, you know, we rely on on on partnerships and good people to help us create awareness and raise funds and resources to save the kids. And another. Another point I want to make on that really quickly is that, you know, we’ve taken time to set up the right. Structure to rescue these kids in a safe way and make sure that they get placed. And with professionals and aftercare and they have a bed to sleep on and they have food to eat. And we stay with them, by the way. We stay with them all the way through through adulthood. We’re now funding scholarships and education opportunities for them. They can learn different trades. And so we’re really focusing on the kids and doing everything we can within that realm to make sure that they get a break and put on their healing journey.
[00:38:47] And, you know, big events like this, you know, if you have influence, we do. We do a company matching events and we send speakers out and we’ll talk to your companies and we’ll talk to your your groups and your Rotary Clubs and your charities. And I mean, that’s what we exist for because it’s going to take all of us. I mean, if 100 million people right now in the US band together and say we’re going to do something about this, then we can eradicate sex slavery. But but, you know, it’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take some time. Yeah. Yeah. So that that’s what we’re that’s really the call. I mean, you know, we need resources and we need awareness, but we really need people to take ownership and decide that. You know, I’m I’m going to do something within my round with the life I’ve been given, the resources I have to make a difference in a child’s life. And that’s that’s what we’re asking for today.
[00:39:43] And hopefully we’ll be able to do that. Right. I pledge to raise fifty thousand for this year. The the summit happening hopefully is still going to happen is the virtual real estate investing summit.
[00:39:54] We’re doing a virtual because everything I do is virtual almost.
[00:39:58] You probably don’t pick this up, but I am an introvert by nature. I feel very comfortable behind a keyboard and a microphone. But the crowd I’m with the guys and I’m standing in the corner hoping nobody talks to me. Right. So that this I appreciate you coming and doing this and talking to me. No, I didn’t know that about the corporate matching. So I learned something today. I’m definitely going to. And we have some stuff going on with corporate where we can nominate a charity or whatnot. So I’ll bring that up. And then the traveling for speakers, we’ll see how how this covered affects everything. But I may take you up on that pretty soon, too. Gary, thank you very much for what you’re doing. I really appreciate how you’ve left for profit corporate America. But come join this fight. And I got to say, when? When. Because I didn’t see your picture until I saw you. And we did. And I was like. I start scrolling through your your raspberry experience, and I was like, this guy’s not especially for some reason, I thought everybody had operation over the railroad, had to have special ops experience. Oh, Syria. Yeah. You know, cause all the a lot of the media pictures when it show and after care, it’s usually very heartwarming and welcoming. But everything else is these muscled out big dudes who wear some sort of, you know, some kind of shirt. I mean they just have this. Hey is the man. This is gonna sound horrible. I’m not going to say that. I was gonna say that the man you’re your instant respect. And I’m not saying that you don’t, which I know that comes out that way. Yeah. I think I just totally, totally screwed this whole thing up. But but the point I want to make is you don’t have to be some special agent.
[00:41:46] Special forces, retired military to get involved. Right. You can be an average Joe like me to come and help raise awareness for this. And if you want to take the big leap like Geary’s done here, I’m sure there’s an opportunity around the corner. So if that’s the case, Garrity, how can people get in touch with you if they want to do go beyond just the fundraisers and things of that nature? What’s the best way for them to connect with you?
[00:42:12] Yeah. I’m always on my email so you can reach me at Geary with two hours G-A R Y at O U R Rescue dot org. Please do that. And I know we also have a partnerships at O U R rescue work. If you want to get your company involved, if you have a company and you’d like to host an event or do something in partnership with though you are. Please contact us there as well. We’re very responsive and very quick to pick up on things like that because like I said, I mean, you know, that’s what we exist for. We exist to raise awareness and and about about this heinous, heinous issue and to, you know, rescue kids and get them that they need. So contact me if you have any ideas. I’m open to that and would appreciate, you know, the chatting and getting to know what you know, how you want help.
[00:43:06] You are awesome. So, once again, I appreciate your time doing this. Appreciate your marketing. Folks have put together a little video for us that I’m going to queue up after we hang up. But thank you again and I look forward to chatting with you in the future. Excellent. All the best. Thanks. Thanks, Gary.