We are writers and waiters; attorneys and activists; educators and event planners; designers and doctors; musicians and managers. We are ordinary people who are volunteering our talents and our time to end to human trafficking - first in Chicago, and eventually throughout the world. Ironically, human trafficking frustrates definition by appearing in countless forms, but ultimately, it is all acts related to the recruitment, transport, sale or purchase of people through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of economic exploitation. Human beings are not commodities. We are not disposable. Our worth cannot be affixed to a price, and any act that does so must not be tolerated. Yet, not only is it tolerated, but human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world; it is second most profitable after drug smuggling, and equal with illegal arms transactions. It thrives because it is invisible – subversive – and this will continue as long as most people fail to realize that it is happening all around them. Therefore, it is our purpose to first create awareness of human trafficking, and then to take tangible and active steps on all levels to see to its end. As non-experts, we may not have all the answers, but we believe we are part of the solution. We act as a catalyst, igniting a synergistic movement by combining resources, skills and expertise to end the demand for trafficking and free those enslaved. You don’t have to be a social worker or federal agent to make a difference. All you have to do is care that there are human beings who are not free, and be willing to take action on their behalf. Welcome to a new world - one that is Traffick Free.