Danvers native Haywood Talcove hopped on his bike in Kittery, Maine, on Wednesday, able to journey 320 miles to Fenway Park. His journey got here to an finish late Friday afternoon in Boston, simply in time for the Red Sox-Dodgers sport.
The objective of his journey: to lift consciousness across the rising drawback of lacking and exploited youngsters within the nation. He and 6 others had fundraised greater than $900,000, as of Saturday afternoon, nearing their focused $1 million.
Whatever last quantity the group finally ends up with will go immediately towards the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which receives 32 million calls and ideas yearly about youngsters being harmed and/or gone from their dad and mom.
That’s what impressed the group to journey 320 miles, Talcove instructed the Herald on Saturday.
“That’s really important,” he mentioned. “The center is a nonprofit organization, and they need resources to run the call center and to also train law enforcement and educate parents on how to help their children.”
Growing up outdoors of Boston, Talcove mentioned he didn’t have the web or a mobile phone as a result of they merely didn’t exist.
“The world is a lot more different now, a lot more challenges for kids,” mentioned the 56-year-old, who lives in Washington D.C., working as CEO for LexisNexis Risk Solutions Government Group, which gives sources to legislation enforcement to seek out intercourse predators.
Red Sox President Sam Kennedy invited Talcove to share some info relating to lacking and exploited youngsters in Boston, the area and the nation throughout pregame festivities on Friday. Talcove was additionally greeted by William Gross, former commissioner of the Boston Police Department.
Roughly 80 youngsters are lacking from their properties within the state of Massachusetts proper now, and plenty of of them have fallen prey to human traffickers and intercourse traffickers, based on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
One in three runaways wind up within the fingers of human traffickers, and one in six are trafficked for intercourse, figures from the middle present.
“Unfortunately, it happens every single day, whether it’s exploitation, runaways, child grooming,” Talcove mentioned. “The likelihood of it happening to you is really low, but unfortunately, when it does happen, what the center does is provide the needed resources to help.”
The greatest drawback that youngsters face right now is sextortion, as they assume they’re speaking with a peer, however in actuality, it’s “some transnational criminal in Nigeria and holding that [nude] image ransom,” Talcove mentioned.
He mentioned there have been greater than 30 suicides over the actual concern throughout the previous 4 months.
“A lot of the time, the great men and women in Boston PD when they’re trying to figure this out, the person that is doing it may not even live in Boston, or Massachusetts or New England. They may not even live in the country,” Talcove mentioned. “Because of the national center, they have access to resources to help figure out who these individuals are.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”