The Salvation Army Earns PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Award
PITTSBURGH (January 26, 2024) – The Salvation Army Western Pennsylvania Division has won a 2024 PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Award in the nonprofit communications campaign category. The award-winning video spot, produced in partnership with PMI Digital, is designed to raise awareness for The Salvation Army’s LIGHT Project, Leading Individuals Gracefully out of Human Trafficking. The annual PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards celebrates the region’s best public relations, marketing, and communications campaigns, tactics, and individual practitioners for their most innovative and creative projects over the past year. The following contributors were honored with this award: Major Jodi Lloyd (The Salvation Army/Program Secretary), Nicole Harrell (The Salvation Army/Director of PR and Marketing), Lauren Fair (The Salvation Army/Director of Social Services), Fran Brace (The Salvation Army/Director of Development), Tabitha Ceryak (The Salvation Army/Director of Anti-Human Trafficking), Damien D’Amico (PMI/Creative Director & Editor), Julia Hannan (PMI/Executive Producer), Colleen O’Neil (PMI/Production Coordinator), Nancy Richert (PMI/Project Manager) and Christopher Evans (PMI/Director of Business Development).
Human trafficking is a major, yet often unseen problem around the world and here at home in Pennsylvania. The LIGHT Project is dedicated to raising awareness and providing support to survivors in Pittsburgh and The Salvation Army’s surrounding 28-county Western Pennsylvania service area.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates there are 49.6 million people enslaved in the world today. The ILO also estimates human trafficking generates $150.2 billion in illegal profits each year. The Salvation Army’s LIGHT Project is unique and helps survivors of both labor and sex trafficking. The program serves all genders, provides housing and meets immediate needs for shelter through partner agencies. In fiscal year 2023, The Salvation Army’s LIGHT Project served 64 adults and one minor, 46 survivors were female and 19 were male, 37 were survivors of sex trafficking, 27 escaped labor trafficking and there was one case of both sex and labor trafficking. Of the survivors served, 53 were US citizens and 12 foreign nationals.
The Salvation Army has historically been on the frontlines fighting human trafficking since the time of founders William and Catherine Booth in London, England – advocating to raise the legal age of consent to sexual acts. The Salvation Army has 40 anti-trafficking programs across the nation, including the LIGHT Project in Western Pennsylvania.
Visit salvationarmywpa.org/lightproject and follow @TheLIGHTProjectWPA on Instagram to learn more about this local initiative. For immediate support, call the 24/7 national human trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888, or text “befree” (233733) to get connected across the United States.
Celebrating over 150 years of global service as both a church and a social service organization, The Salvation Army began in London, England in 1865. Today, it provides critical services in 134 countries worldwide. The 28-county Western Pennsylvania Division serves thousands of needy families through a wide variety of support services. To learn more about The Salvation Army in Western Pennsylvania, visit salvationarmywpa.org. The Salvation Army … doing the most good for the most people in the most need.