Boy Scout champions anti-human trafficking movement

Published 4:36 pm Wednesday, October 14, 2015

For the Reporter

Spencer Willden is receiving his Eagle Scout award for his work in educating others about the prevalence of the human trafficking trade in the Auburn area.

Willden, 14, worked with Shared Hope International in presenting three informational meetings to raise awareness and educate community members on how to identify and guard against human trafficking.

His age is particularly important because the average age targeted by traffickers is 13.

“The purpose of my Eagle Project was to inform those who attended about the horrors of human trafficking, and how to recognize the signs and potentially save somebody’s life,” Willden said. “I wanted to help prevent it, as it is a far bigger problem in the U.S. than people realize. The people who attended realized that they may have witnessed potential trafficking risks in the past, and will be able to help prevent or report it in the future.

“Many attendees commented to me about how little they knew about this danger, and how they would be able to help prevent it in the future,” he said. “Approximately 50 different attendees came across the three sessions.”

Spencer’s father, Matt, remarked, “Spencer refused to take counsel from his fears as it relates to his Eagle project. The topic (human trafficking) was a sensitive one, and fraught with difficulty in discussing with others or in influencing peers. But after learning about the potential project, he found his own conviction on it, and didn’t look back. Although he was open about his reticence to champion the topic at his school or in front of friends at church, he worked his way through those concerns and led the project anyway.

“It was a joy as a father to watch over the weeks he carried out the project, as he went from a bit timid and hesitant, to a bold owner of the topic, openly exhorting one audience at a library what they needed to do to help protect youth from the dangers of trafficking. He really ‘owned’ the message and became a great voice – to the point that the two professionals from Shared Hope (Jo & Nick Lembo), said they regularly held up Spencer’s example across the national network of presenters, of an example of how powerful it is to have a young man step up and become a champion of this cause – they shared his as a case study, telling other would-be presenters, ‘If a 13-year-old Scout can lead this charge, so can you.’ They were visibly touched by his leadership, and shared privately with Spencer’s mom and me, how impressed they were with him as a young man in growing into such a bold and courageous leader on this topic. How comforting it was for us to see him stand firm on his convictions and ‘take a few whacks’ at a major global problem!

Spencer attends Rainier Middle School. He passed his board of review at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Auburn. His Court of Honor is in November.