NASCAR fans are a loyal lot. They support their favorite drivers, car makes and models and even the sponsors. I saw this decal, V4CR, recently on Mike Harmon’s Xfinity car and since I wasn’t familiar with what or who it is I decided to research it. It stands for Veterans For Child Rescue. I contacted them for an interview. It took some time to work out and settle on a date, which was my fault, but I was truly amazed and so grateful.
They are an extremely dedicated group of men and I feel the best way to present them and what they do is to let them speak for themselves. I spoke with founder Craig Sawyer. This is an article like none I have ever done but it is completely informational, necessary and contains some horrific details. Please take the time to read the complete article about this organization and their mission. The following is a result of that interview.
Craig began: “We were invited to the Dover, Delaware race and we were taken to the driver’s meeting and they announced our organization and what we are about and the drivers stood up and gave us a standing ovation. It felt nice to be exposed to a new demographic and visit a section of society that may not have seen us previously. We’re grateful for this NASCAR connection and to Mike Harmon and his team for the opportunity to be on the hood of his No. 74 Xfinity Chevy.”
“Our mission is a simple one. We just want people to stop harming and abusing children.”
I briefly interrupted Craig with something I recently read about. Apparently, when some immigrants are apprehended after entering the US illegally their children are taken away from them, without their consent, and given to US citizens with no records kept, no checks and balances in place to document who the children are and where they have gone or who has them. To me that seems to create the possibility for some of those children falling into the exact set of circumstances he and his team are trying to eradicate and save those children from a horrific life.
“Well, when you have an unsecured border then you invite chaos like you’re describing. That’s a horrible situation and we don’t want to see that happen anywhere on earth and it should have never been a problem for a country as powerful as the United States. So, why is our border such a chaotic situation? We should simply have control of it like all other developed nations on earth do.
“So that’s a separate issue and I hope it’s one we clean up and regain control of there, and soon to overcome the chaos there that causes the situations that you’ve described. So generally speaking, when a country has secure borders the problem can be dealt with head-on. It’s a simple dynamic. We just want people to stop raping, torturing and selling children. It’s not acceptable in the mind of any healthy adult.”
“I think it’s something we all can agree on. There’s no political agenda, there’s no demographic of our society that’s immune to this because it really boils down to a class of good and evil. Good, decent people do not harm the innocent. That’s not normal, so those of us who are healthy, good and decent people can all agree that harming innocent, precious children is not ok. It should be a no-brainer to support our mission no matter what class.”
As Craig continued to speak I could hear the anger, the disgust, the sadness rising in his voice and I thought about these men who are confronting these disgusting, lowlife people and wondered how they can sleep at night knowing what they know, but they are all dedicated and devoted to freeing children from the bonds of savagery.
“Our country has sadly been divided every which way over the last couple of decades and I would love to see that healed, but at the end of the day we are all free Americans and we should celebrate that. I think together we are what we can’t be
alone. Together makes us all stronger and this is one topic we can unite out loud, in unison, for the children. I invite people to embrace that mindset.”
But just how did this organization come together and who are these men when they aren’t trying to locate these children and bring them home?
“Well”’ Craig said, “I have a diverse background in the Special Operations Community, Federal Law Enforcement and in the Intelligence Community and working in those different capacities I met a number of very powerful and capable people who I have maintained lifelong friendships with and when I began learning, in recent years, about child trafficking and how pervasive it is, I realized that I have a lot of connections with a lot of capability to help combat the problem. So, as I began studying and assessing what my best contribution against child trafficking may be I realized that so many of the American people did not know that the problem existed. It’s as though child trafficking has enjoyed some top cover, some secrecy, and hiding the problem from the citizens.”
‘We can not fight what we don’t know. We can’t combat a threat that we don’t know we have. So if there’s rattlesnake behind you and is coiled up and hissing and rattling at you, you would want to know that so you could step away from it and safeguard yourself and I would tell you so you could protect yourself. But if there are predators or a rabid dog in our neighborhood, the word gets out to beware so that the citizens can protect themselves and their children, so alerting 320 million Americans is the best and most powerful contribution I can make. So I chose a documentary and a list of other solutions to bring that awareness to the public. We’ve got billboards out across the country. Dozens of them are up now and have been converted electronically with our message and mission against child trafficking.”
“NASCAR is a new development for us that we welcome, value and appreciate. It helps us get our message out to a new demographic, a new section of our society so that NASCAR’s fans and industry professionals can be alerted to this and realize the threat. It’s the fastest growing criminal enterprise on earth with an estimated 5 million children that are victims to child trafficking right now. Imagine this, a pro football stadium can hold 50 to 70 thousand children so try to do the math in your head and try to imagine how many football stadiums it would take to hold 5 million children and then think about all these children whose lives have been destroyed.”
“We all, as a society, have to stand together against it. The best thing that people can do is to go to vets4childrescue.org and register there to volunteer. We are a 501C3 non profit organization and we have no government support. We do everything we do only through small donations that people make to support us.”
“We have made 14 arrests of child predators with Federal and local law enforcement and our joint sting operations. In our first year we have rescued 2 victims from child trafficking. We’ve got the NASCAR sponsorship, we’ve got programs for children. We have an allied organization called “Sold No More” that goes to high schools and informs the students and educates them on how the predators stalk them and it teaches them safety and how to avoid falling victim to them. We also have a list of cellphone apps that the predators use to stalk our children located on our website. So we are fighting this on multiple fronts and the alert piece is the biggest and best way to empower the American citizens against this. Sex trafficking shatters precious little lives. We must defend the defenseless. God has given me a burden to help the children so I feel I have to do this.”
So there you have it! As I stated at the beginning of this article, this is like nothing I have ever presented to our readers but it is so extremely important! With Craig and the other members of this dedicated organization, this world is a safer place for our children. I have thought about the many, many times since this interview. I am so grateful for the knowledge I’ve gained, and for the valuable time, Craig graciously allowed me. I’ve cried a few times, prayed for their success and safety and smiled knowing that these men are out there working to save our children.
Thank you, Craig, for your time and information. And thank you and your organization for all of your efforts to save these children. I truly enjoyed and appreciate it immensely. And FYI: they will be at the Phoenix this weekend.
Please visit their website and Facebook page. If you are so inspired you can make a donation there. Please feel free to share it with your family, friends and neighbors.
I just did.
