SIDNEY — The Holy Angels Catholic Church Outreach Committee will host a public forum, “Human Trafficking: The Ugly Truth,” Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., in the Lehman Catholic High School auditorium, 2400 St. Marys Ave.

Speakers will be Raven Loaiza, chairwoman of the Tri County Chapter of the Northwest Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition and regional rape crisis coordinator of the Rape Crisis and Human Trafficking Division of Crime Victim Services, and Officer Mike McRill, of the Sidney Police Department. Someone affected by human trafficking will also present a personal testimony.

The forum will not be appropriate for children younger than middle-school-age.

Event Chairwoman Elizabeth Edwards, of Sidney, said the forum is important because people don’t know how big a problem human trafficking is.

“People don’t realize that it is a problem here,” she said. “People turn their noses up and think it’s big cities’ (problem).”

“We’ve read that Toledo is the sixth human trafficking city. There are more than 3,000 victims in Ohio,” said committee member Judy Zimmerman, of Sidney.

The women hope parents, grandparents and young people will attend. Printed information will be available for people who want to help stop the practice and for people who may be victims.

“If there is someone having problems, he or she can get information on where to go to get help,” Edwards said.

The forum will include a question-and-answer session.

The Northwest Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition is a human trafficking-prevention coalition that covers 16 counties in northwest Ohio. In addition to raising awareness of the practice and creating public policies to prevent it, the coalition identifies victims, rescues survivors and provides emergency assistance. The Tri County Chapter covers Shelby, Darke and Miami counties.

Loaiza is a licensed social worker and a registered advocate in the state of Ohio and a court-appointed special advocate. McRill, a former teacher, was recently honored with the Distinguished Law Enforcement Community Service Award presented by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine.

“Part of human trafficking is for organ harvesting; some, for household labor; it’s not only sex traffic; although, that’s the most prevalent,” Zimmerman said.

The forum will educate people in how to recognize a human trafficking situation and what to do about it.

For information about the forum, call 492-2980.