Tarpon Springs women’s club uses stickers to spread human trafficking awareness

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — A Tarpon Springs women’s group is working to fight human trafficking by placing awareness stickers in bathrooms across the city.

The GFWC Woman’s Club of Tarpon Springs hopes the stickers, which include the National Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence Awareness Hotline, will give victims a chance to seek help.

“We wanted to put it in some place where a victim will be separated from their trafficker — to be able to read it, make a copy of it, or memorize it — and be able to use it in the future,” said member Linda Eisner.

The nonprofit has already posted stickers in dozens of businesses and plans to keep going.

“We’ll probably hit 50 or 60 businesses. We will continue to walk up and down Tarpon Avenue, Pinellas Avenue and then we’ll go on (US 19) to all those stores,” Eisner said.

The project has been years in the making, with awareness as the goal.

“Tampa is like number two in the country for human trafficking, so we really just want to protect the victims and bring awareness to everybody,” Eisner said. “There are so many people out there that are oblivious to the whole issue of what’s going on,” Eisner said.

The group is now pushing for a statewide mandate requiring stickers in all restrooms and rest areas.

“Any chain store like a McDonald’s or an Ace Hardware, they can’t make the decision for themselves, they have to ask corporate. That’s why the mandate is so important to come from the top down,” Eisner said.

Eisner and the GFWC Woman’s Club of Tarpon Springs plan to send letters to Gov. Ron DeSantis and their local lawmakers about their project. The next legislative session, where a bill could be introduced, will be in January 2026.