While many people plan for the Super Bowl by ordering food and sending party invitations, the Coalition for Corporate Responsibility in Indiana and Michigan (CCRIM), of which Mercy Investment Services is a member, has been planning for a different aspect of the Super Bowl: human trafficking.

Large-scale sporting events such as the Super Bowl and World Cup have become a magnet for human trafficking. Estimates of the number of sex workers brought to the cities where these events are held climb into the tens of thousands.

Representatives from CCRIM, including Sisters of Mercy, have been contacting approximately 220 hotels within a 50-mile radius of Indianapolis, site of this year's game. As investors, representatives have asked the hotels to define their work on human trafficking including what staff training the hotel provides on human trafficking and procedures for staff to report instances of human trafficking. Sr. Karen Donahue, RSM, chairperson of the Social Responsibility Committee, wrote this blog post for Human Trafficking Awareness Day, which details CCRIM's efforts. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) will join with CCRIM this weekend to deliver materials to hotel management that explain how to spot and report human trafficking incidents.

As collaborative efforts like this demonstrate, investors have growing concerns over the increase in human trafficking. ICCR has developed the Celebration without Exploitation toolkit for investors to use in advocating for trafficking-free events. Mercy Investment Services continues to encourage travelers to deliver the human trafficking letter for hotels to those hotels at which they are guests.