The McAllen Heritage Center Museum of History and Culture is very pleased to present the newest exhibit, courtesy of the Bullock Texas State History Museum. They will host a special open house and reception event on Thursday, March 21 from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Not Alone: Working together in the Fight against Human Trafficking” has been on display since March 6 and will run through April 10, 2024, and is sponsored by the Zonta Club of West Hidalgo County. The panel exhibit educates visitors about human trafficking and gives them a sense of hope and empowerment in combating the issue.

Human trafficking is one of the most significant issues facing communities today, yet it is commonly misunderstood and often undetected. Recent statistics suggest there are hundreds of thousands of labor and sex trafficking victims in Texas at any given time.

The exhibition centers on a series of questions that guides visitors to understand what human trafficking is and explore the human stories and current landscape of sex and labor trafficking. Visitors to the exhibit will learn who can be a target, the tools and techniques traffickers use to target individuals and keep them captive, and the roles healthy relationships and social media play in trafficking.

The exhibit is geared toward empowering visitors to not just be bystanders, but upstanders in identifying trafficking and becoming advocates for themselves and others. Visitors will view a series of videos featuring trafficking survivors and advocates answering the exhibit’s guiding questions; take home an art activity that promotes healthy self-esteem; discover artifacts that reflect survivors’ stories of resilience, strength, and self-empowerment; understand who’s affected, what makes someone vulnerable, and warning signs that someone is being trafficked; learn about how traffickers lure people in and maintain control over them; and gain resources to assist those exploited and concrete steps of how to enlist aid.

There is no admission fee for the museum, although door donations are accepted and there is free parking for visitors in the rear parking area.

For more information about the museum or “Not Alone,” please call the museum at (956) 681-2860 or email info@mcallenheritagecenter.com. The museum is located at 301 S. Main St.