Guests attend the second annual Freedom Gala at the Boston Marriott Newton on Dec. 4 to support O'Connell House, a Catholic safe house for women and their infant children fleeing human trafficking. Pilot photo/Wes Cipolla
NEWTON -- Right from the start, 2024 has been an eventful year for the O'Connell House. The house, located in the Merrimack Valley, is the only Catholic safe house in Massachusetts for women and their infant children who are fleeing human trafficking.
In January (which is also National Human Trafficking Prevention Month), a woman in need reached out to the O'Connell House through its website. She lived in the area with her trafficker. She worked a 9-to-5 job by day and was trafficked every night.
"She was exhausted," said Deb O'Hara-Rusckowski, co-founder of the O'Connell House and delegate for the United Nations representing the Order of Malta. "She had had it. Wanted to leave, but she was scared to death. She also thought she was pregnant. Well, many hours of conversation and encouragement pursued to give her the courage she needed to leave."
O'Hara-Rusckowski was in New York for her work with the U.N., but kept up with the woman's story. She entered the O'Connell House on Jan. 11, National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. O'Hara-Rusckowski told those at the U.N. what had happened and they broke out into a standing ovation, an uncommon show of emotion in that diplomatic atmosphere.
"There's a lot of talk, but you know what?" O'Hara-Rusckowski said. "Sometimes it's just a call to action, and that's what we are called to do. That confirmed for me that God's hand is truly guiding the O'Connell House."
Later that year, the O'Connell House welcomed another new resident, a pregnant woman who came from a Boston hospital. Her social worker, Susie, had received training on how to identify victims of human trafficking. After three months in the O'Connell House, the woman gave birth to a baby girl she named after her social worker. Baby Susie is now eight months old.
"This mom attributed her social worker to saving her life," O'Hara-Rusckowski said.
The year has also ended with a bang for the O'Connell House, after its second annual Freedom Gala at the Boston Marriott Newton on Dec. 4 raised $201,000. Donors at the gala raised $101,000, plus a $100,000 match from a donor known simply as Kim, who announced her contribution over the phone.
Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, who cut the ribbon at the O'Connell House's opening in September 2023, could not attend the gala because he was in Rome. He sent a message that was read at the gala by Father Eric Cadin.
"It was inspiring to witness the reality of a safe place for women who had been forced into trafficking, often while caring for or expecting children," the message read. "The women who reside at the house are strong and resilient, having faced challenges that many of us cannot even imagine."
The cardinal wrote that he was grateful to O'Hara-Rusckowski and her husband, Steve, for their dedication to victims of human trafficking.
"Jesus's words in the Gospel of Matthew are put into action at the O'Connell House," he wrote.
The gala also honored people who have contributed to the O'Connell House's mission in the past year. The Healthcare Leadership Award went to Tracie McPadden, associate chief nurse of emergency and urgent care services at Lowell General Hospital. O'Hara-Rusckowski called her "a true leader, advocate, and champion for human trafficking victims."
McPadden visited the house and made sure all of her staff received training on human trafficking. She also created her own policies for the hospital to assess possible victims.
"This was all outside of her usual duties and responsibilities, exhibiting how deeply she cares about this population," O'Hara-Rusckowski said.
The Community Champion Award went to Lowell Building Commissioner Dave Fuller, who helped the O'Connell House with renovations and filling out paperwork to receive food from the local food bank. When he heard he was receiving an award, he said: "I don't deserve any award. I'm just doing my job."
"He just goes the extra mile," O'Hara-Rusckowski said. "Bottom line, he cares. So thank you, Dave, for who you are."
The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Peg Campbell, director of major gifts and corporate giving at Bridgewater State University.
"No matter what event I may have gotten involved in through the years, Kate would answer my calls by saying 'Hey, what's up kid?' 'What are we doing now?'" O'Hara-Rusckowski said. "She always made herself available no matter how busy she is or was."
The Law Enforcement Leadership Award went to Kimberly Lawrence, a senior security agent with the Edward Davis Company and former FBI special agent. Lawrence added a law enforcement component to the O'Connell House's training of healthcare facilities on how to identify victims of human trafficking.
"After 25 years of experience, she has not lost her compassion for victims, often forming friendships and accepting calls making sure they're okay," O'Hara-Rusckowski said.
The Healthcare Community Outreach Partner Award went to Denise Schepici and Claire Seguin of Martha's Vineyard Hospital. Schepici is the president and CEO of the hospital and Seguin is the chief nurse and COO. The two made it a priority to train the entire hospital staff on human trafficking, including a section on law enforcement. They were the ones who suggested that the O'Connell House expand its healthcare trainings from the Boston area to hospitals on Cape Cod and the Islands.
"They know human trafficking is happening right there on their small islands, and they're committed to fighting it by educating everyone," O'Hara-Rusckowski said.
The Parish Partners' Appreciation Award went to five pastors: Father Matthew Conley of St. Mary of the Nativity in Scituate, Father Paul Fedak of Good Shepherd Parish in Vineyard Haven, Father Brian McHugh of St. Theresa in North Reading, Father Richard Clancy of River of Divine Mercy Catholic Collaborative in Dracut, Lowell, and Tyngsborough, and Father Israel Rodriguez of St. Mary of the Assumption in Lawrence.
St. Mary of the Nativity purchased five tables at the gala and was the first parish to make the O'Connell House its charity of choice. The parish held a bottle drive that raised $12,000 for the house. Father Fedak and Father McHugh invited the sisters to their parishes to tell their flocks about the house and promoted it with their bulletins and websites. Father Clancy has been friends with O'Hara-Rusckowski for 25 years and used his parish office as living quarters for the sisters before they could move into the O'Connell House. He is also helping the house build an extension that will serve as a permanent convent for the sisters and transitional housing for women and their babies reentering society. Father Rodriguez had the sisters speak at every Mass and gave his own presentations about human trafficking to middle and high schoolers. Children in the parish wrote over 100 letters for residents of the O'Connell House and, with Father Rodriguez's encouragement, raised over $10,000 in donations.
"I still get choked up," O'Hara-Rusckowski said, adding: "What those kids did, I mean, this is nothing short of remarkable."
One of the evening's two keynote speakers was former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis. Best known for leading the police response to the Boston Marathon bombing, Davis is now president and CEO of the Edward Davis Company.
A Lowell native, Davis began his law enforcement career with the Lowell Police Department.
"If there's one thing you learn about policing in a city like Lowell is that it's sometimes hard to differentiate between the victims and the criminals," Davis said in his remarks.
He said he spent his time in Lowell arresting human traffickers and their victims. He found that every woman arrested for prostitution was addicted to drugs, in a relationship with someone who was addicted, and/or was sexually abused as a child.
"There is real evil in this world, and it's really important for us to recognize the evil and differentiate the victims from the evil, and that's what we tried to do in Lowell," he said.
He ran the Vice Squad in Lowell and closed down human trafficking dens.
"It became not a formula of how many people can we arrest," he said. "It became a formula of how we can use arrests to leverage the bad guys out of the system and do wraparound services for the people that need it."
The evening's other speaker was Kimberly Weller, a human trafficking survivor and lifelong resident of Florida. There, she entered a safehouse operated by the nonprofit Selah Freedom, which gave her extensive therapy, financial literacy skills, and job training. She had never considered going to college before, but with Selah Freedom's advocacy, she entered the State College of Florida and became a nail specialist.
"None of these things would have been made possible if it had not been for organizations like Selah Freedom and the O'Connell House and Global Strategic Operatives who really decided to stop turning their head and trying not to see us out there," she said. "They wanted to give us a place to go, and we desperately needed it."
Weller now owns her own nail salon in Sarasota, is once again present in her sons' lives, and is getting married later this month.
"I am so appreciative to you, Deb," she said. "Opening a home up here is so incredible, and I thank you so much for hearing me."