Riverview Ridge Campground is now officially a part of Iowa Businesses Against Trafficking (IBAT). IBAT is a state-wide recognition and education initiative from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office created to encourage businesses to help fight against human trafficking by providing training and outreach opportunities.
Although the image of human trafficking portrays the majority of cases occurring in big cities, Annette Rogers, owner of Riverview Ridge Campground, told a local report that she learned from IBAT that it’s occurred as close to Cascade as Cedar Rapids and Davenport.
“You’d be surprised, but one of the things they tell us is that it is in small communities because people aren’t looking for it,” Rogers said. “I don’t expect to see any of this at my campground, I really don’t, but since we have a lot of different people come through here, I think we should be responsible for them.”
Riverview Ridge Campground has been welcoming guests since 2008 as a full-service campground.
The campground offers 92 RV sites and plans to increase to 104 sites next year.
With such a diverse population of visitors and residents, Rogers wants to ensure that Riverview Ridge can help get the word out to let people know what to search for, which she said was lacking since most people aren’t aware of it.
As the campground owner continues to learn about the various ways businesses can assist potential victims, Rogers has already decided to begin the essential first steps of training and providing details on how to seek help for victims.
“There’s a tri-state anti-trafficking organization in Dubuque that I’m going to ask to get some training done for our employees and myself, so we know what to look for. They also sent us signage to mark us as an IBAT member and stickers I can post in our bathrooms listing who to contact if you don’t feel safe. If you cut down on the areas where people can traffic, it’s a lot easier to control this.”
