INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Abundant Life Institute is an organization that is working to end child sex abuse and human trafficking.

Director Tonya Hill founded the organization in 1992. She believes the community should turn compassion into action.

“This is crossing all social barriers socioeconomic, racial, geographical areas, not only in the United States but the world. This is a huge problem but the good thing is that it is preventable. There are things that we can do, but the number one thing is to learn the facts.”

Abundant life has a local, national, and international footprint. Hill said seven out of 10 people have experienced sexual abuse and 30% of the cases go unreported.

“We cannot continue to act like it doesn’t exist because when we learn that someone has a mental health problem, they have a substance abuse problem, they are involved in domestic violence, criminal activity,  a number of things when we roll back the history we often learn that childhood sex abuse was part of their story,” explained Hill.

Hill is passionate about helping Hoosiers deal with their trauma. She says she recently interviewed a participant after an Abundant Life Institute event about their experience.

The participant replied, “This was a different experience being around a whole bunch of different women that I didn’t know originally, and now I feel like they are the best people to know because we all opened up to each other being honest. We laughed we cried and I created some really good memories that I’ll never forget.”

You can be the change you want to see by joining the institute as a volunteer. They are seeking both men and women who see the need and are moved with compassion to make a positive impact. All volunteers will receive general prevention professional training as well as role-specific training.

Pre-register for the Abundant Life Institute Open House and Volunteer Orientation. It will be held from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the Bradley building at 877 Udell Street.