Our Mission
We believe the human heart can be healed completely! It is estimated that nearly 40 million people are affected by human trafficking worldwide and suffer the loss of innocence, dignity, their humanity and the opportunity to live in safety and pursue their dreams. We believe that we can end human trafficking with strategic action both here at home and abroad, through collaboration, to restore the lives of girls and boys, women and men who have been enslaved and exploited for sex and labor. By loving them back to wholeness they can be restored to pursue their destiny. Through a series of projects, together, we can provide rescue, safety, healing, wholeness and dignity to people who have been devastated by human trafficking and sexual exploitation. We can join together in our communities to raise awareness and protect our most vulnerable, and bring the light to the darkness, raising our voices with courage to rescue those at risk or trapped, and expose those who are involved in enslaving others.
Meet Our Founder
Donna Hart
After 21 years as a federal Labor Investigator with the U.S. Department of Labor...
While on special assignment to investigate garment factories in Saipan in 2000, Donna encountered for the first time the issue of human trafficking for sex and labor. With two young children at home, she saw the innocence and purity of children being violated by this atrocity. She was deeply grieved when she witnessed how it affected both children and adults. Although overwhelmed at the time by the horror of this, and thinking what could one person do, she made a promise to help in some way if there was anything at all she could do to save some.
The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) was signed into law in the United States that year while she was working in Saipan. During this time she received training from the U.S. Department of Justice, continued her investigations into labor practices, briefed congressional delegations on labor conditions there, and represented the U.S. Department of Labor many times including in an Oprah Winfrey documentary entitled "Behind The Labels" about garment factories and the oppressive labor conditions for guest workers on the island. We have obtained the license to feature this documentary and will have it available on this website soon.)
During those years, many workers escaped in the night to her office seeking justice. She met them with compassion and addressed their many issues with a network of federal and local governmental and non-governmental agencies. After serving in the Mariana Islands for nearly 3 years she was promoted to Assistant District Director in Seattle, WA. and two years later promoted to District Director of federal operations for the Wage and Hour Division in Seattle, WA. While in this capacity she worked as a member of the federal task force, the Washington Advisory Committee to Combat Human Trafficking (WAshACT).
While serving as Director in the Pacific Northwest her jurisdiction covered three states, Alaska, Washington and Northern Idaho. For over 10 years, under her direction, in addition to addressing federal labor abuses in all industries, she and her staff trained labor investigators in the detection of trafficking, and assisted in the prosecution of trafficking cases in conjunction with the U. S. Department of Justice and other law enforcement and non-governmental organizations.
Desires for Heart Lifeline Int'l
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
- Edmund Burke
Now, recently retired from federal public service, she has established Heart Lifeline Int'l to combat human trafficking on several fronts. Her heart's desire is to see people free to pursue their dreams, and live out their God given destiny. She believes this horrific international human rights violation can be stopped with a multi-level approach including collaboration and commitment from the community level and through strong and courageous government leaders.
Donna has taught at the Geneva Institute of Leadership and Public Policy (GILPP) with friends at Global Hope Network International in Geneva Switzerland each year. She speaks on topics related to human trafficking such as Sex Trafficking and Children, Labor Trafficking, Investigation and Identification Techniques, Trafficking and Government, and others addressing world leaders who influence strategic policies at the national level including the promotion of law enforcement initiatives to eradicate trafficking and protect children, women and men worldwide.
She has travelled to Thailand, India, Bangladesh, The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Australia, Nepal, France, Switzerland, Canada, Cambodia, Vietnam, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Italy pursuing anti-trafficking efforts building a coalition of friends and partners in the United States and abroad for prevention, rescue, restoration, and to build national movements for justice. Please contact her for more information on ways to be involved.
WHO WE ARE
Meet The Board
JoAnne Fitzgerald
JoAnne has a heart for the hurting. She is also a volunteer with Crisis Response International (CRI) and travels to places like Iraq and Kurdistan to help those in crisis. Her extensive training in crisis response adds an important dimension to the work of Heart Lifeline Int'l. She recently helped with efforts to provide trauma relief and safe housing for the Yazidi girls abducted by ISIS. She has lived and worked in Alaska and Mexico and is sensitive to be directed to work that matters.