Everyone needs support sometimes. No matter the challenge, banding together with other people who can encourage you through hard times is vital.

Medical struggles are no different. A community of people who understand and can provide support and advice is a key part of maintaining your sanity and morale through the ups and downs the medical roller coaster can send you on. This is especially true for people with bleeding disorders.

You probably know the stats by now.

70% of U.S. adults are overweight, and 40% of those are obese.

Staggering numbers, yes.

And they’re only getting worse.

That extra weight carries serious health consequences, too, as it’s linked directly to America’s number one killer, heart disease — a narrowing of blood vessels that drastically increases your chances of having a heart attack, chest pain, or full-fledged stroke.

Cancer is often unavoidable. Heart disease, though? It’s mostly preventable.

Which is where Charlotte’s HeartBright Foundation comes in.

Before I wrote this article, my understanding of human trafficking was limited to what I had seen in movies like Taken and Crash. Needless to say, I had a lot of learning to do.

Present Age Ministries opened my eyes to the reality of human trafficking. As a mother of a daughter and as a Charlottean, I was stunned to learn that it's prevalent, it's pervasive, and it's happening right in front of our eyes - to girls in every ZIP code in this community.

Charlotte is the number-one city for human trafficking in a state that ranks eighth in the country. Considering only two percent of worldwide human trafficking victims are rescued, it's clear that this city needs help.

My daughter ran down the hill to the ice cream truck with her piggy bank tucked under her arm like a football, me a few paces behind her. Once I arrived a bit out of breath. I smiled at the two female neighbors and the man they were with. I’d seen them before, but never all at the same time.

“I want an ice cream,” he said, and there was a silent hunger from the women with only their eyes. Silently they tugged at his sleeve, child-like. He brushed them off, and I offered the coins to the women and told them, “We have plenty of change if you want something.” “They don’t,” he tersely responded and the exchange became awkward as the women’s eyes lowered, ashamed puppy-like to the pavement.

This was the the silent exchange between these neighbors, but not the first.

Did you know that Charlotte is the #1 city in NC and #7 city in the nation for human trafficking activity? Stunned? Hold on. There’s more. A girl is bought and sold every 15 seconds for an average cost of $90. That means, by the time you finished reading that statistic, one girl has been forced into human trafficking. By the time you finish reading this article… well. You do the math.