We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tami Kent. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tami below.

Alright, Tami thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

When I was 7 years old it snowed in Austin. It wasn’t my first-time seeing snow, but it was my first time experiencing winter and cold with my central Texas neighbors, which was rare. It was also the first time I ever gave something of my own away to someone in need. You see, I had 2 coats, and my neighbor didn’t have one. It just made sense that I should share, and so without hesitating, I walked across the street and gave her the brand-new coat that my grandmother had just purchased for me. I didn’t know the cost of the coat or even consider in my 7-year-old mind how my grandmother might feel or the conversation my mom would need to have to explain it all, but I do remember one thing… my mother’s smile. You see in that moment I had done what she had modeled for me and would continue to model for me to this day – loving others like Jesus would.

20 years later I would find myself standing in a dirt field in Nicaragua. My husband I were leading a mission trip and our team had taken a half-hour bus ride out to a remote area in the country and set up to serve the local community. When the music started to play, we found ourselves surrounded by people. A young mother handed me her child and through her tears asked for help. I knew something wrong, but it wasn’t until the interpreter shared that the baby I was holding in my arms was starving, and most likely wouldn’t survive, that I grasped the gravity of the situation. I was overcome. I had children of my own and couldn’t fathom the depths of despair I saw in the eyes of this precious woman looking to me for help. It was no longer a picture in a magazine or a commercial on a TV screen. I was holding the starving child, close enough to smell the soap on her skin, and knowing that she wasn’t the only one suffering. There were many.

That trip was also the first time we would ever hear about the atrocity of human trafficking.

For my husband Jaime and I, it was those moments where our personal stories and our life experiences serving others collided to catalyze in our hearts the vision for NOMORE. As an organization, we exist to connect people to care for the vulnerable. NOMORE is a battle cry, a declaration that ‘not on our watch will another generation of people pass us by who are hopeless and hurting, and we sit back and do nothing!’ We wrap those words NOMORE around strategic initiatives focused on poverty alleviation, orphans and at-risk children in the foster care system, and the fight against human trafficking. We believe that community transformation is found at the intersection of awareness and mobilization, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to make it possible for individuals, churches, businesses, and organizations to make a tangible impact on the world around them.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In the world today we are faced with alarming statistics. Over 20 million people are enslaved, more than any other time in human history. There are approximately 500,000 children currently in the US foster care system. 11 % of US families are living below the poverty line, not to mention the rest of the world. These issues are not independent of each other. Where there is poverty, you find vulnerability; and where you find vulnerability, exploitation. That becomes evident when we realize that 60% of human trafficking victims in the US spent time in the foster care system.

People hear those statistics, and they want to respond. They want to do something to help, but they don’t know where to start, what to do, who to partner with, and sometimes even why these difficult issues exist. That’s where NOMORE steps in to bridge the gap to connect people to care. With strategic initiatives, our focus is to help orphaned and at-risk children in the foster care system, those in poverty, and victims of human trafficking.

We do this by providing direct opportunities for individuals to be educated and connected to serve through outreaches, events, and trainings. When a person becomes aware of the need and they are given opportunities to step in to care, lives are changed. And we have seen time and time again the impact of one person’s “Yes” in transforming the lives of individuals, families, and future generations.

After attending our awareness events, many people sign up to get involved in serving those in need. Likewise, after participating in an outreach, churches and businesses ask for more ways to get involved. The desire to do good and to create community change is there, many people just need help in knowing the right steps to take.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

At NOMORE we recognize that no individual organization is capable of solving the crises that we face as we look to care for the most vulnerable in our communities. From our launch, 12 years ago, we have remained committed to being problem solvers that support our partners in each of our initiatives. We recognize that we don’t need to ‘reinvent the wheel’ by duplicating what has already been done, and that by providing an increase in awareness, resources, and volunteers, we can magnify the collective impact being made in each area. Our commitment to unity has solidified our reputation in our areas of influence, as we bring individuals, businesses, churches, schools, and community organizations together to serve a common goal, making it possible for us to do more than any one of us could accomplish on our own.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Facts fade, but stories stick. As human beings that we are hard-wired that way. It’s why many of us can’t remember the mountain of facts we learned in high school, but can tell in detail the story line of most of the movies we have watched throughout our lifetimes. Stories connect to the heart like nothing else and they move us to action.

As a non-profit focused on connecting people to care, we have learned the art of creative storytelling. There are so many amazing people we have met and there are so many incredible stories to tell. Stories of children who found families, stories of struggling single moms who received help at Christmastime, stories of survivors of human trafficking who endured the worst of what many of us could ever imagine and are now leading others to freedom. These stories of hope, healing, redemption, restoration, love, and community have propelled over a hundred thousand people to action in the last 12 years and will help us reach our goal of moving 1 MILLION people to action in the coming years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.declarenomore.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/declarenomore/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/declarenomore/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/declarenomore/
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamikent/