Here in Centre County, Pennsylvania, there’s a real sense that if you get it in your head to do something, nobody’s going to tell you otherwise. Thank God for that. Big ideas are hard enough without someone standing in the way. Here, we choose our own goals, stay the course until we decide it’s time to quit, then stroll into a local watering hole when it’s time to wipe the slate clean and start again. We work through the day knowing full well that come afternoon, the rivers and mountains belong to us.
We do all of this without asking for permission. That’s our kind of freedom and we celebrate it. We also take it for granted. In this quiet central Pennsylvania community, our way of life feels so natural that we rarely think much of it. In the fall of 2020, a conversation with an old friend changed that.
The Beginning of Freedom Tremor
While kicking around ideas for the upcoming year, DiamondBack and our longtime YouTube partner, Last Line of Defense, kept circling back to something we’d talked about years prior: building a truck for a bigger purpose. After years of partnering successfully and with a world in need of help, we decided to make 2021 the year. Our search for a cause was settled minutes later. It had to be the fight against human trafficking, an issue that had been on Mike’s heart for some time, and an issue that most everybody else, including us, seemed oblivious to.
"Why isn’t the fight against human trafficking more widely championed?" That’s a question that we were forced to ask as we looked further into the realities of modern slavery.
For A Larger Cause
More people are enslaved today than at any time in history. 40.3 million. That number was a huge surprise to us. With so many social issues dominating the airwaves, why doesn’t this get more coverage? It’s not just a third world problem either, but exists in every single nation on earth.
We heard that the issue is just too politicized. That didn’t sit well with us, and still doesn’t. When did freedom and independence become taboo subjects? It’s difficult to imagine being bought and sold, knowing that the biggest impediment to your liberty is that people are afraid to talk about it.
Maybe the issue is too big. It definitely feels like it. Then again, there’s no less effective way to tackle a problem than to stare at it in awe. Big problems are solved just like the smaller ones, one little action after another.
A21 is one organization that’s taking action, big and small, to combat human trafficking around the globe. They use a three tiered approach to reach and educate vulnerable people and the public, rescue victims through partnerships with authorities, and restore victims through relocation and safe accommodation services. After settling on a cause, it became obvious that A21 would be the ideal partner.
The Build
So, at the start of 2021, DiamondBack and Last Line of Defense took our own action. We purchased our truck, a 2020 Ford Super Duty Tremor, and named it Freedom Tremor. Then, over the course of a year, Mike built the truck up to suit its name. With each part added, the Freedom Tremor began to look more and more like a truck you’d use in a jailbreak, or to get away from it all. Fitting.
Each part and accessory added was provided by companies who, like us, didn’t really care whether human trafficking was a touchy subject. They found the statistics shocking, angering even, and decided to get involved without knowing how things would turn out. Kudos to them all. Spot a part or component on the Freedom Tremor and you can rest assured that it came from a company who took a stand when doing nothing was so much easier.
A Truck Giveaway To Raise Money
After choosing a charity partner and building the truck, all that was left was figuring out how we’d sew it all together. Better put: the hard part. In the past, DiamondBack would see a need and make a donation, normally in our own community. The Freedom Tremor project is an entirely different animal. The monumental crisis of human trafficking is a big problem in need of a big team effort.
Ending human trafficking is a daunting task, but there is hope. Far more people stand in opposition to slavery than support it. It’s just that those in opposition aren’t aware of human trafficking’s scale, and don’t know how to make an impact. Here’s one small way you can help:
Purchase a limited edition Freedom Tremor patch, hat, t-shirt, or hoodie and proceeds from your purchase will be donated to A21 as one massive check on 3/1/2022. As thanks for your support, we’ll be giving the Freedom Tremor to one of you. That’s right. For each dollar spent you’ll earn 1 entry into a drawing for the ultimate adventure truck, and we’ll happily hand the keys over on 2/18/22.
40.3 million modern slaves. That number is impossibly big, but it’s all made up of individuals, real people, who’ve lost their freedom through no fault of their own. Let’s make that number smaller together. Each person rescued will be worth the effort.
