15 Oct Survivors get housing, jobs and even birthday parties!
Posted at 15:00h
in updates
| Hello fall and hello SAFE friends! We hope you’re enjoying the change of seasons, the transition to shorter days, and cozy times inside. Thanks to you, trafficking survivors are also able to have cozy times in safe housing, jobs to go to on these shorter days, and even birthday parties to celebrate the changing of years/seasons. Read on for some fantastic updates from our SAFE partners, an update on the SAFE Phase Three Strategy,and some exciting news about how our model is rippling around the country! SAFE Partner Updates JOBS for Survivors One of SAFE’s partners – Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST) – started the Safe Jobs Collaborative this year. So far, 12 employers have been trained by BEST and are welcoming survivors to apply for jobs, including UPS (the package delivery company). But UPS isn’t just hiring, they’re guaranteeing interviews for all survivor applicants, and providing benefits, including up to $25,000 toward education costs, if survivors are hired. Not many folks tell victims of prostitution “you’re welcome here” but UPS is, thanks to the work BEST is doing with support from SAFE. Celebrating Birthdays Another one of SAFE’s partners – Mirror Ministries – sent this touching story about a survivor last month: Last week we had a birthday party for a survivor who has been moving forward and living a healthy life. This was her first birthday party ever, in her whole life, and she was turning 48 years old. She cried as she blew out the candles on her very own birthday cake, she gasped as she opened her gift, and she cried again as she listened to her favorite music playing on HER new Mp3 player. She was so happy and thankful! Our birthday girl tells us she would not even be alive today if it had not been for intervention from Mirror Ministries and Advocates that wouldn’t give up on her. Today she is thriving. We are so thankful for SAFE’s partnership in bringing hope, healing, and restoration to victims of sex trafficking! Phase Three Strategy – We’re Closing In! In the last quarter, SAFE has been blessed to receive funds from:Liberty Road Foundation’s annual golf tournament; Networking for a Cause put on by Business with Believers;100 Women Who Care of Issaquah/Sammamish; andMany generous friends. Thanks to those gifts, we are within $9,000 of completing the funding for our Phase Three strategy! Would you consider investing with us to finish off this phase of our strategy? Your dollars will go straight to the front-lines and be used immediately to ensure the next victim who calls will have a way out, a safe place to stay, and a chance at a brighter future. Donate Now! SAFE is Replicating! For the past seven months, outside of her duties as the Director of SAFE in Washington, Heather has been documenting/packaging the SAFE model, so we can share it with other regions who want to fight sex trafficking in the same efficient, movement-minded way we are here. Those efforts are already bearing fruit and two new SAFE’s have started in the past few months: SAFE Rockies (Denver, CO), and SAFE in Tampa Bay, FL. Heather is coaching both of those groups as they get started, and it has been exciting to see them move forward to fight sex trafficking in their regions. In addition, Heather had the privilege of speaking at an IMPACT conference last week to cast the vision for SAFE with givers from all over the country. Many of them are excited to start a SAFE in their area, and in the coming months we could see SAFE’s pop-up in Birmingham, AL; Houston, TX; Twin Cities, MN; Santa Barbara, CA; and Orlando, FL. If you know folks in those areas who might be interested in helping get a SAFE started or funding SAFE, please drop Heather a note at: safeinwashington@gmail.com and she’ll pass that information along to the folks in those regions. |
| THANK YOU! Thank you again for all you do to support SAFE with your financial capital (donating), your relational capital (sharing about SAFE with others), and your spiritual capital (praying for SAFE and our partners). It matters and we’re grateful! Happy Fall! Donate Now! For more information about SAFE visit: www.safeinwashington.com |