SERVING USA NEWS
JANUARY 2019 ISSUE
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I had the privilege this month to visit with our wonderful partner Marjaree Mason Center in Fresno, CA. Marjaree Mason is the largest organization in Fresno County working with victims of domestic violence.
I toured their 24/7 hotline and referral center, as well as the large residential home in downtown Fresno that houses over 100 women and children and had the opportunity to speak with various clients as well as the tremendous staff and volunteers. In addition to the large downtown center, Marjaree Mason has a number of other safe houses around the county.
I was particularly impressed to witness the strong relationship the organization has with the local police department and city officials who look to Marjaree Mason as a subject matter expert and solution provider.
Serving USA couldn’t be prouder to be partnered with and supporting such an outstanding organization.
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Starting with a Presidential Proclamation in 2011, January is observed as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Even though slavery has been abolished in the United States, there are forms that still exist, like human trafficking. This can happen to anyone, no matter race, age or gender, and is a highly profitable crime. Every year millions of people are trafficked around the world, including inside the United States. There are many forms of human trafficking, but the three most common types are: forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude.
See below how some of our partners observed and were celebrated this month for the work they do with survivors of human trafficking.
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City of Refuge Sacramento was recently featured in The Sacramento Bee to discuss their plans for expansion to be able to house more women escaping homelessness and being trafficked.
Founded about eight years ago by an Oak Park couple, they currently house 12 women and their children in two Oak Park homes where they can stay for up to two years while receiving job training and other services.
Read more about their plans to expand here.
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In honor of Human Trafficking Awareness Day, California State University-- San Bernardino held workshops, panels and a film screening of ‘Break the Chain.’
Also featuring survivor and advocate testimonials, Rebirth Homes was onsite to participate in educating guests on resources available to those affected by sexual trauma in the Inland Empire.
Rebirth Homes exists to come alongside human trafficking victims as they learn their identity in Christ and become empowered to be all they were created to be.
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On January 18, 2019, the Visionaries of Freedom Awards Cocktail Reception honored those who have devoted their hearts and hands to Journey Out including: Los Angeles Councilwoman Nury Martinez, Lt. Marc Evans (LAPD), Mr. Bobby Arias (Community in Schools), and Dr. Susie Baldwin (HEAL Trafficking).
Journey Out is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit leading the fight for the freedom and survival of all those whose lives have been destroyed by sex trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation.
Their mission is to help victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking leave a life of abuse and violence, overcome their fears, and empower them to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.
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REST: Love-based Services
Everyone is worthy of love. You are worthy of love—and every victim and survivor of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) is worthy of love.
This belief is at the core of REST’s mission: to provide pathways to freedom, safety, and hope for victims and survivors of sex trafficking. REST provides a comprehensive continuum of prevention, intervention, and restorative programs designed specifically for survivors. But it’s love that makes them work. Love that demonstrates unconditional care, creates a sense of belonging, and ultimately leads to magnificent stories of transformation and healing.
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REST started in 2009 as a team of volunteers who would go out to areas known for the sex trade in Seattle to build relationships with the women who were there and identify their needs. They found that not only were programs for sex trafficking victims sorely lacking, but they were often ill-equipped to provide trauma-informed care for these extremely vulnerable members of our community.
Since that time REST has grown to become the largest service provider to CSE survivors in the country, having served 620 unique individuals in the Seattle area in their last fiscal year. Their programs include Prevention, Community Advocacy, a six-bed Restorative Housing Program, and an Emergency Receiving Center with a seven-bed shelter and Drop-In Center. Each of those programs focuses on individualized, strengths-based and trauma-informed care to show survivors that they, too, are worthy of love and offer them pathways to a future outside of the sex trade.
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Prevention efforts focus on at-risk youth. The team holds workshops for juveniles in detention centers and diversion programs, teaching them about gender-based violence, the dynamics of the sex trade, and how they might protect themselves and others from being sexually exploited.
REST’s team of Community Advocates, in partnership with the Street Outreach team, meet with victims and survivors where they’re at—whether that’s at a coffee shop, in prison, at a hospital, or on the street. REST Advocates offer unconditional care as they support survivors in setting and pursuing their own self-identified goals. Last year REST clients achieved over 600 goals, including finding shelter for the night or permanent housing, getting back into school, securing employment, addressing medical or mental health issues, and much, much more.
The Emergency Receiving Center (ERC) is home to REST’s Hotline, Drop-In Center, and low-barrier Emergency Shelter. Through the ERC in FY18, REST received over 2,400 calls and texts from individuals reaching out for help, served over 240 unique guests at the Drop-In Center, and provided over 2,300 bed nights at the shelter.
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Prevention The REST House is a year-long restorative program for young women who are seeking to rebuild their life after exiting the sex trade. As in all REST programs, the REST House team seeks to care for the whole person—creating opportunities to grow emotionally, physically, and spiritually, while pursuing goals and preparing for economic self-sufficiency.
In every program, and with every client, REST seeks to show each survivor that they are worthy of love. As survivors come to believe that truth they begin to dream of and fight for a life outside of the sex trade.
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One client who stayed at the Emergency Shelter numerous times, and eventually moved into the REST House, said this of her experience with REST:
“I am no longer in prostitution. I am no longer on drugs. I no longer have any connections to my abuser, besides our son. He has no bearing over my life anymore. I learned how to love myself. I learned that I am truly a beautiful person. And intelligent. And I also learned that everything my abuser told me for years and years was so untrue and so far from the truth. And I learned from all of my strength and all the support that I’ve got here that I can do whatever I put my mind to and nothing can ever stop me.”
She has been clean and out of the life for well over a year now, and is still actively pursuing her dreams and goals—with REST walking alongside her. REST is motivated by a love for Jesus, but offers services to people of all faiths and backgrounds. You can learn more about their work at iwantrest.com.
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Rebirth Homes is a faith-based nonprofit organization in Riverside County, California committed to providing safe housing for and walking with survivors of human trafficking as they begin the healing process. Whether someone has been trafficked for a few months or for many decades, the trauma experienced by survivors of sex trafficking runs deep, and the healing process takes time and a safe space. At Rebirth Homes, adult women whose lives have been scarred by sex trafficking are surrounded by the loving support of staff, counselors, and mentors who care for them deeply and believe in them fiercely. Rebirth Homes provides a residential program with customized goals to fit each woman in the program. There are 10 beds in the home and the program duration is up to two years.
In 2008, CEO and Founder, Debbie Martis, heard the staggering statistic that 27 Million people are trafficked around the world. It was in this moment that Debbie felt called to pray for those being trafficked as well as for those combating trafficking. While she believed prayer would be her part in the fight against human trafficking, God had other plans. In 2012, God gave the vision for Rebirth Homes when Debbie had to work on a project for her city. She saw some boarded-up homes and believed they could be rebuilt to create hope for the community and provide space for healing for survivors of human trafficking.
After years of prayer, educating the public on trafficking, and raising funds, Rebirth Homes opened its first home, “Redemption Home,” in 2017, and in a little over a year, the organization has come alongside 22 women on their healing journey. The women Rebirth serves come from every walk of life. Some are younger, barely eighteen, while some are in their forties. They come from all different ethnic and family backgrounds. While many of the women we serve come from California and Riverside County, we also serve women from all around the United States. Since 2017 three women have completed the program, and some of the women have achieved goals such as finishing high school and completing college courses.
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Rebirth Homes is built on a holistic healing model, and we are committed to caring for our women spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Women in Rebirth Homes’ program will receive a safe place to live, counseling, job training, and community. As part of the program, the women participate in equine therapy at a local ranch, group therapy, and professional counseling. By bonding with the horses and gaining their trust, attending classes and activities designed to empower them in decision-making, and working consistently with therapists in weekly group and one-on-one sessions, the women in the program blossom and find healing.
Tucked behind the landscaped yard of Rebirth’s Redemption Home lies a patch of ground that’s left undeveloped. Over the summer, one of the women in the program looked at that wildland and saw the potential of a vegetable garden. Slowly she cleared space, tilling the earth and pulling out weeds. Then she planted her garden with cucumber, squash, and tomatoes. She tended the garden with love, watering the seeds and waiting for them to sprout, and a few short weeks later, tender green shoots broke through the once-hard earth as her beautiful plants sprung to life. Her garden stands as a picture of the transformation that has also been unfolding in her life during her time at Rebirth Homes and the hope she now has for her future.
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God’s love is at the core of the work Rebirth Homes does with survivors of sex trafficking: we are inspired by the love of God to serve and the love of God is ultimately what has the power to transform the lives of the women in our program.
Gretchen Bartels
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