These newspaper headlines and recent statistics about human trafficking are shocking. You may have seen some of them and I’m sure MANY in congregation have seen them.
But here’s another headline that is 100% true but may never be seen in any newspaper.
My name is Brian Steele, and my wife is Skye Steele and for the past 20 years, we’ve been committed to fighting human trafficking in our community.
We believe that the local church is the answer to reaching these local children who have been victims of human trafficking.
Here is why we think that.
For the last 20 years we’ve been blessed to have helped recover and restore over 3,700 LOCAL girls, boys and young women, typically between 11 years old and 26 years old. Local girls like “Sarah”, a 14 year old child who was trafficked on the west side. (for privacy reasons I’ve changed her name to Sarah)
With all due respect, it wasn’t a government program or large grant that helped recover and heal these 3,700 girls. Nothing wrong with any of that and these types of support play a role.
But it was local churches banding together who carried the burden. It was churches who interceded. It was the power of Christ at work in little girls like Sarah that brought the real change.
Sarah was an honor roll student who grew up in West Phoenix. She had a pretty good life until her mom met her stepdad.
At first, they thought he was a great guy. But later in life, they discovered that he was a child molester. First, he molested her older sister. Sarah lay in her bed night after night and cried because she didn’t know what to do. She said, “I was so scared. I prayed that he would not come into my room.”
Her stepfather kept up appearances so her mother didn’t know what was happening. The girls were scared to tell her. They were afraid of what would happen to their family. They knew she loved this abusive man, and she knew nothing about what he was doing. When the awful secret was finally discovered, the family was shattered and fell apart.
Sarah soon found herself living on the street, in and out of homeless shelters with her mom. She was befriended by two women she thought were her friends. They were kind to her at first – they didn’t hit her – and they bought her things. But they were not her friends… It wasn’t long before they started selling Sarah to men that they knew.
She was just 14 years old.
Sarah’s life was worse than miserable…it was life-threatening… More than once she was raped and robbed. But she didn’t know what to do – she didn’t know how to make a change.
Then one day something happened… Sarah tells the story in her own words: “One day I was sitting at the bus stop and a guy came and sat next to me. I thought he wanted something from me just like every other guy. But instead of propositioning me, he looked at me and said, ‘You are a very beautiful girl. What are you doing out here?’ THEN he started telling me that God loved me – he started ministering the Word of God to me. That changed my life.”
Because of that meeting, a glimmer of hope was ignited, and Sarah reached out to an old school counselor she knew for help. The counselor saw that she desperately needed help, so she started calling all over the city, trying to find a shelter that could take this young girl in, but with no success…
Not only was Sarah deeply hurt by the trauma, but she was also pregnant at 16 years old.
The counselor found it was hard to find any programs that would take her.
THEN – she called the Where Hope Lives Human Trafficking Recovery Program – we were able to say, “YES, send her over now!”
That night, Sarah slept in a safe, warm, comfortable bed in a Dream Room – rooms specially designed for girls who have been trafficked.
Sarah says that it was one of the hardest decisions she ever made to have her daughter, not knowing who the father might be. But the crisis pregnancy classes at Where Hope Lives were the perfect thing she needed to have the confidence to be a young mother to her little girl.
Sarah also learned that she was loved – by God and by others – and that there was hope for her future.
The best part about this story is that it is 10 years old! Today, Sarah has graduated high school, she has her medical certificate, and is happily married to a young man who treats her really well.
In fact, my wife and I were blessed to be at Sarah’s wedding and give her away on her special day. It’s truly amazing what God is able to do in the lives of these girls.
But perhaps even more amazing is HOW it happened.
During Sarah’s time with us, it was local churches who came alongside and supported her.
Police recovery operations are happening all across the United States. They catch thousands of bad guys each year, and free thousands of girls and young women just like Sarah.
The good news is that girls and young women are getting recovered…EVERY DAY!
But no one talks about what happens next.
Do they go home?
Do they go to a hospital?
Do they pick right back up where they left off in 8th grade…?
Frankly, we don’t talk about it much because it’s not a pretty story.
Some of the stories about what these girls go through AFTER the abuse are as painful as talking about the abuse.
In the picture-perfect Hollywood story, the girl gets rescued. Then she goes home to a warm, welcoming family. And she is instantly healed of the trauma and abuse and she lives happily ever after.
That story sells tickets and makes us feel better about a horrible truth in our world.
But the truth is often gut-wrenching, ugly, painful, messy, and hard to look at.
The truth is, girls who’ve been trafficked need months and sometimes YEARS of help before they get “better”.
Over the past 20 years working with these girls and young women, we’ve seen a lot…
So, no, they don’t just go home and start back in 8th grade where they left off…
Every day, we see the “rest of the story” and the HUGE need these girls have.
And what is their greatest need?
The greatest need these girls have is for people to come alongside them and help them as they heal.
Some people teach classes or mentor the girls. But not everyone has the time to truly commit to sticking with these girls while they heal. It’s a process…for sure.
Many churches have decided to make it part of their mission to Sponsor Local Children as they heal after they have been rescued. It’s something that most churches can do and it truly does help these girls and young women get the thing they need most – HEALING.
Effective sponsorships start at as little as $100 per month.
What good does $100 per month do?
A lot.
That $100 may be the first week of healthy, nourishing, and loving meals that the girl has had in months…or years.
That $100 may be the co-pay and medication for the first medical appointment she has had in a long time. Or it may take care of the monthly medicine she needs for her first prescription to heal something she has going on physically or mentally.
That $100 may cover the gas and transportation costs for a young woman as she is transported from the police department or out of state to a Where Hope Lives Program where she will start the healing process.
That $100 may buy her a few sets of comfy shirts or PJ’s…or maybe when she’s out shopping with our staff she’ll see a stuffed animal she falls in love with and wants to take back to her room.
So, what does a $100 sponsorship do? It immediately starts the healing process.
And, that $100, when added to the hundreds of other churches also giving $100 per month, becomes an unstoppable flow that heals the hundreds of girls and young women we serve every year.
And, if $100 can do THAT, imagine what $1,000 can do!
Bottom line – monthly sponsorships make a difference. So, why not try Sponsoring Children as they heal from human trafficking?
What better gift than to walk alongside a girl who is recovering from the horrible abuse of human trafficking.
Any amount is appreciated and every amount goes 100% directly to help the girls heal. All of our overhead costs are covered by a private foundation grant.
Try a monthly sponsorship to help girls heal today!
Important Privacy Note – When you sponsor the healing of girls in the program, you will receive details about the journey that the girls take when they comes through our human trafficking healing program. We ask that you never share the details that you are sent. Most of the girls we serve have an open FBI, Homeland Security or police investigation against their traffickers, so no one’s personal identity can ever be compromised including real names, pictures, or details that would affect their police case. We have also taken great measures to conceal the identity of any girl you are sponsoring. Any stories or details we share are true to life representations based on actual events as they are related to us by the girls who have shared them with us. But any details that may jeopardize a girl’s safety will be altered or not shared in order to protect the girl. Optionally, you can also sign up for mentor training to mentor a girl after she has completed the healing program. You would then meet her as you joined her mentor team. Mentoring is not required for monthly sponsorships.
“This guy trafficked me starting at 16 years old. When the police finally got me out I needed to come to a place like Where Hope Lives to get better. They’ve given me so many amazing opportunities and resources. You won’t find any other places likes this…I mean this place like saved my life.”
Katie
“I ran away from home at 17 and an older man took me into his house. It turned bad and he started locking me in the bathroom and telling me when I could eat. The SWAT team raided his house and brought me to Where Hope Lives. I made a lot of friends here and I got my high school diploma. First thing I ever accomplished.”
Mariah
“At the age of 14 they put me out on the streets day and night. I would bring the money back to them. I got beat, I got raped, it was terrible. When I got away a school counselor called Where Hope Lives and they took me in the same day. I was pregnant and they helped me and my baby have a life.”
Ronni
We don’t have many of these Angel Wing Keychains. When the last one is gone, this bonus goes away.
When you become a Monthly Sponsor we’ll send some for your Pastor and Missions Team.
And, we’ll give one to the girls in the room you are sponsoring and tell her that it’s from “friends who cares”.
“You’ll help survivors of human trafficking heal, with moment-to-moment reporting, while 100% of your monthly sponsorship goes directly to help girls recover, with full satisfaction or we’ll grant your donation to another charity of your choice.”
And, here’s some more good news – all donations are eligible for Federal Deduction and in Arizona your donation is eligible for the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit and you can get $938 in state tax credits for couples filing jointly and singles can get up to $470 in AZ Charitable Tax Credits.
Where Hope Lives is a dba of City Help Inc of Phoenix and is committed to helping children and young adult human trafficking survivors heal.
How can a 13-year-old girl put the pieces of a broken life back together? Is there any hope of her childhood being restored? What does a day in her life as she heals look like? Sign up to join with these girls as they fight for the restoration of their lives.