In Our Backyard: How to effect change for trafficking survivors in our city
ON JANUARY 28TH, A SPECIAL EVENT WAS HELD TO EDUCATE OUR COMMUNITY AND EFFECT REAL CHANGE FOR TRAFFICKING SURVIVORS IN NEW YORK CITY
“As a human being I did not exist.” – Iryna, survivor advocate
The message was powerful, and summed up in anti-trafficking ministry chair Beth Fleisher's comment:
"We all think that if we were here in the US at the time of the Civil War, of course, we would all be anti-slavery, and we'd be working to fight slavery...We can't just look at the past and say 'oh that's over and done with.' It isn't."
We are especially grateful to Lt. Sharpe of the NYPD Human Trafficking Team, the Brooklyn DA's office, ECPAT-USA, Restore NYC, film director Danielle Rose and mostly to the survivor advocates who told their story so boldly and bravely.
We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the funds we raised in conjunction with our event. We met our goal of $5,000. Our Christian Help Ministry generously matched our funds dollar for dollar. We were able to contribute $5,000 each to Restore and ECPAT, the two organizations who participated at the event. We received word that our $5,000 gift to Restore will indeed be used in our backyard: Restore’s executive director Jimmy Lee gave us the exciting news that Restore will " direct those funds to the small building we will be purchasing in Brooklyn. We will have a 3 bedroom unit in that building that will offer the first crisis housing in NYC for foreign national survivors of sex trafficking. The $5,000 will go towards the start-up costs to get it up and running.” Thank you, New Abolitionists!
This is not an easy topic, but one that must be learned about in order to make an impact. Together, we can effect change for trafficking survivors in Brooklyn. Sign up for our mailing list below and we will keep you apprised of upcoming volunteer opportunities and events.
