2023 is in full swing: Here are your Reclaiming Hope Updates

With your help we ended 2022 strong and started 2023 working hard.

Our Annual Impact Report is out (attached below). We were surprised to see how many items you helped us provide for the sake of survivors: 38,054! In January we’ve already shipped 4 Hope Bag orders, including some for use around the Super Bowl, a large event for human trafficking.

We recently sent out Annual Contributions Statements – if you donated last year and haven’t received yours, please let us know.

January was Human Trafficking Awareness month. We helped almost 200 people learn about trafficking through our presentations with 7 groups. We’d love to speak to your group – we can focus on trafficking education and/or our work. We’re excited to be training new Mentors this weekend. We are so blessed to have committed staff who are fully committed to serve survivors, while serving the Lord.

Thank you for your interest in trafficking, and in our work. We’ll return to more of an educational approach with next month’s newsletter. Please connect with us if you have questions and/or concerns or want to learn more!

Blessings, Sues, on behalf of the Reclaiming Hope Staff

A New Face at Reclaiming Hope

We are so delighted to introduce you to one of our new board members. Chris Burns retired last year after 24 years as a police officer and 30 years in the US Army; which gave him years of experience in combating human trafficking. He also has served as an Elder and a Deacon at his church for over 20 years. 

Take a moment to get to know him with us:

  • What are you most excited about being a Reclaiming Hope board member?
    I look forward to working with other like-minded people who seek to address the scourge of human trafficking.
  • What about Reclaiming Hope’s mission do you like best?
    I am most interested in Reclaiming Hope’s long term mentoring of human trafficking victims and setting up support systems so they can grow and become self-sufficient adults with the tools necessary to not fall back into trafficking. By providing this ministry, in addition to those who are served by it, others can come to know there is a way out of trafficking.
  • How did you first become exposed to trafficking?
    As a police officer in the late 90’s, I encountered human trafficking in many different areas and was frustrated by the lack of victim support and lack of resources dedicated to those investigations. Since retiring, I have continued to look for ways to address this issue.
  • What do you wish more people knew about human trafficking?
    Human trafficking can (and does) happen all around us. Many victims are in plain sight.
  • What is your go-to Bible verse for encouragement?
    1 Samuel 17:34-36: But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 
    I figure if David faced the problem of recovering sheep from lions and bears (with his bare hands), what problem would I have that’s more challenging than that? 

 

We look forward to seeing all that Chris will bring to our ministry by serving on our board!

[pdf-embedder url=”https://reclaiming-hope.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/RH-2022-Annual-Report.pdf” title=”RH 2022 Annual Report”]

Attention those who would like to volunteer, but only have evenings open: We have a need for volunteers this month on Wednesday, February 8th. If you would like to volunteer to help with Hope Bag inventory click below.

Volunteer Sign Up
Click here to see our current Hope Bag Needs

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you for being our Prayer Warriors. Please join us in praying for the following this month:
  • For wisdom, discernment, and refreshment for staff and mentors. 
  • May each Survivor overcome their fear so that they can choose healthy friends and activities. May they learn how to be healthy friends to others. 
  • May we provide stability and healing to those in our housing program.
  • Some Mentees struggle with triggers from their past trauma. May they experience healing and hope. 
  • The Super Bowl is February 12th in Glendale, Arizona. The Super Bowl is known to attract human traffickers from well beyond the host states borders. May our Hope Bags bring comfort and peace to each survivor who is rescued. May the local law enforcement be able to put a stop to as much trafficking as possible while keeping potential victims out of the hands of traffickers.
  • We’re training new Mentors this month! May the training confirm their calling to minister to survivors. 

IN THE NEWS AND RESOURCES

IS THE SUPER BOWL THE LARGEST HUMAN TRAFFICKING EVENT IN THE WORLD?
With millions of viewers scheduled to tune in, all eyes re on the host city for the game, but traffickers have their eye on the city, too.

U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY PETE BUTTIGIEG HIGHLIGHTS DEPARTMENT’S WORK TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
The Colorado Human Trafficking Council received third place for its “This is Human Trafficking” campaign proposal to conduct a state-wide campaign to raise awareness through gas stations and convenience stores along the main arteries of I-70 and I-25. 

 

 

Join us in thanking these local Colorado Springs groups for their generosity and support of our ministry!