It has been one year since COVID-19 showed up in Colorado, and our lives have been changed. There’s been increased domestic violence, child abuse and the grip of traffickers on those they control has strengthened. It has also forced many of us into isolation.
As we approach Easter, traditional celebration may still look incredibly different. However, it’s still important to think about the resurrection and what it means to us. N.T. Wright says, “Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project — not to snatch people away from earth to heaven, but to colonize earth with the LIFE of heaven!”
The crux of celebrating Easter should be to recognize our role in passing along Jesus’s joy, hope and defiance with those around us! Let’s ask ourselves, how can I bring the life of heaven to those around me here on earth?
We are asking all of our Reclaiming Hope newsletter readers to consider filling a Restoration Bag this Easter! These are backpacks filled with new items that are sent to law enforcement agencies across the country, and are given to trafficking and/or child abuse victims at the point of intervention and rescue. These bags restore dignity, human-ness and Christ-like hope back into a child’s life.
*IF* every Reclaiming Hope newsletter reader did this, do you realize?! We would have more than 1,200 new bags filled and ready to be given as gifts of prayer, love and revolutionary Easter-like change to girls and boys who need it most!
As you’re out shopping for chocolate or your Easter dinner, thank you for also adding a few extra items to your cart and helping us with our Easter Restoration Bag challenge. Here is the list of items needed for our Restoration Bags.
This leads us directly into honoring National Crime Victims’ Rights Week on April 18-24. This annual week honors survivors in their continued fight for justice and support. Organization Free to Thrive says, “[Due to COVID-19], courts have pushed scheduled hearings months into the future,” negatively impacting victims’ rights. “For victims…, justice delayed will very much be justice denied.”
This year, the Federal Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) is emphasizing the importance of leveraging community support to help victims of crime. With your continued support, Reclaiming Hope will continue helping women, men, girls and boys who survive domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault and other mental, physical and emotional injuries, in order to bring about justice and healing.
In Christ — for He has risen! Happy Easter! Thank you for your support,
Sues Hess
Executive Director
TACKLING PROSTITUTION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN COLORADO SPRINGS
The Pikes Peak region’s multiagency drug and human trafficking task force will expand this year to include two more detectives who can tackle crime across the city and El Paso County, including illegal activity at massage parlors.
ILLICIT SPAS ORDINANCE
The Colorado Springs city council is evaluating options to pass an ordinance that could help the Colorado Springs police department shut down illicit massage parlors.
REDDIT FACES LAWSUIT
One woman is suing Reddit for knowingly benefitting from lax enforcement of its content polices, including for child pornography. She claims that in 2019, an abusive ex-boyfriend posted sexual photos and videos that he’d taken without her knowledge or consent, and has been able to continue doing so under different accounts.
MINDGEEK AND PORNHUB CONGRESS BRIEFING
A Congressional briefing was held to uncover evidence of the criminality of Pornhub, and its parent company MindGeek. After a NYT article was published in December 2020, MindGeek has come under public fire for hosting videos of child sexual abuse.
PRAYER REQUESTS
- Praise for Mentees whose trust, transparency and hope grow over the course of their Mentor relationships!
- One Mentee has started counseling and is thrilled with the support and unconditional acceptance she has received.
- Please join us in praise! We conducted our first Mentor Training in 2021 and are excited about the love and hope these Mentors will provide to those in our mentorship program. Please pray for the new Mentees who will be matched with these Mentors!
- Pray for the families who join our Family Support group seeking healing for their own trauma. If you know of anyone needing this kind of group support, please put them in touch with us.
SPOTLIGHT: NATIONAL MINORITY HEALTH MONTH
April is National Minority Health Month, and this year, the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) is focusing on the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on racial and ethnic minority and American Indian and Alaska Native communities. It’s also important to note: Indigenous people are at a higher risk of human trafficking—including both sex trafficking and labor trafficking—than other diverse populations.
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center reports: “The murder rate of Native women is more than ten times the national average on some reservations. These disappearances or murders are often connected to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and sex trafficking. The intersection of gender-based violence and missing and murdered indigenous women and girls is heavily intertwined.” 
Sharon Swift, a tribal council representative in South Dakota, is bringing a safehouse and shelter to her reservation to address the “state of emergency” across American Indian reservations. Human trafficking is able to thrive alongside isolation, drug trafficking, prostitution and domestic violence. Listen to this Colorado NPR station to gain a fuller understanding of the trafficking crisis in native lands, and why addressing minority health and wellbeing is so important.