It’s encouraging and fun to see our Reclaiming Hope family continue to grow! Please join me in welcoming Connie Stauffer, our new Survivor Care Manager, to the team! 

In her role, Connie will contribute to Reclaiming Hope’s successful Mentor Program, provide leadership for Mentors and Mentees and assist the Director of Survivor Care in planning events and trainings. She says, “This mission provides the opportunity to share my heartfelt passion and 20 years in victim services and trauma/crisis response, walking alongside Survivors of crime and human trafficking, with Mentors. My goal is to equip them by providing encouragement, support and healthy boundaries in order to meet Survivors where they are at and to provide empowerment to restore and bring renewed hope.”  

Connie has had the honor to serve Victims and Survivors of crime in numerous states. She was born in Utah and has journeyed with her husband of 50 years and been blessed with two daughters and two
beautiful precious granddaughters. Connie first encountered the traumatic effects of labor trafficking in the San Francisco Bay area while working as a victim advocate in a domestic violence shelter for women and children, where she provided case management support for a Survivor of sexual human trafficking. That case allowed her to witness this woman’s complete fragmentation between sense-of-self and identity. 

Since then, Connie has 20 years of experience in victim services, law enforcement advocacy for Survivors of sexual exploitation and trafficking and various Colorado Human Trafficking task forces. Connie also had the honor to serve and walk alongside four juvenile Survivors as a Child Care Worker/Crisis Counselor in the Restore Innocence Wildflower Ranch Residential Program.

When asked a few questions, she shared more about her goals for Reclaiming Hope and the Survivors we all impact: 

1. What do you wish more people knew about human trafficking? 
  • I have a very strong passion to do outreach to the community and to educate every parent and child on what is happening. It’s important for them to know that no child will escape the exposure and possibilities for sexual exploitation. The community needs to understand and know how real and prevalent it is and the true reality that it can happen to anyone.  

2. Why is Reclaiming Hope so important? 
  • Reclaiming Hope continues to serve first responders, as they rescue those who have been victimized, by providing Hope Bags. I believe it is not only a valuable service for FBI and law enforcement, but that it is the beginning of our outreach to show Survivors that someone cares — and to provide insight into a possible “new tomorrow.”  The mission of Reclaiming Hope is vital in its excellent growing program to serve Survivors with a Mentor to walk alongside a mentee, as they rediscover their lost sense of being and importance and to restore their soul, bringing empowerment and hope. 

3. What’s one thing you’d like people to know about you? 
  • My hope is to continue to honor God and be a Faithful Servant amidst my true unworthiness. That He will shine through all my weaknesses to bring His Love, Light and Hope to all that He brings forth in my presence. That all will see Him and not me

4. What is your go-to bible verse for encouragement? 
  • There are so many that have brought solace, peace and restoration to my soul as I journey in Faith. At this moment in time, I find renewal in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”    

We are beyond excited for Connie to extend her heartfelt passion to serve and equip Survivors and Mentors in this role. Don’t hesitate to introduce yourself over email or in-person at our Annual Fundraising Dinner. Two Survivors will share their testimonies with us that evening and tickets will go on sale soon. Save the date! We hope to see you there on Sept. 18, 2022, from 5-8 p.m. 

In prayers and in Christ, 
Sues Hess
Executive Director

IN THE NEWS AND RESOURCES

TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT 2022 PUBLISHED
The United States ranks as a Tier 1 in the report. Below are some items we’re doing right; yet, there is always room for improvement. What is being done well: 

  • Increasing the number of victims served by federal grantees
  • Passing laws that prohibit federal law enforcement officers from engaging in a sexual act or contact with anyone in their custody and raising the penalty for doing so for law enforcement officers at any level of government
  • Increasing enforcement of the prohibition of imports made wholly or in part by forced labor.
Areas for improvement:
  • Survivors continued to be arrested for the unlawful acts traffickers compelled them to commit, and some victim witnesses did not receive needed protections during their case.
  • There was a continued lack of progress to comprehensively address labor trafficking in the United States, including efforts to identify victims, provide them specialized services, and hold labor traffickers, including contractors and recruiters, accountable.
  • The government continued not to mandate human trafficking screening for all foreign national adults in immigration detention or custody and did not screen for trafficking indicators among the people it removed.
  • Advocates continued to report concerns that trafficking survivors were held in immigration detention and that the government’s policy to return to Mexico certain individuals from the Western Hemisphere, while their U.S. removal proceedings were pending, exacerbated their vulnerability to human trafficking.

PRAYER REQUESTS

Thank you for being our prayer warriors! We post our Monthly Prayer Calendar on our website for easy downloading: Reclaiming Hope – Reclaiming Hope (reclaiming-hope.org) (near the bottom of the page). Please join us in praying for the following this month:
  • Ask the Lord to bless and strengthen each Victim Advocate/Specialist we ship our Hope Bags to; may they find rest in their down time. And may they stay safe while working.
  • Pray for the connections listed on our Survivor Resource List to help Survivors find the services they need.
  • May the Lord bless all who sacrificially give to support our ministry. We are grateful for each person who walks with us.
  • Some Mentees struggle with triggers from their past trauma. May they experience healing and hope. And may they sleep peacefully, free from concerns.
  • Ask the Lord to bring rest to Survivors, “Come to me, all you are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28

SAVE THE DATE FOR SEPT. 18, 2022

Our Reclaiming Hope Annual Fund-raising Dinner will be Sunday, September 18 from 5-8 p.m. It will be at The Brandt Barn, 11030 Holmes Road, South. We will have tickets for sale within a week! Save the date! 

We are grateful for the following sponsors to help us make this event possible:      

THANK YOU

Reclaiming Hope can only meet the needs of Survivors as our community equips us to do so. We are grateful for each person who helps – through donations for our mentees, our Hope Bags, and financial donations, and by volunteering.

We’ve had the unique blessing of receiving (lightly used) office furniture from Biblica, the International Society, and the Association of Christian Schools International. Wow. Our office has taken on a whole new look! Drop by sometime to see!

Thanks to all of the groups who regularly drop by with donations and come and volunteer. Fox 21 news, Peak Producers, Women World Changers, and so many others. We couldn’t have the impact that we do without you. Thank you.

And we’re grateful for the following groups and organizations that have worked with us in the last few months! Thank you!