This summer marks the 20th year of the Trafficking In Persons Report being published by the U.S. government. Always published around the 4th of July, it’s a reminder for those of us who celebrate liberty and independence to use our privileges and power to help those trapped in cycles of oppression: labor and sex trafficking.

This year’s report was distributed in the midst of a global pandemic that has highlighted disparities between those who have access to community support (such as mandatory reporting or healthcare) and those who don’t – disparities that create more room for trafficking to occur. In addition to COVID-19, addiction and trauma bonding were listed as top issues making women, men, girls and boys more vulnerable to trauma and victimization by traffickers.

The top priorities listed in the U.S. section are below, and are ones we’ll continue to track at Reclaiming Hope:

1. Increase investigation and prosecution of labor trafficking cases.
2. Reduce obstacles for victims to appropriately obtain trafficking specific immigration options.
3. Increase the number of trafficking investigations and prosecutions.
4. Increase and diversify efforts to proactively identify potential trafficking victims among populations vulnerable to human trafficking.
5. Increase access to victim services for men, boys, LGBTI individuals, and labor trafficking survivors, and improve access to stable housing for all victims.

As we zoom in even closer on Colorado, we have some exciting news to share! Sues Hess was voted by the board to be Reclaiming Hope’s Executive Director! We’re excited to see how Reclaiming Hope will meet the needs of more human trafficking survivors in our state and beyond under her leadership.

In September, our main office lease is up. We plan on consolidating four different spaces into one – and we need your help! God has provided a potentially great space for our new home, so please pray for discernment as we work through the details.  We are looking for donations of the following:

• Office desk                                                   
• 2-3 office chairs
• Bookshelves
• Couch
• Microwave
• Industrial metal shelving
• End tables and seating for a conference meeting room
• Large industrial fans for the warehouse
• Office cleaning supplies & vacuum
• Kitchen and bathroom supplies
• Fatigue mats to use in the warehouse

Email info@reclaiming-hope.org if you have questions about our new executive director, or if you’re able to help us with donations for our new space.  We can’t wait to invite you to the open house at our new home later this year!

In Christ,
The Reclaiming Hope Team

MEET SUES HESS

A full commitment to advance His Kingdom and equip the Body of Christ to help those who are hurting has shaped Sues’ life. Her ministry activities include:

• Pastor/missionary wife
• Coordinating women’s ministries both in the US (including transitional housing) and abroad
• Globally coordinating emotional/spiritual care following disasters
• Relief and development
• Refugee and trauma issues
• Leadership development
• Teaching ESL and global sports initiatives

She has worked with ministries in Illinois, Texas, Europe and Colorado, including leading a residential program for single moms and their families. As an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, she has served as a deacon and on church committees.

Her first direct exposure to human trafficking was in 1977, when she worked at a Christian youth hostel in the Red Light district in Amsterdam. She has served as a Reclaiming Hope Board member since 2018, and has participated in the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado off and on for 11 years. She has also shared her home with survivors.

Our loving Father comforted her through the abuse of an alcoholic husband and divorce. He provided for her as a single mother of three boys. And he again sustained her through breast cancer and chemotherapy. After being a single mom of 3 sons for 5 years, she married Tom in 2010. She enjoys a thriving marriage and good health.

 PRAYER REQUESTS

Quote from a law enforcement contact: “More than 15 years ago when I was in the field, we had little-to-no resources for the kids and women we worked with. Reclaiming Hope stepped into that gap many years ago.

We are not able to provide you or your team the grand thanks that you all so deserve, but I did want to send a note to thank you for providing a resource that gives dignity and hope.

I look forward to continuing to work with your team. Please extend my thanks to the board members. Something as simple as a hygiene bag has been, for many years, a reminder to our survivors and to us that humanity can be kind, sacrificial, loving and require absolutely nothing in return. To your donors,  their sacrificial giving meets a need that you would never think existed in our country, in our towns, on our streets, for our kids.”

Please pray for:

• Survivors struggling with addiction
• Survivors in dysfunctional relationships which keep them trapped in making poor choices 
• Every survivor who is working through trauma in counseling 
• Every Restoration Bag that is distributed: May each bag be a symbol of hope to survivors and let them know they are loved, valued and thought of often.
• Survivors’ families who are relying on God for peace and strength to band together
• Grace, truth and compassion to be at the center of every mentee/mentor relationship
• God to bless those who financially support us, and ask Him to increase our donor base