Survivors Need Your Support Now More Than Ever
Dear friends,
At Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center (STAC), we want everyone to know how to help human trafficking survivors, who need support now more than ever. The sad reality is that trafficking doesn’t stop in times of crisis. Traffickers use these circumstances to prey upon the vulnerable. Please stand with survivors of human trafficking and make a gift to STAC.
Human trafficking survivors could now find escaping their situations more difficult due to COVID-19. In addition, this pandemic is creating economic hardships that will make many more people vulnerable to both sex and labor trafficking.
Although staying home is the best way to keep everyone safe, isolation increases vulnerability. Children are not attending school, where teachers can observe them and report suspected abuse or trafficking. Many people, especially low-wage earners such as dishwashers, housekeepers, agricultural workers and day laborers are losing jobs or are being exploited and forced to work in unsafe conditions. The need for support is only going to increase in the months ahead.
STAC, like many organizations, had to postpone our largest fundraiser: Imagining Freedom Culinary Tasting and Marketplace. Although we hope that we can have this event in the fall, we don’t know what the future will bring. We need funds now to provide assistance to survivors and community education.
Thanks to you, we are still supporting survivors and providing training to help people identify and prevent trafficking, but more survivors need our help. Just the other day, our Victim Assistance Director responded to a survivor at a healthcare facility. Healthcare staff attended a STAC training and so knew what to do and contacted us. We helped this survivor access housing, supplies, and food and connect with other services – so for now, this survivor is safe, and STAC will continue to provide support.
Although social distancing is our new reality, STAC is continuing community education and awareness. We’re transitioning our trainings, offered from 1 to 3 p.m. on the third Friday of every month, to online and seeking new ways to connect with our community.
Your gifts make survivor support and community education possible!
Please know that we are thinking about you and your families. We hope that you are staying well and trust that you are finding new ways to engage and connect. Even though the days ahead will be challenging, we will make it through together, because only together can we continue to stand with survivors and end human trafficking!
In solidarity and hope,
The STAC Staff and Board of Directors
P.S. Your gift of any amount will help. Make a donation today or send a check to Survive and Thrive Advocacy Center, P.O. Box 13898, Tallahassee, FL 32317.