Rethreaded is part of that effort, building infrastructure that rethreads the lives of survivors and that educates the public so that trafficking cases no longer go unseen.
Specifically, our mission is to harness the power of business, time, and community to create choices for 500 survivors of human trafficking by 2033.
So far, we have given over 75 survivors true choices, with life-giving options to start over again, and we have much more work to do.
In order to get there, we are focusing our attention on three critical areas, where we invite your participation: business, time, and community.
A closer look at Rethreaded’s mission statement
We’ve written a whole blog about the power of choice, which is a key part of our mission statement. Here is a high-level summary.
To have a choice is to have true options to choose from. Selecting between two dangerous options isn’t a choice, it’s a reaction to painful circumstances.
Many of the survivors who enter trafficking do so because of a lack of good options. Then, when they’re manipulated into increasingly dangerous situations, any “good” options they once had disappear.
That’s why we want our survivors to choose the education, career development, counseling, family restoration, and spiritual and emotional healing that is best for them.
In other words, we want them to exercise their freedom to choose, a thread at a time, how to rebuild their lives.
Unleashing the power of business
Rethreaded uniquely harnesses the power of business in two ways.
- Rethreaded, though a non-profit organization, is also a business that produces and sells goods.
- We invite local businesses to purchase our items as corporate gifts, to donate materials we can upcycle, and to make financial contributions.
Though human trafficking is a business, the same system of buying and selling can be rethreaded for good.
Our process isn’t just about emotional rehabilitation; our survivors get involved directly in jobs with Rethreaded that build their professional skills for the next opportunity.
We match our survivors with roles on Rethreaded’s administration or production teams, both developing her skills and contributing to our sales which, combined with our donations, enable us to create and maintain a healthy work environment where lives are transformed.Additionally, we offer local businesses opportunities beyond writing checks. While we always welcome financial donations, we also create Corporate Gifts of Hope, which you can customize for your employees, colleagues, or even customers.
For instance, Tansy Moon is a realtor with Berkshire Hathaway. Every time a client closes on a property, she creates a closing gift with us. Here’s what Tansy has to say about her gifts of hope:
“Giving a closing gift from Rethreaded is not just a closing gift but is like giving an extension of myself and what I stand for. I don’t want to be an average REALTOR. I want to make a difference. Rethreaded is part of what makes me a REALTOR with purpose.” – Tansy Moon, Berkshire Hathaway
Gifts of Hope are a way to not only make another transaction, but to make a life-altering investment in the lives of our survivors.
Harnessing our time for good
There’s never enough time for everything which any of us has to get done. And yet, a few hours from each of us means days–or even weeks–of collective time to make a difference. At Rethreaded, we welcome volunteers who can commit to spending more time with us, but we also appreciate those who can only give a few hours. Every moment of your time can be transformational for our survivors.
In addition to volunteering, you can also make a difference by choosing to “rethread” your time. Instead of shopping on Amazon for gifts, consider driving down to our storefront and purchasing from our selection of products. By doing so, you not only support our mission but also contribute to the healing journey of our survivors.
In either case, the difference-maker is intentionality; each of us can stop to think about the time we have, and how we can maximize it for the good of others.
When hundreds of us make small changes in how we spend our time and resources, we can collectively transform our city and the lives of our survivors. At Rethreaded, we recognize that healing and transformation take time, which is why we offer a 3-5 year program to support survivors as they navigate their journey toward restoration. Harnessing the power of time for good means recognizing that every moment counts and that together, we can create a better future for everyone.
Creating a transformational community
One of the largest risk factors for human trafficking is isolation. That’s why we emphasize the power of community, both in our efforts to rethread survivors’ lives and in our overall support of a better, safer city.
If Jacksonville is going to be a place where traffickers realize they’re wasting their time, then it will be because hotel owners, convenience store employees, truck stop staff, major events teams, emergency responders, social workers, and ordinary citizens all catch a vision for a stronger community, where people look out for each other.
Our hope is not only to make our Campus of Hope a place for survivors to build a sustaining community, but it’s also to encourage Jacksonville to become a place with minimal homelessness, few kids aging out of foster care, and increased services for the suffering.
But to get there, we need everyone to contribute to rethreading our city. Maybe it’s volunteering with us, joining a giving circle, getting involved with at-risk youth, or helping at shelters for neighbors still searching for their way “home.”
No matter what that next step may be, we hope you will be part of the larger effort to rethread our community, one relationship at a time, until it’s a place where everyone has options, even when they’re hurting, to make real and life-giving choices.
Accomplishing that vision will make our mission of reaching 500 women not only possible, but just the beginning.
