Volunteers Needed

There is a special place in God's heart for those who will set their love on someone else's daughter...

We need volunteers for the Pop-Ups and the Women's Group meetings. Christa, one of our most amazing volunteers, moved to NC!!



If this is something you think you might be interested in, please give me a call or better yet a text or an email!

You just never know...

I got to the Tuesday Pop-Up first, and did my usual thing: picked up trash and began to set up the tent. There was a guy hanging out with friends at the south end of the park who came over and insisted on helping even though his left arm was in a cast! As we got the tent set up, the chairs and refreshments out, I offered him a soda as a way of saying thanks. He accepted, and promptly parked himself in one of the chairs - even though I had already explained it was an outreach to women living on the street...

I suggested he had way too much facial hair to fit the demographic... But there he was, and there he stayed.

Turns out, he was a trafficker. Well, he didn't say it right out... It was just obvious. My guess is that he wanted to know what we were up to - probably wondering if it was safe (as far as his objectives go) to allow his girls to come and get the laundry done.

At first I was annoyed. But then...

LIGHTBULB!!

I realized if I could speak into his life, maybe he would be able to find his way out of the cannibalistic mix of addictions, manipulation, fear, control, and shame that are the realities of life on the street - for both traffickers and the women they market.

Traffickers control through brute force and fear, while the women control through manipulation and emotional subversion. Both are ugly, predatory, destructive and fueled by fear and a scarcity mindset.

Did it work? No idea... But I gave him the gift of dignity, and a glimpse (I hope) of a higher calling for his life.

I will keep you posted if he comes again*... In the meantime, pray for "the Pop-Up Guy!" If he gets free, the four girls he controls will have a window of opportunity to get free as well.

*The Pop-Up Guy dropped by the next week. He button-holed me to let me know he was planning on going to detox and rehab the next week!! So cool!! I gave him my card and suggested he put me down as a case manager - so I could speak with him. Even though most of my resources are for women, I offered to help him anyway I could.

The week after that? He was nowhere to be seen!