By Lucy McCray | CEO
Hi, friends.
I hope your 2024 is off to a great start. Coming off our end-of-year fundraising, there’s a bit of calm after the storm, so to speak. I’ve taken this bit of quiet time to pause and reflect on where we are and where I think we should head.
The heart of our work is very local, and rooted in community. It’s part of what I love so much about what we do, that personal connection.
But that might seem at odds with the estimated 50 million people being trafficked globally.
That’s why, with 15+ years of experience preventing trafficking to stand on, we are leaning even more into systems change work through partnership.
In the course of our work of protecting individuals, we’ve never worked alone. We collaborate on cases with local government officials, law enforcement, embassy officers, churches, schools, other NGOs, and community service providers.
With the help of a coalition of anti-trafficking organizations that we’re co-leading, we’re leveraging partnerships to create a united force to combat trafficking across the region.
Trafficking now is not the same as it was back in the mid-2000s when we started. We continue to keep on top of recent trends and needs through research and evaluation, to keep ahead of whatever new tricks traffickers might try.
This is just a snapshot of what I’m thinking. If you want to see my vision for 2024 in greater detail, I encourage you to read the full statement on our blog or listen to it on our podcast.
I will admit, there are days where fighting trafficking feels overwhelming. What are we going to do in the face of 50 million currently being exploited?
Yet we encounter stories of hope every day. Hope in the form of a young girl who was groomed and lured by a trafficker that our community was able to bring to safety; or of a young boy who followed a job offer and needed out, and we were able to help bring him home.
Our community is vast, with people from various backgrounds who passionately believe in protecting children — just like you. We're incredibly grateful for the chance to create positive change and for everyone walking this path with us.
We hope our community finds inspiration in both the efforts to help individual children and the efforts to strengthen the broader movement to fight trafficking.
Thank you for being there with us. We couldn’t do this without you.
Yours in hope,
Lucy McCray
CEO
The Freedom Story
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