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SHINE A LIGHT: Help Us Restore Safety and Hope for Survivors in Michigan
- Across Michigan — and across America — human trafficking is destroying lives in the shadows.
- Most victims are never rescued.
- Many are children.
- A heartbreaking number are trafficked by someone they trusted.
Human trafficking is not happening in far-away places.
It is happening right here in our communities in Michigan.
Often to people who never had a safe adult to turn to.
Hope Against Trafficking exists to change that.
Who We Are:
Hope Against Trafficking provides long-term residential care and wraparound services for adult female survivors of human trafficking.
Our program is different from emergency shelter. We walk with survivors over time, offering:
- Safe, staff-supported homes
- Trauma-informed therapy and mental health care
- Medical and dental support
- Transportation to work, school, and court
- Legal advocacy and case management
- Life-skills education and financial literacy
- Job readiness, employment pathways, and community reintegration
We do not charge survivors for any of this.
Every hour of care is funded by compassionate people in our community who believe that freedom and healing should never depend on a survivor’s ability to pay.
Why We’re Asking for Help Now
- Our program operates entirely through donations. As the need grows, the cost of providing long-term, individualized care has risen sharply:
- Our homes require continuous maintenance and repairs.
- Survivors need ongoing clinical and therapeutic support.
- Our waitlist continues to grow with women who are ready to leave exploitation but have nowhere safe to go.
- We don’t want to tell a survivor “There’s no room.”
- Your support helps us keep the doors open.
What Your Gift Makes Possible
- Sustains our four residential homes and ensures they are fully staffed with trained, trauma-informed professionals
- Provides safe, stable housing for adult women escaping exploitation
- Covers therapy, transportation, medical care, and daily essentials for every resident
- Expands our restorative programming, including new modalities such as sound therapy and music therapy
- Allows us to hire additional staff needed to support our fully occupied bed capacity of 21 residents
- Helps reduce the backlog of survivors waiting for a safe place by increasing resources for additional residents
- Strengthens outreach so we can connect with more survivors who are ready for help
- Amplifies education and prevention efforts to shine a light on trafficking across Michigan
- Offers opportunities for survivors to learn transferable business skills and earn income through our Social Enterprise
- Shines A Light on trafficking in Michigan through education and prevention
Every dollar creates real change for a survivor trying to rebuild her life.
Every gift sends a powerful message: “You are not alone.”
About “Not In My Mitten”
As part of our education and prevention work, Hope Against Trafficking is developing Not In My Mitten — a survivor-led documentary filmed here in Michigan.
This film will:
- Expose how trafficking really happens in our state
- Help families, schools, churches, and communities recognize the warning signs
- Equip businesses, civic groups, and faith communities to respond
- Support advocacy and awareness efforts across Michigan
- We’re not just telling a story. We’re working to save lives.
How You Can Help
- Give what you can — every gift matters.
- Share this campaign with your network.
- Pray, advocate, and speak up where you are.
Not everyone can rescue someone from trafficking.
But everyone can help ensure she never has to go back.
Thank you for standing with us.
Thank you for believing in survivors.
Thank you for Shining A Light.
Hope Against Trafficking
#ShineALight #HopeLivesHere #EndHumanTrafficking
Co-organizers3
Hope Against Trafficking
Beneficiary
Hope Against Trafficking
Co-organizer
Janine Sadaj
Co-organizer