Space for Growth

The worldwide human trafficking industry makes over 32 billion dollars yearly, which equals $87,000,000 per day. Sex trafficking is part of this global problem. Over 800,000 people are trafficked every year for this purpose, 80% of which are women and young girls.

This is not a problem that is going away. Sex trafficking does not just occur in impoverished countries but also here in the United States. In the U.S., the average age of girls being forced into prostitution is between the ages of 12-14. Our purpose is to oppose sex trafficking and financially support organizations who rescue, restore, and engage various resources to help prevent future enslavement. Stripes, a branch of Living Hope Ministries Today, exists to help financially support these organizations and to engage those in our community to become involved by purchasing a rug or donating needed resources.  We use our clothing donations to create hand woven rugs and donate a large portion of our proceeds to She is Safe and International Justice Mission.

We began our journey three years ago weaving rugs on our kitchen counter top. In our first year we attended several craft and vendor shows. Though we did not make many sales, we did begin to make connections with people and get our mission and story out in the community. In the time that has passed, we have moved weaving from our kitchen to our basement, which is now too full to function adequately. We attend a few vendor shows each year and have been blessed with generous donations of used clothing. We have also been able to offer a few workshops in order to educate on the injustice of sex trafficking. By recycling used clothing, we demonstrate that even things that appear to be useless and ready for the trash can be made into beautiful and purposeful treasures.

Our goal is to eventually have a storefront where we can sell our rugs and offer shopping with a purpose. For now, we need a new space that would allow us to house our donations, weave rugs, hold workshops, and sell our product.  Our production has decreased and our need for a larger space is critical. We would like to build a workshop onsite where we can increase our production of rugs and get the much needed space to hold workshops and promote our mission.

It will cost $10,000 for the structure that we wish to make into our workshop. We desire to have the structure in place by the end of July, 2017. We are asking you to join our efforts and contribute financially toward the cost of this much-needed space to further our ministry.

Please consider a generous donation and become part of our effort in the stand against sex trafficking.