3 Familiar Faces in an Unexpected Place

Recently, Ked was in Florida with the Safe Places Miami team doing outreach at a motel when he encountered three women our team had previously met here in Denver on Colfax. We know that women who are being trafficked and exploited are often moved from one city to another, but there is something sobering about seeing that reality firsthand. These were women we had talked with and cared for here in Colorado, and then more than 2,000 miles away, there they were again.

It reminded me just how important it is that we keep showing up.

Since we began outreach on October 16 of last year, our team has encountered 1,136 women. In August alone, we met 147 women on Colfax and another 34 through our outreach in local clubs. The numbers are shocking.

Every one represents a real woman with a full life of experiences. These are daughters, sisters, and mothers experiencing exploitation and abuse. Sometimes we have just a few minutes with her. Other times, we see her over and over again and slowly begin to build a relationship. We bring food and outreach bags, learn names, listen, pray, and make sure they know how to reach us: for coffee, lunch, and ultimately for an introduction to the life-changing work of Jesus and a new life without trafficking.

We can't control when that day will come. What we can do is make sure someone is there when it does.

And because you support Safe Places, you are helping make sure we can keep being there.

Your generosity allows our teams to return to Colfax week after week. It makes it possible for us to go into local clubs and meet women in an environment where very few people are showing up simply to care about them. It supports us as we offer more and more women the same message: you are seen, you are loved, and there is help available when you are ready.

This week, we are also welcomed another woman into our Safe Home. She is our fifth resident, which means every bed will once again be full. I am incredibly thankful for that, because it means five women have a safe place to live while they do the hard work of rebuilding their lives. At the same time, I know there will be another woman who needs us after her.

This is why outreach and long-term care have to go hand in hand. We want to meet women right where they are, even when they aren't ready to leave. We want to earn trust over time and continue showing up without demanding anything from them. Then, when a woman decides she is ready for something different, we want to be prepared to walk with her into what comes next.

You help make both sides of that possible.

Thank you for recognizing that trafficking is something we cannot ignore. Thank you for believing that these women are worth pursuing, even before they are ready to change their circumstances. Your support means we can continue meeting women right where they are and loving them in a way that reflects the heart of Jesus.

There are women on Colfax today whom we haven't met yet. There are women in clubs and motels whom our teams will meet in the weeks ahead. Somewhere among them is a woman who will eventually walk through the doors of our home.

Because of you, we can keep showing up until she is ready.

Thank you for being part of this work. I am deeply grateful for your partnership and for the way you continue to stand with these women.