Winner Update: The Grateful Garment Project
She ran away from a not-very-nice home environment because she met a really cool guy, who proceeded to groom her into prostitution.
Britney was being trafficked from a motel room by the time she was 15. Her first daughter was born that same year. Life for Britney was motel rooms and two more kids. We don’t know exactly how it happened that she got away from the life, but somehow, Britney and her three children ended up in a shelter. They got clean, brand new clothes and toiletries from the Grateful Garment Project.
Our director, Lisa Blanchard, agreed to help, and was given these few details that I have shared with you tonight about Britney and her family. Normally, we might contribute one or two hundred dollars to help stock an apartment, but something about Britney and her story really touched Lisa, and she went shopping.
Lisa had been told that one of the children had remarked when told about the apartment, “Now I can have my own bed.” That child had never had a bed of her own, a bed that wasn’t used for sex. But now through your gift, the Grateful Garment Project was able to help out and give each of these children and their mom their own bedding. And what did it cost us? Lisa got all these things for Britney’s family for under a thousand dollars.
Recently, they started out a new life with dignity and hope. For the last seven years, the Grateful Garment Project has worked to help restore dignity to victims of sexual violence. We have provided resources for 30 to 50 people every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That’s over 10,000 victims each year in the state of California.
Last year, we distributed nearly 33,000 items in 32 counties in California, through over 75 organizations and agencies. You can tell someone else about the Grateful Garment Project, help spread the word. Special projects like the one I told you about tonight are only part of our mission. Please join with us to help restore dignity to victims of human sexual trafficking like Britney and her children.
