Beauty From Ashes™ ~ Where Victims Become Over-Comers: 6/16/13

Saturday, June 22, 2013

2013 TIP Report, Grad School, National Training, Horse & Art Camp & More!

2013 TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT:
"Human trafficking is an assault on our most dearly held values of freedom and basic human dignity. American leadership means protecting those values at home and working to advance them around the world." CLICK HERE for full report.

COMPLETION OF GRAD SCHOOL!

It's official, I have completed my final academic course after 3 1/2 years of full time graduate school at Florida Gulf Coast University in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program! And by the grace of God, I've unofficially maintained an overall GPA of 4.0. I currently have my final internship, where I am supervising Advanced Practicum Students, once a week until July 17th and then I am completely done! Graduation is August 4th. I want to thank everyone for your support of me in this huge undertaking! It has enabled Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries rise to another level professionally and I look forward to continuing to implement what I have learned, from my formal education in acquiring a Master of Arts degree, as we plan for 2014.

ART & HORSE CAMP:
We have our first session of Art & Horse Summer Camp July 22-26 and the second session will be August 12-16. We set up the camp to be a fund raiser for our Equine and Art programs. We have 7 underprivileged children (8 y/o - 17 y/o) that are in need of scholarships. Each minor is either a survivor of sex trafficking, the child of a survivor, or a high risk individual. We are seeking individuals, churches, groups, and/or businesses that will be willing to sponsor or co-sponsor these children. For more information, CLICK HERE.

NATIONAL SEX INDUSTRY OUTREACH & AFTERCARE TRAINING:
Back in 2003, I developed a strip club outREACH training and presented it in Indianapolis, IN to attendees from across the nation. Those attendees went back to their states and began doing strip club outREACHes. Over the years we continue to develop the training and began presenting it nation wide to various faith based organizations and churches who took the information back to their communities and developed similar outREACHes and ministries. We watched and provided support as they used our model and began doing their own trainings equipping others to do this unique type of outREACH. In 2010, we received a capacity building grant from the Department of Health and Human Services that enabled us to develop the strip club outREACH manual into a comprehensive, professional, curriculum that expanded outREACHes from strip clubs to include the sex for sale industry in general. The curriculum addresses human trafficking, sex trafficking, mental health challenges, afterCARE, community collaboration, self care, and much more. The 20 module curriculum was written by a professional curriculum writer and the training expanded into 4 days. When I started doing strip club outREACHes in 2003, there were less than 5 faith based organizations world wide doing them, today there are nearly 180! Our next National Sex Industry OutREACH and AfterCARE training is July 17-20 in Fort Myers, FL at Barry University. This year, because we know how crucial self care and balance is, we are including an Equine Escape for all attendees! (We also want all attendees to meet our incredible therapy horses :) We have only 5 seats left. Limited seating. Registration required. For more information and to register,CLICK HERE.

VOLUNTEERS OF THE MONTH:
This month we'd like to recognize a family that has been contributing of their resources and time to BFA for over a year now, Mr. and Mrs. Dwayne Zeigler and their daughter, Haley. The Zeigler's have played a HUGE part in the development of our Equine programs. Karen, also a life coach, has assisted me personally and professionally. Dwayne, with a huge heart to serve, has done everything from installing automatic waterers, fans, lights, sinks, and round pens to coordinating an antique truck for our hay ride, to letting us borrow his truck and the horse trailers anytime we want them. Haley has assisted with baby sitting to doing my hair for magazine photo shoots. Thank you Dwayne, Karen, and Haley for giving to BFA and most of all, our clients who benefit the most from your generosity!

VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR NEEDED:
We are in search of a Volunteer Coordinator whose responsibilities will include handling volunteer applications, screening, interviewing, training, and scheduling. Approximately 3-5 hours a week is required. Please email resume and letter of interest to julie@beautyfromashes.org. No phone calls please.

CURRENT NEEDS:
We need a 6-8 person, wooden picnic table for our Equine & Art Facility! CLICK HERE for our other current needs if you're looking for a way you can partner with Florida's 1st human trafficking, overcomer-led, community, service agency.

FUNDRAISING:
There are many unique and creative ways to support Beauty From Ashes™ if you are passionate about fighting human trafficking and want to partner with us in the work we do. Whether it's a bake sale, car wash, Sunday School class project, golf scramble, percentage of your business sales, or organizing a dinner party, 3-5K run, awareness event, etc., please contact us with your fund raising/awareness ideas today!

DONATIONS: Our program and operational costs are funded through private donations. Please consider giving a tax-deductible gift today. For secure online giving CLICK HERE or send your financial gift to 13300 S. Cleveland Avenue, Suite 56, Fort Myers, FL 33907. Thank you!

MONTHLY PRAYER ALERT: For details of how to pray for us during the month of June, CLICK HERE.

PRAYER REQUESTS: We are honored to pray for you and your families! Please send your prayer requests to prayer@beautyfromashes.org

WEEKLY GLOBAL PRAYER: To meet with intercessors locally, call (239) 939-9218 for location. To join us in spirit from wherever you are and for a prayer guide, CLICK HERE.

Stay up-to-date with the day-to-day operations of Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries and latest news on domestic s*x trafficking by following us on Twitter & like us on our Facebook fanpage.

As the impact of Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries continues to grow, I am amazed at success stories I witness and hear about. This work could not be done without you, our faithful supporters. On behalf of the staff, volunteers, interns, clients, and board, we thank you for partnering with us to reach, rescue, and restore victims of s*xual exploitation, abuse, trafficking.

With sincere appreciation,

Julie Shematz
Founder
Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries
Where Victims Become Over-Comers

"Survivors must be leaders in the development of services, shelter,
and response protocols to s*x trafficking.”
- National Report on Domestic Minor S*x Trafficking

AWARENESS & PREVENTION • REACH & RESCUE • TEACH & DEMONSTRATE • TRAIN &

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