 I remember the year before we launched Created Gainesville like it was yesterday. It was a year full of prayer, learning, and listening. We were eager to soak up every bit of wisdom and knowledge from other organizations like ours while we sat in the tension of grief and the fullness of God’s promises. It was in this year of preparation and profound transformation within each of us that the vision for Created Gainesville was birthed. Although the vision was clear, the path to get there was not. What God downloaded into our hearts has been our guiding force to keep putting one foot in front of the other as long as it takes: "Love women right where they are at and let me do the rest. P.S. Breathe girl, breathe!” “Love women right where they are at and let me do the rest. P.S. Breathe girl, breathe!” Through God’s grace, Created Gainesville has been able to reach over 3,000 women. Our message to survivors is simple but profound: there is a community ready to support them, a God who will always love them, and an exit available from the danger and destruction that consume them. Over 3,000 women have locked eyes with one of our team members and many for the first time in their lives, have felt like someone truly cares about them– no strings attached. Created Gainesville has made it our mission to reach and restore lives impacted by sex trafficking and sexual exploitation and we aim to accomplish this through our 4-prong strategy of outreach, restorative care, youth prevention, and awareness. This year, Created Gainesville experienced an explosion of growth in all 4 of these areas! In 2022, we expanded our restorative care options for women we work with by opening the first home of its kind in not only Alachua County, but for nearly 10 surrounding counties! This home is a safe haven for residents to press pause, rest, discover, and reclaim their lives. With this addition, Created Gainesville now has two restorative care options for survivors, which include Created Care (our non-residential program) and Residential Care. Both programs are designed to be 18-24 months and offer survivors holistic care that includes the following:
For the first time, this year also included a strategic collaboration with the Alachua County School Board. We were not only invited to begin training all of our local guidance counselors, but we were also asked to provide a youth prevention presentation for Eastside High School, Gainesville High School, Buchholz High School, and Santa Fe High School. Through these presentations, over 6,000 students learned the basics of what sex trafficking is, what the signs are, and what they can do if they experience or see something. The students were engaged and inquisitive, and our hope is that we will have more opportunities like these in the upcoming school year. Although progress is being made across all areas of our organization, we know there is more to be done. It is estimated that there are only enough safe beds in our state to serve roughly 10% of survivors. For this reason, we are committed to continuing the growth and development of our programs to include multiple safe homes, each with a specific purpose and meeting the needs of survivors across the span of their journey towards thriving. It is estimated that there are only enough safe beds in our state to serve roughly 10% of survivors. Our vision for the next decade is to add two more residential properties, which will allow us to serve more women with life-changing opportunities. We also aim to provide youth prevention in even more schools, including middle schoolers, who are at the age of greatest vulnerability– the national average age of first trafficking experience is 12-17 years of age! Thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts at Created Gainesville for being a source of hope as you have walked with us and given your time, talents, heart, and resources. I humbly and passionately invite you to champion with us like never before as we walk out the next 10 years of reaching, restoring, advocating, preventing, providing early intervention, and educating our community. There is a seat for you at this beautiful and much-needed table!  Comments are closed.
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