Building Shelters. Healing Hearts. Restoring Hope. Those outcomes are objectives of supporters for Treasured Vessels Foundation, a nonprofit whose staff provides safe communities that restore survivors of sexual exploitation and help them achieve their true potential.
"We seek justice, dignity and hope. We desire for people to look past brokenness and cracks on the outside to reveal the treasure inside. We provide a long-term safe place for healing and growth to individuals impacted by this type of trauma, including food, shelter, education and emotional care," says Treasured Vessels Foundation Founder/CEO Alicia Bush, who adds a calling was placed on her heart to launch this initiative during 2015 after she discovered the lack of long-term placement for trafficking survivors.
Human trafficking occurs in every country and state, says Alicia, and Texas is ranked No. 2 in the nation for human trafficking calls. According to the Trafficking Institute statistics, 83% of trafficking cases in 2020 started online.
Where People Are Free
As a Texas native, wife, homeschooling mother of three, author and international missionary, Alicia is an active member in the C7 Coalition, North Texas Coalition Against Sex Trafficking, C3ST, Youth Homelessness Committee, Frisco Chamber of Commerce, Plano Chamber of Commerce and the CEO Non-Profit Council.
Alicia says they currently have a lengthy waitlist of survivors. "Once our funding goal has been met, we'll break ground and start building adjacent to our current property. This will increase our bed count to 12-plus beds, hopefully by the end of 2022," she adds.
The foundation assists survivors from Collin, Denton, Dallas, Tarrant and Grayson counties.
Treasured Vessels Foundation staffers also are working to create a property to house up to 80 individuals, and have a goal to launch a community for minors by 2024. The program includes treatment plans, educational support, life skill support and other therapies, such as equine, yoga, gardening, art and music.
Morgann Delaney, TVF marketing manager, says the length of their program is between 12 and 36 months for ages 18-24 years old. "The women within this program have experienced a significant decrease in PTSD, depression and anxiety," she adds.
“Once a woman is recovered, people just kind of put a band-aid on it or pigeonhole her in a substance and alcohol abuse rehab or some sort of other shelter. We really don't have enough specific solutions for an exploited and trafficked woman. We're going to do this right. We're going to do this together as a community,” says Alicia.
In the TVF 2021-2022 Impact Report, Alicia states their goal is to become a lifeline model that can be replicated throughout the United States.
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TreasuredVesselsFoundation.org
