TEN YEARS OF INTERVENTION AND RESTORATION IN MISSOURI

When NightLight Missouri launched in December 2012, our focus was simple: to reach out to women in the commercial sex industry in our community and remind them they were seen, loved, and valued. For several years, that’s what we faithfully did—month after month, showing up to build trust and relationships.

But we also knew that relationship alone wasn’t enough. Sooner or later, someone would ask for real help to leave exploitation, and we wanted to be ready. We needed a bridge between relationship and tangible services, a way to help women take the courageous step into safety and restoration when they were ready. That bridge began to take shape in the summer of 2015, when two women reached out, both desperate for support. Their stories were unique with different experiences of exploitation and trauma, but both were ready for change.

One of those women was Bailey. After years of abuse and multiple attempts to escape her trafficker, she reached a breaking point. NightLight intervened, helping her to find a safe place for recovery and healing through a long-term residential program specializing in work with trafficking victims and their families. We helped her safely relocate and settle into this program with her son. Together, they could breathe again.

Later, she wrote us these words:

The first time a man came for me, my traffickers told me, “Do whatever he says and you’ll be okay.” From that day on, I became a sex object as the group passed me around. [It was] not the life I wanted for myself. I fought to get away and not be mixed up in that. But when I fought, I was beaten, and my young children were used against me as tools.

A special person helped me with the first step of my escape. Through a few other steps, I am now in the hands of NightLight International. I don’t know anyone who has ever [successfully] left trafficking who wanted to, and I daily thank God that I got out. NightLight has given me a new look on life with a chance to heal and recover, not only physically, but also emotionally from the trauma. In reaching out to us in love, NightLight is helping us breathe again without fear or worry.

Another woman, Alice, followed a different path. She initially reached out to us seeking assistance, and together we began taking steps toward a new beginning. But a short time later, Alice pulled back, and we lost touch. A year later, she reached out again—and this time, she was ready. She wrote us a letter, sharing that she hadn’t been ready for change when we first met, but that now she was and she hoped we’d still be willing to help. We still treasure the words she shared with us later:

I apologize for not trusting you. It is an unbelievable story. I know I remained in denial myself for a long time. You offered help and hope and I was not ready to accept it a year ago. I’m so grateful and praise God that you are still willing to help…. I finally fought my way back.

Alice’s story illustrates what we’ve seen many times since: “rescue” is rarely about a single dramatic moment. More often, it’s about slow and steady relationship, the ability to open doors and offer choices, and the willingness to patiently wait until someone is ready to take those frightening steps forward. We’re so grateful that we built enough initial trust and relationship with Alice that she felt she could reach out a year later, when she finally felt ready to leave her situation and seek healing and a new future.

These two women were a gift to NightLight. They gave us vision. Their courage showed us what intervention (helping those still in exploitation but seeking change) and restoration (walking with those who had left but still needed support) could look like. At first, we were just being faithful with whoever crossed our path. But those early stories became the foundation of the programs we now carry forward. They carried us forward far beyond our initial vision of outreach and relational support.

As we reflect on the last 10 years of providing intervention and restoration services to survivors of trafficking and exploitation in Southwest Missouri, so much has changed! In 2015, we worked diligently to support those two women, not always knowing what to do or how to navigate their situations. Today, ten years later, we’ve served more than 75 women as long-term clients (like Alice) and supported over 140 others (like Bailey) in moments of crisis or transition. Right now, our team is actively walking with 26 women and 1 male client in Southwest Missouri, each on their own unique journey.

Our programs are far more structured than they were in 2015, but our heart remains unchanged. We continue to be guided by the same values:

• Compelled by love

• Serving all victims

• Creative and flexible in programming

• Prioritizing dignity and quality care for survivors

• Avoiding re-exploitation

• Practicing humility, integrity, and partnership

• Taking courageous risks when necessary

It’s a privilege to be invited into the darkest and most painful parts of someone’s story, to sit with them there, and to offer hope for something different. While we provide advocacy, resources, and relationship, these survivors are heroes—choosing daily to work through trauma, step toward healing, and build new futures. What a privilege it is to be a light in the darkness that helps them find their way forward.

We don’t always see how every story ends. Bailey’s path today is unknown, though we pray she and her child found lasting safety. We were a small piece of her story, helping her in a moment of crisis and need, and paving the way for her to get to safety. But Alice’s story continues to unfold before us. Ten years later, she is not only thriving but also giving back. Today she serves as a volunteer and peer advocate, standing alongside other survivors as they begin their own journeys. She encourages, checks in, and cheers them on because she knows firsthand the power of hope.

Her journey has come full circle. What began with tentative trust and small steps forward has grown into a life of restoration, joy, and purpose. That is what holistic restoration can look like. Ten years later, she is part of the vision that she helped to create. And that is the vision we continue to pursue—one story, one life, one step at a time.

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To meet the needs before us and continue saying “yes” to those who are ready to leave exploitation, we launched a campaign earlier this month to raise an additional $12,000 this year. These funds provide for crisis intervention, safe housing, counseling, and daily client needs.

Here’s the encouraging update: So far, you’ve helped us raise just over $1,000—and we’ve also received commitments for an additional $750 in monthly support! Thanks to this growing monthly base, we now only need $6,000 more to close the gap.

Would you help us get there? A one-time gift today can help us continue to provide safety, support, and restoration for survivors in Southwest Missouri.