Since inception in 2009, REST’s primary aim has been simple: build relationships with people being sexually exploited, learn what their true needs are, and serve as a bridge to critical services and resources. As we discovered that the necessary services either didn’t exist or didn’t work, we committed to building them, always informed by the very people we served. This relationship-first and needs-based model has driven REST’s growth since day one. Underneath all of this is the unwavering belief that every person is made in the image of a beautiful Creator, with inherent dignity and worth, and is undeniably deserving of love.
The founders of REST had been doing outreach as part of their jobs for other social service agencies when they learned from the sexually exploited girls and women they encountered that effective services for sex trade survivors were sorely lacking. Either the services simply didn’t exist, or they struggled to effectively serve exploited individuals who often face extreme levels of PTSD from the violence and trauma inherent in the sex trade.
Then, in 2008, Debra Boyer, a Seattle anthropologist, published a study called “Who Pays the Price?” In it, she detailed the sex trade in Seattle and its impact on our community. Among her findings, three facts stood out. First, between three hundred and five hundred youth were being trafficked in the local sex trade on any given night. Second, essential services such as outreach, case management, and housing were nonexistent or severely under-resourced. And third, girls and young women who wanted to leave the sex trade did not know who to turn to, and did not know who they could trust. This state of affairs was unacceptable. Something had to be done.
In November of 2009, REST was founded with a small volunteer team and a single client. Together, the team set out to provide pathways to freedom, safety, and hope for victims and survivors of the sex trade—not to be saviors or rescuers, but to simply walk alongside survivors as they found their own path to a life free from exploitation. In that first fiscal year, REST served about 45 survivors—in our last fiscal year, we engaged with 785.
In the last decade, REST has grown into a critical local service provider, having engaged with over 2,500 victims and survivors of the sex trade. The survivors we’ve served have achieved thousands of self-identified goals as they’ve pursued their dreams and hopes for the future. As we look back on the last decade, we are deeply encouraged by the countless pathways to freedom, safety, and hope that we’ve had the privilege of walking alongside.
And we know that every single one of those paths toward a life free from exploitation was made possible by countless REST supporters who have given their time, finances, skills, expertise, and prayers. To each and every supporter: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Graph depicts sexually exploited individuals engaged with by REST, 2009–2019
From day one, REST has always sought to fill the gap in services by learning from survivors what they need and creating programs to meet those needs.
We learned that the effects of trauma are deep and long-lasting, so we take a trauma-informed approach in all of our services—and our supporters made that possible.
We learned that homelessness plays a major role in keeping people trapped in the sex trade—so we opened a house, an emergency shelter, and are constantly seeking ways to help survivors find emergency, transitional, and permanent housing solutions—and our supporters made that possible.
We learned that it’s difficult to leave the sex trade—and stabilize and stay out—without a stable job, so this last year we added an Employment Specialist to our team, and in 2020, we’ll be launching the REST Economic and Leadership Empowerment Academy.
As we celebrate the last 10 years of providing pathways to freedom, safety, and hope—we invite you to be a part of the next 10 by becoming a REST Pathmaker with a monthly donation. Your Pathmakers monthly gift will not only help us to launch The REST Academy in 2020, but will help sustain all of our programs through 2020 and beyond.