VALLEY FORGE, PA (08/27/09)—American Baptist Women’s Ministries distributed today grants in the amount of $28,341.37 each to six American Baptist-related ministries dedicated to ending human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children, announced Virginia Holmstrom, executive director of AB Women’s Ministries.
Three of the ministries are based in the United States and three are not. The funds were received as contributions by American Baptist Women’s Ministries during its second year of “Break the Chains: Slavery in the 21st Century,” a national mission project and initiative.
Peoria Friendship House of Christian Service, Peoria, IL, received a second year grant to assist its new jewelry making cooperative, a ministry that offers self-sufficiency for Hispanic immigrant women served by this Christian center in National Ministries’ Neighborhood Action Program. In addition to learning to craft jewelry, women in the program are learning English and personal finance, and are gaining self-esteem.
With this grant, Director Barbara Hartnett will expand the program to enroll more at-risk women. Charm bracelets made by women in the “Matthew 25 Jewelry Cooperative” may be purchased at www.peoriafriendshiphouse.org.
BE FREE Transformation Ministries, directed by Rev. Susan Omanson of Sioux Falls, SD, and endorsed by the American Baptist Churches of the Dakotas, received a grant to develop and implement programs to promote awareness of sexual exploitation issues in the U.S. and the world, including training and leading mission exploration teams.
Other components to be funded by the grant include a support system for women released from South Dakota’s Women’s State Prison; transformational life coaching for at-risk women and teens; and resources for community action against trafficking.
NightLight Ministry, directed by Charity Marquis, an American Baptist woman in Los Angeles, CA, will use a second year grant for its expanding outreach ministry. A goal of the organization is to mobilize community members to recognize instances of human trafficking and to take action.
Training and street outreach are integral to this project. NightLight has been a pioneer in organizing direct street outreach to potential trafficking victims in Los Angeles.
The Ghana Baptist Convention received a grant directed through International Ministries to help provide supplies for women and their children at a new training center at Frankadua, Ghana. The center was built by the Convention to provide safe shelter, education, and job training to victims rescued from an illegal sex slavery system in Ghana that entraps more than 2,000 women along the Delta River, according to Rev. Eleazar Ziherambere, Director for African American Mission for International Ministries.
Sarah Chetti, an International Ministries’ missionary in Lebanon, has received a grant from Break the Chains to assist her ministry to women trafficked into Lebanon to work as maids. Many of the women are mistreated, denied basic rights, and violated. Chetti’s ministry involves regular visits to the prison to extend care to and advocacy for those women arrested without documentation.
“Normally I visit between 2 to 4 cells each week,” says Chetti. “Each cell has on average about 60 women. I take food and vitamins. I spend time listening to their stories and sharing God’s Word of hope and comfort. I relay telephone messages for them. They long for Wednesdays to come because that is the day I visit them.”
In Italy, International Ministries missionary Rev. Debbie Kelsey received a grant for her “Woman to Woman” ministry that trains Italian women to tutor immigrant women that have been trafficked into Italy to work as prostitutes. Kelsey’s unique ministry also teaches immigrant women to reach out to their sisters in prostitution, and addresses the demand side of prostitution in a printed resource translated and printed for Italian Baptist churches.
The Break the Chains project has been a catalyst not only in raising funds for ministries working in the area of human trafficking, but also for American Baptist women bringing awareness of this issue into their churches and communities.
“AB women across the country have become advocates for victims without a voice,” said Barbara Anderson, the newly-elected president of American Baptist Women’s Ministries. “We have heard God calling us into action to use our gifts to assist in freeing women and girls from the bondage of their traffickers and we will continue to work together in breaking the chains of human trafficking one link at a time until all women are free.”
A designated portion of the contributions received by American Baptist Women’s Ministries for Break the Chains is being held in reserve for grants to be awarded in 2010 to new ministries that support the purpose of the Break the Chains initiative. American Baptists individuals, church and/or American Baptist-related entities are invited to apply before March 31, 2010.
Grant application guidelines and form are available on AB Women’s Ministries’ Break the Chains website at www.abwmbreakthechains.org.
Since AB Women’s Ministries launched its Break the Chains national mission project in June 2007, more than $400,000 has been given in contributions to the project, far exceeding the initial two-year goal of $250,000.
The mission of American Baptist Women’s Ministries is to provide vision, training and resources for women and girls in American Baptist churches. Its ministries empower women and girls to worship God, grow spiritually, develop their spiritual gifts, care for one another, and reach out to others.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.