Weekly Update

It has been a CRAZY couple of weeks here at ESTN! 

Last week, as you all know, we participated in the Big Payback for the second year in a row. We are so thankful to everyone who got up and gave in the wee hours of the morning and throughout the day. Thanks to you we raised over $26,000 in donations alone!

Last week we also put the finishing touches on our new safe house. Monday our first survivor moved in and another joined her later in the week. We are so grateful to our anonymous donors who made this dream a reality for us and those we serve. The three residents are getting along beautifully, supporting each other and when asked if they like the place said, almost in sync and loudly, "We LOVE it!"

Other events at the office included:

These are the hands of one of our survivors as she makes jewelry with her new internship thanks to BRANDED.

• A visit from our recent college grad survivor with surprise news that she not only has a job but also has new housing with fully paid room and board! So proud of the great work she has done and where she is now!
   
• A surprise pop-in from Wade Munday of the TN Justice for Our Neighbors who wanted to meet our staff and let us know they will be taking on the task of getting visas for 6 male labor trafficking survivors we referred to them!
   
• Two of our survivors continued their interning with BRANDED (a.k.a. the new and improved t-615). Another three met with Jobs for Life and worked on furthering their career skills and confidence.
   
• Karen hosted another volunteer training session at our office Wednesday afternoon. Looked like a great group of people ready to help bring awareness to their communities and further our mission!
   
• A new summer intern started with ESTN – Emma Denley. She's' already spent a day babysitting a survivor’s child and helping Karen with her latest training session. She will be shadowing our direct services team as they serve survivors throughout the coming weeks.

And if you haven’t checked it out yet, now that you’re here, take a look around at the amazing work of Marcus dePaula and his revamp of our website! He puts the “master” in webmaster for sure!