Our news is of thriving not just surviving! As the year comes to an end, first we would like to say a huge thank you to all of you for your support during a very challenging year. While it has been challenging is has actually been a very good year for us in many ways. As a result we are thriving and the survivors are thriving.
To mention just three areas of growth would be:
- More donations. That is more than we have ever received in our 6 years. We cannot get over how generous you have all been to keep us going while our cafes and events struggled to survive. This generosity has not only kept our survivors well cared for but we have been able to increase our services, provide more mental health help and move our school courses online.
- More referrals. As people have been locked in, isolation has increased violence and poor mental health, the need for our work has increased. We have almost doubled the number of survivors in our care this year.
- More recognition. Both of the above has increased the awareness of the work we do and as a result we have been more recognised in human rights circles and invited onto some incredible ‘tables of influence’. This is giving us a voice to fulfil the third part of our mission of ‘partnering to end global modern slavery’. We are very excited for expanding our mission in 2021, but we will tell you more about this in January.
Survivors Thriving in Life
So in November/December our classes have continued both face to face and online. Our Work Ready course has seen one client have her first interview ever. And she has now been asked to come back for a trial!
During our 16Days of Freedom Campaign we interviewed a number of survivors to get feedback on the impact of doing our courses and here is one incredible quote:
“I owe it all to the team at The Freedom Hub. They have helped me so much. I came to Sydney, Australia with nothing. And now, I have a lot and that is something money cannot buy which are people who care about me, people who want to help me succeed and people who want me to love myself. Many thanks to The Freedom Hub and all they continue to do for me. I will not think twice about recommending The Freedom Hub to others as I know it can be life-changing for them as it was for me…”
If you would like to read more quotes about what their hopes and dreams are for the future, read this blog.
16 Days of Freedom
From 25th of November to 10th of December we ran our #16daysoffreedom campaign. This was a huge success raising awareness about modern slavery and the freedom survivors find through the Freedom Hub. Every day for 16 days we told another story or highlighted more facts about this issue. If you missed the campaign and would like to read some of the articles click here.
Survivor School 2021
We are re-launching our volunteer program for 2021. We will be creating volunteer teams in local areas, cities and corporates all over Australia. The goal will be to have a teams of 3 to 6. Each volunteer will have a specific roles to fill within the team. If you are interested and would like to see the position descriptions please contact us here.