The Power of the Trusted World Network 

    An organization committed to empowering sex trafficking survivors weighs in on what it means to be a Trusted World Network partner. “It’s so fulfilling to serve survivors of sex trafficking,” Clara Pouchot is a case manager for Rescue Her. She provides advocacy, case management, and hope. Holding a bag of resources, Pouchot says, “They don’t have much to begin with. So this bag of clothes means so much to them.”

   A bag of basic personal necessities comes with more than just useful goods, Pouchot says. It lets clients know they are not alone and leaves them with an empowering feeling. “There are people that are rooting for them and fighting for them behind the scenes, and that helps them step forward.”

   The resources, she says, help foster a powerful and intangible ingredient to reaching a successful outcome, “It does definitely build trust. They do have their guard up and think that everyone is against them. And then to get something specifically for them is just really empowering for them to say, oh, there are good people out there, and there are people who want to do good by me.” Having a reliable network partner willing to help them meet their client’s most basic needs, Pouchot says, is a very big deal. 

  Holding closely a bag of resources, Pouchot says, “Almost wants to bring like emotion out of me because yea, we don’t meet hardly anybody who’s that responsive, who’s that caring for our survivors as much as we are.”

   Rescue Her received nearly $3,000.00 of Trusted World resources in 2022; during that time, Pouchot says her organization helped 102 victims of sex trafficking and believes Trusted World and Rescue Her have a powerhouse partnership that’s transforming lives.   

          An Empowering Volunteer Experience 

  Trusted World volunteers come from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and life experiences. One woman describes her volunteer experience as uplifting despite navigating a myriad of personal trials. “Today has been not only inspirational to give back to the community but it’s been a healing process for me,” says HEB employee Martina Hagler.

   Hagler says her first-time Trusted World volunteer experience reminds her of her impoverished childhood. But she quickly recalls the importance of giving hope, “I have a doctorate degree, right, but I grew up in a seven hundred and seventy-five square foot home; I’m one of fifteen children, so all I got were hand-me-downs.”

  Hagler says the clothes-sorting process at Trusted World gives her strength and clarity. Four months ago, her husband of 27 years passed away. She says, “This helps to bring dignity back to your life, and bringing that dignity gives you the strength to want to move forward.”

  She now plans to donate her husband’s entire wardrobe to Trusted World, saying, “He was a server in our community, and he was all about serving, so I think this would be exactly what he would want.”

  Hagler says that Trusted World’s mission and methodology of addressing situational poverty also gives hope, “Helping people to break that generational poverty gap is critical.”

                        Trusted World Challenge

   Here’s a look at how committed some corporations are by sending volunteers to compete in the Annual Trusted World Volunteer Challenge, helping to make an even greater impact in North Texas communities. 

   In first place is Texas Instruments, with 599 volunteer hours. Triple A – Texas is in second place with 401 hours, followed by State Farm in third with 364 volunteer hours. The Credit Union of Texas is in fourth place, followed by Deloitte in fifth. 

   State Farm leads in the number of volunteer visits with ten, followed by AAA-Texas with eight. TI is in third place with six visits, followed by CUTX and Grant Thornton with three volunteer visits each. 

   From January through the end of August, volunteers helped create resources valued at $1.108,759.04, helping almost 10,988 hundred North Texans.  

                            Make a Difference

   If you’d like to help make a difference, go to TrustedWorld.org, click on volunteer experiences, and sign up. If you’d like to explore other ways to help, you can go to the same website, and under the ways to give link, click on needs to find the items the Network most needs. For clothing donations, one of our key sponsors, the Credit Union of Texas, has donation dropoff bins in every one of their North Texas branches. Next to the bin is a banner with a QR code if you want to donate money.

    You’ll find a complete list of dropoff bin locations on the Trusted World website. That’s what’s going on in and around the Trusted World Network, where you can join us in helping people help people.