The Rotary Club of Brookhaven was successful in securing two grants at the District level for 2019.
According to a 2015 report from the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Atlanta ranked second in per capita hotline calls seeking help for human trafficking. This is an issue that has garnered attention from every level of state and local government in Georgia, including from Brookhaven Rotary Club member and Brookhaven Police Chief Gary Yandura.
Trafficking is a $290 million enterprise in Atlanta; the scale of the problem is such that, although many agencies are attempting to address the problem, funds are simply not available to meet all needs.
Georgia Cares served 789 young victims of trafficking in 2018. Per the organization's website (http://www.gacares.org/who-we-are.html), "Georgia Cares is the single, statewide coordinating agency to connect services and treatment care for victims." Georgia Cares seeks to educate the public about the problem of trafficking and to coordinate interventions and services for young victims of trafficking. Georgia Cares identified as its need a high-speed, high-capacity printer for its Outreach Program, and we will be able to fund that need for the agency with the $2,000 District Grant we received for the 2019-20 year.
Out of Darkness, a program of the Atlanta Dream Center, provides what is surely one of the most expensive and critical needs for victims of trafficking: a residential haven where victims can safely recover from trauma, learn skills and strategies and transition to a life free from trafficking. Organizations often struggle to find angels to fund such mundane but critical needs as laundry equipment, refrigerators and dishwashers, and yet residential facilities clearly cannot operate without them. The new safe home that Out of Darkness is opening is in need of precisely this support. The Brookhaven Rotary Club was successful in securing a $10,000 District Competitive Grant to fund this need for Out of Darkness.