Love’s Arm is registered as the region’s first resource for victims of sex trafficking and addiction seeking help. This Sunday from 7-9 p.m., Love’s Arm will host the Lights On Campaign via Facebook Live. The event allows donors to sponsor “a day of healing” by covering the costs of what it takes to run Love’s Arm and its residential home, Rahab’s Rest, for one day.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions their one and only annual fundraiser was canceled, so the event has gone virtual. Donors can text-to-give: LALIGHTSON to 44-321 or donate through lovesarmoutreach.org/donate.
Founded in 2005 by Mimi Nikkel while she was teaching at a detention facility, Love’s Arm sends an outreach team throughout Chattanooga and north Georgia to intentionally engage and foster relationships in the streets, strip clubs and motels with victims of sex trafficking. Once a week, these outreach volunteers go to these communities and do three things: introduce themselves, offer a bag of hygiene supplies and offer prayer. Many of the volunteers are survivors themselves so they are able to offer a level of support and encouragement few else can.
“Through Love’s Arm, these women learn to love themselves again and have care about their bodies and their health,” said sex trafficking survivor Karen Smith. “I never knew I had value and worth and what love meant. When I see these women figure out what love really is and that they do have value and worth, the light comes back in their eyes. And it’s the biggest blessing in the world.”
Transition into recovery through Love’s Arm includes trauma-informed care, mental health services, healthcare services and a residential home called Rahab’s Rest. Rahab’s Rest is a cost-free, 24-month recovery home for women exiting sex trafficking and addiction.
Love’s Arm announces the corporate sponsors of the Lights On Campaign are RSS Insurance, Angela Larkins Attorney at Law, Certus Mechanical Heating & Air and Hardwick & Sons Funeral Home.