Meet Our Shero – Jasmine

Friends, meet one of our Sheroes!

We first met Jasmine when her friend, Sarah, nominated her for our May 2015 Sheroes Love Flash Mob award. Taken into a life of prostitution when she was only a teenager, Jasmine struggled with abuse, drug addiction, and homelessness. When she decided to get out, her trafficker threatened to kill her if she tried to leave. After years of dangerous, failed attempts, Jasmine finally broke free.

Now, she helps prevent others from going down the same path she did. Jasmine found her calling as a speaker and educator in the anti-trafficking movement. “It’s about changing the culture of how these young girls and women are viewed,” she said. “The average age for a girl to enter this life is 13 or 14 years old. They are promised the world and end up getting beaten and addicted to drugs and forced to sell their bodies. If we see these girls living on the street we’d judge them as drug-addicted prostitutes, but we need to ask, ‘how did they get there and what was their situation?’ Each of those girls has a face and a story to tell.”

Jasmine established “Bags of Hope,” an outreach ministry that distributes bags filled with practical items (socks, shampoo, toothbrush, etc.) to women living on the street. The goal is to not only give a bag, but to also give a message of hope. Jasmine’s bags and mission let women know that they are brave enough to take the steps necessary to leave “the life.”

With money raised during the Sheroes Love Flash Mob, we made a large donation to Jasmine’s ministry, helping her continue her hope-giving work. We also gave Jasmine enough money to take her young family on a much needed family vacation. If you’d like to donate to this healing, uplifting work of Together Rising, please go to https://togetherrising.org/give/.