I served at Franciscan Peacemakers. Franciscan Peacemakers is a community outreach program that strives to aid women with difficult pasts. Some of the women I encountered were involved in prostitution and human trafficking.

Their program supports them in two ways: First, through their hospitality center, which is open during the day. Women may come into the center and receive bag lunches, hygiene kits, clothes, and coffee. The other way is through their Claire Community. This program allows women who are 90 days sober from all substances to apply for a two-year housing program that provides them with a job working in the production center, making all of the wonderful soaps, lotions, and bath bombs we have seen at our Saint Nick’s market here at DSHA.

Going into this experience, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew vaguely what the Franciscan Peacemakers provided for their community. But looking back on my first day walking in, I was incredibly naive about just how much of an impact they have on their community of women. I realized this impact during my first outreach trip. How outreach works is that two women who work at Franciscan Peacemakers, and occasionally volunteers, drive around in a van and try to find women who they know were involved in human trafficking and give them their basic needs, such as food and clothing. While we drove around the community, I continued to hear the director of hospitality, Cynthia, call out the names of women who either hadn't come into the center or who she had not served on the streets for a while. The fact that she was not only able to greet those whom we saw on the streets by name and also realize someone's absence is just one of the many ways the women working at Franciscan Peacemakers are able to cultivate the most wonderful community.

The next time I took notice of the community was when women would come into the hospitality center, and Cynthia would ask them how they had been. There was this understanding between them that this was a space to be completely honest. There was never an ounce of judgment coming off of anyone who was working in the hospitality center at the time, just love and an open space to be yourself. Whenever someone shared what was going on in their life, whether it was someone whose items had just been stolen while they were sleeping on the streets, or issues someone had had with a toxic man in their life, there was never a moment of judgment – just acceptance. There was a perception there between the women who would come in and the women who worked there that no matter what happened in their lives, the Franciscan Peacemakers Hospitality Center was a place that they were more than welcome to be, and not just be but where they were accepted and loved, no matter what stage of healing they were at in their journey. There was never any rush for a woman to stop the life she was living. The knowledge that if they needed something, they could come in and be loved and accepted was beautiful to see, and I know the women who came in were abundantly grateful for this. 

On my last day, it was shared that it would also unexpectedly be Cynthia's last day, due to a job she had received. As she broke the news to the women, it was evident that they were upset by her departure from the community. One woman said something I will never forget and something that certainly sums up the community that Franciscan Peacemakers have created. She said to Cynthia, “It was never just the bag lunches or the hygiene kits that I came in for, although don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for those as well, but it was the community you created, it was talking to you that I wanted to come in for.”

In her time there, Cythia had managed to make the hospitality center a place where women felt loved and seen in so many different ways. It is so important to have connections with people, and the idea that this woman had relied on Cynthia so deeply, and now she won't see her, was heartbreaking. But I also found so much hope in the love that was created between Cynthia and this woman. So, I encourage all of you to cultivate a loving community wherever you are. Don't take for granted the people around you, especially during your time here at DSHA. 

Take a moment to think about those who surround you and love you every single day, even if it was in small ways, and imagine how you would feel if they were no longer there for you. Unfortunately, this is the reality for so many of the women who suffer from human trafficking: They don't have many people to truly lean on and support them.

So, cultivate your own communities, be a light for everyone around you, and bring hope and love to others. Try to be as open to others as you can, and don't take for granted the people you have around you. If you can, create a community of people around you just as the Franciscan Peacemakers have, one that strives to not only fulfill the basic needs of those around them but also to truly know everyone around them and spread the hope and love of God as they do.