A note from the President of the Board of Directors-
It’s us again—your faithful friends at Allies! Today, we are sharing our hearts and thanking you for all you have done for us and with us this year! We are so grateful for your partnership. And if you are not familiar with Allies, we are thankful you are reading this!
It’s never easy to ask for support, donations, and charitable contributions. None of us like to do it. It isn’t easy for me as President of the Board of Directors nor for Jessica Evans, our Founder & Executive Director. We would much rather share about the amazing girls and young women we serve; we could do that all day, every day. We would rather paint you a beautiful picture with our words about the great things we see happening in their lives. I would rather share with you how mentoring two of the loveliest people I have ever met helped to heal me too. Serving them helped me to be a better me, to show up in ways I’ve previously been unable to and give unconditionally. Their journeys are sacred and I am honored beyond words to walk alongside them.
When I’m wrong, I admit it. And I’ve been wrong. I thought I knew so much about exploitation and human trafficking because I am a survivor of childhood exploitation and trafficking. I had so much to learn. I needed our trauma-informed training to teach me how to be the best mentor I can. I needed mentorship coaches to remind me gently and kindly that I can desire a better life for the girls I mentor but I can’t want it more than the mentees themselves. They taught me about dignity in risk and how I can support these amazing girls while also allowing them space to make those risky moves we all get to take in life.
Recently I’ve been joining our group that visits a residential facility one Saturday a month. To be incredibly vulnerable and transparent, being in that facility makes me want to literally come out of my own skin. I hide it well. In the moment, I interact with the girls there. I talk, laugh, help them with their make-up. I tell them all good things about themselves and look them in the eye while swallowing the lump in my own throat. Our visits aren’t meant to be serious or somber. It’s a time to laugh and forget…as if that’s possible…that they are in this place. But I’m telling you, when I see the scars (I mean large, scary, deep scars) our girls have from cutting themselves just to get some relief from the inner pain they have endured, it does something to my heart. Something that feels like it’s ripping into pieces—it is scary and feels like hopelessness. Then, I go home, I lay on the floor of my closet, recover, and get up and go. I keep pursuing, serving, and giving alongside the amazing staff and leadership at Allies because I believe we are bringing hope back. We are reviving hope. We are driving our efforts and energies to bring back hope through our programs!
And therefore we ask, if you are considering giving on the upcoming Giving Tuesday, November 30th, would you consider Allies, Inc.? We need you. We need continued support and donations so that we can keep bringing hope to girls who need it the most.
I realize this is not how a traditional letter from the President of the board typically reads. However, you will receive a data update in our annual report which goes out to each donor. 2021 has seen our programs running strong and provided the vision and path to packaging our mentorship program to offer for use at other organizations with similar missions as Allies across the county. Much like the program My Life, My Choice, which Allies leverages to educate girls about choices they have around recovery, we will package, market, and train others on the mentorship program we founded to be wildly successful, to bring hope to the thousands more we cannot directly serve. Again, look for more informative data coming in our annual report.
It has been my utmost honor to serve as President of the Board for 2021. No pinnacle of success I reach could compare. I thank all of you who were on this journey with me. Please join me in this fundraising effort to help Allies end the year on a high note.
From my heart with gratitude,
Mandy Long
