{"id":115192,"date":"2025-12-31T17:39:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/115192\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T17:39:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T17:39:46","slug":"where-bay-area-human-trafficking-survivors-turn-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/115192\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Bay Area human trafficking survivors turn for help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Share<\/a>HAYWARD \u2014 In the mid-2010s, a woman known as Tish was trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of human trafficking, her exploiter keeping her young son hostage so she would do his bidding throughout each day and night.<\/p>\n

Tish had one advantage \u2014 her attention to detail. She silently kept track of his routine and came up with a plan to escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe left me alone with (my son) for three hours, so I knew I would have that small window to work with,\u201d she said in a recent interview. When the opportunity came, she said, \u201cI took my son and whatever I could carry, and I started walking.\u201d She also slipped a note to her neighbor, who helped Tish put some distance between herself and the man who\u2019d kept her under his control for years.<\/p>\n

That was the first day of a process that led Tish out of the Central Valley to the Bay Area, where she found refuge through a nonprofit called Love Never Fails<\/a>. In Love Never Fails, Tish found stability through a brand-new residence for trafficking survivors, then started spending time at its East Bay offices.<\/p>\n

She was sorting items by color in the backroom when the organization\u2019s executive director, Vanessa Russell, approached her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018You know, Tish, I think you\u2019re an engineer,\u2019\u2009\u201d Russell recalled in a recent interview. She was right. Today, Tish works in Silicon Valley as a network engineer for Cisco Systems, after graduating at the top of her class in a tech academy run by Love Never Fails.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t see myself doing something like this at all \u2014 my esteem just wasn\u2019t there yet. So having Vanessa see that potential in me before I even saw it, that opportunity was special,\u201d Tish said.<\/p>\n

\"Tish,Tish, who went through the Love Never Fails’ ITbiz Tech Academy after escaping her trafficker, works at Cisco in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based in Hayward but with offices all over the Bay Area, the organization is dedicated to providing a safe haven and a better life for adult and child trafficking victims.<\/p>\n

Russell founded the organization in 2011, after experiencing the challenges of rescuing someone from trafficking firsthand. At the time, she was a single mom and a \u201ctech nerd,\u201d who worked as a dance instructor teaching kids and young adults. When one student, a 14-year-old girl, stopped showing up to class, Russell didn\u2019t think much of it \u2014 until the girl was brought to her months later by someone who\u2019d found her on International Boulevard in Oakland, \u201cwearing hardly anything,\u201d and in distress.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe began to tell me about all these horrible things that had happened to her \u2014 she\u2019d been raped and beaten and shot at, and all these horrible things,\u201d Russell said. \u201cBut I thought, \u2018I have you now, we\u2019re together, I\u2019m not going to let anyone else hurt you\u2019 \u2014 very kind of naive about human trafficking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took her home that night, and she was back with her trafficker the next day. I was like, \u2018What happened? We weren\u2019t going to go back to this.\u2019 And then I learned about trauma bonding and all the psychological warfare that kids go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s early experience typifies the frustrating work of rescuing victims of human trafficking, which is defined by state law as people either coerced, forced \u2014 or unable to agree given their young age \u2014 into sexual servitude. The dynamics at play are similar to domestic violence, where survivors are often revictimized repeatedly, stigmatized if they cooperate with police, and threatened, beaten and sexually assaulted by pimps and johns. Recent Bay Area cases tell stories of girls who were trafficked by multiple men in quick succession, such as the case of a man who was successfully prosecuted last October for trafficking three girls in Los Angeles, Vallejo and Oakland; all three of the victims had other traffickers who weren\u2019t caught.<\/p>\n

\"LoveLove Never Fails staff member Leanette Guillory-Higuera prays with a young woman along International Boulevard at 15th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to help out involved in sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Up against this phenomenon for the first time, with no prior experience, Russell started to grasp how overwhelmed she was.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my faith really is what came into action. I began to pray about what to do, and in my time of prayer, I felt very strongly that all I needed to do was love her and that would be enough,\u201d Russell said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what I did \u2014 every time she would call, and there were many times, I would just follow the love to tell her what to do or offer help. Eventually, she got out, and one of our volunteers actually adopted her. She graduated from high school with honors. \u2026 She\u2019s doing much, much better in her life.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, Love Never Fails became her life\u2019s work. The organization now assists 10,000 people each year in Northern California, through housing, education, empowerment classes, and one of the toughest parts of the job \u2014 outreach, where volunteers go to homeless camps, high-prostitution neighborhoods and other areas where sexual exploitation happens at higher rates to offer victims a way out. The overwhelming majority of their staff and volunteers are survivors.<\/p>\n

But sometimes the most meaningful measures are also the least quantifiable ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed help in different ways. It wasn\u2019t just somewhere to live. It was emotional, it was physical and it was spiritual as well,\u201d Tish said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a program about housing women or taking people off the street. \u2026 Love Never Fails didn\u2019t just provide a home, they also provided the stability that I needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff members Reyna Flores, Valerie Brown, Leanette Guillory-Higuera and Ray Clark, from left, give out donations along International Boulevard near 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to prevent youth from sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff member Leanette Guillory-Higuera and volunteer Justin Gonzalez do outreach work along International Boulevard near 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to prevent youth from sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff member Leanette Guillory-Higuera talks with a young woman along International Boulevard at 15th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to help out involved in sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff member Valerie Brown, second from right, debriefs and prays with volunteer Justin Gonzalez, left, and staff members Leanette Guillory-Higuera, Reyna Flores and Ray Clark, from left, after they gave out donations along International Boulevard near 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to prevent youth from sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff members Ray Clark and Leanette Guillory-Higuera, from right, give out donations along International Boulevard near 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to prevent youth from sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Tish,<\/p>\n

Tish, who went through the Love Never Fails’ ITbiz Tech Academy after escaping her trafficker, stands at Cisco, a technology company, in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. As a single parent Tish is grateful for her job\u2019s pay and flexibility. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff member Reyna Flores and volunteer Justin Gonzalez, right, give out donations along International Boulevard near 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to prevent youth from sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff members Leanette Guillory-Higuera and Valerie Brown, from left, greet Catarina Vaughn along International Boulevard at 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to help out involved in sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff members Leanette Guillory-Higuera and Valerie Brown, from right, give out donations along International Boulevard at 15th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to help out involved in sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Tish,<\/p>\n

Tish, who went through the Love Never Fails’ ITbiz Tech Academy after escaping her trafficker, works at Cisco, a technology company, in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. As a single parent Tish is grateful for her job\u2019s pay and flexibility. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff members Reyna Flores, Valerie Brown, Leanette Guillory-Higuera, Ray Clark and volunteer Justin Gonzalez, from left, after they gave out donations along International Boulevard near 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to prevent youth from sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\"Love<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff member Leanette Guillory-Higuera prays with others after giving out donations along International Boulevard at 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to help out involved in sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 12<\/p>\n

Love Never Fails staff members Reyna Flores, Valerie Brown, Leanette Guillory-Higuera and Ray Clark, from left, give out donations along International Boulevard near 16th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. The Hayward-based nonprofit was founded in 2011 by Vanessa Russell and aims to prevent youth from sex trafficking. (Jane Tyska\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Share<\/a>
ABOUT SHARE THE SPIRIT<\/p>\n

Share the Spirit is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by the East Bay Times\/Bay Area News Group. Since 1989, Share the Spirit has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.<\/p>\n

HOW TO HELP<\/p>\n

Donations to Love Never Fails<\/a> will help the nonprofit provide 75 teens and adults who are trafficking survivors and vulnerable individuals to access safe, restorative housing and IT workforce training alongside wraparound services like case management, mentoring, therapy and life skills coaching. Goal: $25,000<\/p>\n

HOW TO GIVE<\/p>\n

Donate at sharethespiriteastbay.org\/donate <\/a>or by mail using this form.<\/a> Donations are tax-deductible.<\/p>\n

ONLINE EXTRA<\/p>\n

Read other Share the Spirit stories, view photos and video at sharethespiriteastbay.org.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HAYWARD \u2014 In the mid-2010s, a woman known as Tish was trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[61576,3650,61577,61575,143,145,144,49043,61578],"class_list":["post-115192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-bay-area-human-trafficking","tag-human-trafficking","tag-human-trafficking-support","tag-love-never-fails","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-share-the-spirit","tag-survivor-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}