The beauty of Christmas is not in the presents
but in His Presence.
Matthew 1:23
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Holiday Message from our CEO... |
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Give Hope This Holiday Season |
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This has been a trying year in so many ways, but we have so much for which to be truly grateful. We successfully merged two organizations! And through the pandemic, our homes have and will remain open to care for survivors every day because of our commitment to our mission to provide sanctuary and a continuum of care to heal, empower and employ women survivors of sex trafficking.
We are thankful to everyone who helped us and contributed to our ability to remain open, and amazingly, grow during the pandemic. We are grateful for staff and leadership and volunteers and donors. We are grateful for YOU. It’s because of YOU and your gifts of time, talent and treasure that women survivors experience freedom and the opportunity to build a new life beyond the violence of their past.
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Giving Back in Memory of their Mom |
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Losing someone we love is an all-too-common part of the human experience. This past year, Cat and Joanna lost their mom, Katie Renner to Covid-19. Katie believed in and supported the mission of Bloom and her five children chose to honor her life and love for Jesus by choosing Bloom as the memorial benefactor. As the gifts came in for the Katie Renner Memorial Fund, the large extended family quickly raised $10,000 to fun the Bangor Transitional Home for its 2nd year, a pilot program started in 2021.
Cat and Joanna are two of Katie's five children and they reached out to our staff a few weeks ago with a desire to honor their mom again by giving the women of Bloom and extra-special Christmas season. These two women have rallied their family and friends to source items on our Bloom Survivor Amazon Christmas Wish List. So far, these two amazing ladies have had the following items donated: a washing machine, a tree and all the trimmings, a new bookcase, lots of new kitchen items, new sheets for all of our homes, six new comforters, and so much more. They have also put together some beautiful baskets for every one of our survivors for Christmas.
Thank you Cat and Joanna! We are blessed to have you as part of our commUNITY!
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Bloom Survivor Christmas Wish List |
The ladies in our homes have put together a list of some gifts they would like for Christmas. As most of the women will be away from their families for the holidays while they pursue healing and recovery, we try to give them a special Christmas. If you would like to be part of that, please consider buying something off of our wish list. |
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Getting in the Holiday Spirit |
We had a second Holiday DIY Centerpiece Workshop on November 18 at The Farm in
Mt. Bethel. Thank you Susan Lubbe of Gardens of Grace by Susan for hosting this amazing event to benefit our women survivors!
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Save the Date: May 7, 2022 |
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Find your finest hats and most stylish bowties and save the date for the second annual Kentucky Derby party hosted by Bloom at the beautiful Petersell 1808 Barn on May 7th, 2022. The event will feature a live broadcast of the derby and bidding on your favorite horse, southern fare, refreshing mint juleps and live music. Please join us to make this fundraiser another successful and fun event! Stay tuned for more details!
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This Christmas month, we are tickled to share the joyous news of how Connie Kirsch’s service and passion for our mission here at Bloom has proven to be an invaluable (and prayer-fueled!) segue to the creation of an exciting new venture she is spearheading in Savannah, Ga.!
Connie began volunteering at The Truth Home (now the Heather House) a couple years ago. She met CEO Carol Andersen in the summer of 2020, when the two organizations began to merge.
“I feel that God has been leading me with breadcrumbs for several years toward the anti-trafficking cause. One day, after my son applied to work for the International Justice Mission, I decided to see if there were any aftercare facilities in the Lehigh Valley. That’s when I found The Truth Home, and it was love at first sight!”
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Thank You for Giving on GivingTuesday! |
Please accept our thanks for all those who contributed to our GivingTuesday campaign. All the gifts are in, and our total was $2,600. Yay! We hope that you enjoyed the videos we shared. We are so very grateful.
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HAPPENING AROUND BLOOM... |
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Big Holiday Sale
December 18-24
15% of all tops and jewelry!
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December 22 at 9 a.m.
Shop with us virtually on
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Volunteers are needed in the boutique on Wednesdays and Thursdays. |
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Love bulbs are here!
Stop in at Bloom to pick up some gifts that give back! Our beautifully packaged Amaryllis bulbs are gifts that make dreams come true for women survivors of trafficking, trauma and addiction! What a great way to share love, hope and beauty this Christmas.
Each potted bulb is wrapped in burlap and tied with a #lovebulb tag - it’s so fun to watch the beauty of this unique flower unfold as the weeks leading to Christmas and the new year pass. These large bulbs will bloom in 4-6 weeks and are $28 each.
Potted by survivors in memory of a girl who loved all things beautiful
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As we welcome new survivors into our homes on a regular basis and are in constant need of restocking essential items for them, we have created an Amazon Wish List. The online list makes it easy for you to pick out items that our survivors need while staying in our homes and have them sent directly to Bloom. All donations are greatly appreciated. We ask that when you make a donation to please include your name in a gift message so that we can properly thank you for your donations. |
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Do you frequently shop on Amazon? Why not make a difference with each of your purchases? Simply choose "Truth For Women" (we are working to update this to Bloom) as your organization of choice on Amazon Smile and a portion of all purchases will be donated to Bloom. |
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Bloom is a faith-based non-profit organization with the mission of providing sanctuary and a continuum of care to heal, empower and employ women survivors of sex trafficking. As part of its mission, Bloom operates a 24-hour care emergency stabilization home, a two-year residential program, and an independent living transitional home in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. In addition, the Bloom Creative Studio, located in Bangor, Pa., is a social enterprise to leverage art as a healing tool and provide employment opportunities for survivors. Bloom also has a women’s upscale, resale boutique, My Sister’s Closet, based in Bethlehem, Pa., provides financial support for the organization.
Bloom
3400 Bath Pike, Suite 103
Bethlehem, PA 18017
610-866-5755
info@bloomforwomen.org
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