Just Like Me Fundraiser

Imagine enduring the unimaginable—manipulated, exploited, and abused in ways no one should ever face.  You’re already living a nightmare, but when the moment comes that you should be rescued, no one shows up to save you. Instead, you’re handcuffed. Prosecuted. Locked away for crimes you were forced to commit just to survive. 

Yvonne was only 15 when a friend made her a promise. He was an older guy. They’d been friendly for quite a while. She trusted him.... When he offered to take her on a visit to a mansion on “The Big Island” — Bainbridge Island, Washington — Yvonne was thrilled. But when she stepped into that mansion, the dream shattered. Turns out her so called "friend" was a trafficker and after gaining her trust, he brought her to the island to sell. 

“There were politicians,” she remembers. “Police officers. Businessmen. Celebrities. Fancy cars outside, candy dishes filled with cocaine. One man made me wear his granddaughter’s sweater during the abuse. These weren’t shadows in alleyways — they were the people we are taught to trust.”

The mansion became her prison… her future cut off and shut tight by power, wealth, and silence.

Yvonne eventually escaped — but not because her abusers were caught and stopped. Not because justice was served. No one uncovered the horrors behind those gilded doors. No one saved her. Her escape came only when she was violently attacked by a customer. When she fought back in self-defense, he died. Instead of being recognized as a victim, Yvonne was arrested, charged, tried, sentenced, and imprisoned as a criminal.

When Yvonne was finally released from prison, the trauma she endured didn’t end—it was compounded by a criminal record she never should have had. That record made it nearly impossible to find safe housing, secure a job, or rebuild her life with any sense of stability. Thankfully, she found Shared Hope where she was able to start rebuilding her life. But across the country, countless young people face the same cruel reality: punished for surviving, labeled as criminals, while, in many cases, their abusers go free. They emerge from captivity only to confront a system that fails them again and again.

The Just Like Me movement is a nationwide advocacy and awareness campaign from Shared Hope International that brings together survivors, advocates, and communities to fight for justice and protection for all victims of sex trafficking. Right here in Washington, we are fighting to reform state laws so survivors are protected, not punished, and ensuring that responses are trauma-informed, survivor-centered, and truly just.

We are putting real faces and stories at the heart of the movement and elevating survivor voices, reminding us that behind every statistic is a person who was once a boy or girl just like you or someone you love, forced to endure these brutal realities. This isn’t an abstract issue—it’s personal, urgent, and happening in our own communities.

Stand with Shared Hope and survivors of trafficking across the nation. Join the fight and support the Just Like Me movement so that every survivor can get the justice they deserve. 

Your donation will help support all of Shared Hope's efforts to prevent the conditions that foster sex trafficking, restore victims of sexual slavery, and bring justice.