what we do
We are a layer of the healing process: we give immediate and continued support of basic needs and financial assistance. We mentor to help those we serve rediscover their self-worth. And we love unconditionally to help them thrive.
Our Foundation gives beyond items necessary for survival and financial assistance. Our partners contact us daily to provide urgently needed essentials and everyday items to aid in the healing process of those we collectively serve.
This includes emergency housing, transportation, educational supplies, tuition assistance, clothing, uniforms and equipment needed for a new job, household items, baby items, special occasion gifts, and so much more. All of this is necessary to help stabilize the youth or young adult.
Our Shop
GML has a Shop exclusively for the victims, youths and young adults we serve. Our Shop offers new and gently used items of all kinds. Everything at our Shop is free and there are no limits on how much they can take when they visit.
We accept donations of clothing, household items, apartment-sized furniture, hygiene products, baby items, and much, much more.
If you are interested in donating items or have any questions, please contact our Shop Manager: Call or text Adria at (626) 578-5293
Mentoring and tutoring are very important roles we play in the lives of those we serve. We teach a variety of programs and host regular activities in CSEC foster group homes and on both Learning Works Charter School campuses. But most of our mentoring is on a one-on-one basis.
Over the past year, our mentor programs involved hundreds of hours with victims rescued from the sex trade, foster care youths, teen moms, homeless teens, and others in-crisis and at-risk to help secure jobs, further education or training, and help them realize their dreams for what they want to do in life.
Mentoring One-0n-0ne
We mentor one-on-one with a youth or young adult who requires support during their healing process, as most we serve come from troubled home environments and social lives. This includes helping them deal with everyday coping, issues their having within their group home, or specific issues their dealing with such as drug addiction, being pregnant or taking care of a baby, becoming homeless or running away.
We also mentor one-on-one to help guide the youth or young adult on a path to becoming independent and thriving adults. This includes helping them get a job, achieving their high school diploma, enrolling in a trade school or college, discovering their vocational goals, and much, much more.
Volunteering at CSEC Foster Group Homes
Our volunteers host regular activities and programs designed to build self-esteem, confidence and trust while teaching social and living skills. When a girl arrives at yet another group home, there is often an array of negative emotions and they are subject to unpredictable behavior at any moment. These children have suffered unspeakable traumas and have been groomed by pimps, so they act, look, talk, and think like prostitutes. They have been robbed of being a child, and know nothing of celebrating holidays, special occasions or experiencing any sort of normalcy in their lives.
We LOVE unconditionally. Honestly, many we serve are angry, rebellious, and distrusting because of the trauma, abuse and neglect they have suffered. They are all traumatized children, demoralized and deeply damaged beyond recognition.
Think about what it's like... (strong language warning)
Think about what it is like to be a 12-year-old child raped 8 to 12 times a night to fatten her Pimp’s bankroll. Or being a youth living in a gang-infested neighborhood, ignored and neglected by a drug-using parent having to navigate through every day of life to survive. Wouldn’t you be angry, too?
These are just some of the victims we serve. To be clear, they are not victims in the popular way of calling someone a “victim”, but victimized because they are truly innocents being exploited, physically and sexually abused, neglected, unloved and misguided.
We encourage them to dream big, inspire them to shift the way they think. Our involvement truly changes their desire to live, their attitude towards life and their path to becoming independent, thriving adults. Otherwise, they become just another statistic.
LA County is a major hub for the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the US. When these children become adults, they are often placed in transitional living accommodations that don’t provide the support they require, leaving them traumatized and unable to function normally.
Give Mentor Love is creating the Village, a holistic living and learning environment for survivors of sex trafficking. The Village offers survivors the necessary support, healing, and housing, along with life skills training to help them transform their lives. Give Mentor Love’s goal is to empower these survivors to break free from their past and build a brighter future.
Adela Estrada, CSEC Program Administrator for LA County, explains the importance of securing these facilities:
“We are in need of homes in LA County that can house these youth so that they have a safe place to live with the consistent guidance and support they need to heal, recover, and learn the skills needed to live independently and as contributing members of society.”
