Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
love extended<br />
<strong>Spring</strong>/<strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2021</strong><br />
EXPLOITATION<br />
AND ABUSE<br />
><br />
Interview with Casandra Diamond, founder and<br />
director of BridgeNorth, a registered charitable<br />
organization with the goal of seeing an end to<br />
sexual exploitation in Canada.<br />
by Dan Shurr<br />
LOVE EXTENDED: FAIR<br />
In 2017 BridgeNorth began a partnership<br />
with FAIR. What has this partnership<br />
meant to you?<br />
The prayer support of FAIR is a<br />
cornerstone of our work and gives<br />
life to all that we do, allowing us to<br />
carry out direct service work for our<br />
program participants. Each year,<br />
CASANDRA DIAMOND<br />
FAIR and many Fellowship churches<br />
reach out to support us financially, as well. This allows us<br />
to share the Gospel, not just a meal or a bed, making our interactions<br />
with those we serve meaningful and life-giving.<br />
We’ve all had to adjust our lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.<br />
What adjustments has BridgeNorth had to make?<br />
BridgeNorth had to find innovative ways to connect, support,<br />
and serve. We were deemed essential workers, forcing<br />
many to isolate from their families. Quarantine regulations<br />
worked against those needing shelter, increasing homelessness.<br />
Pandemic policies caused the release of traffickers<br />
from jail, affecting those we serve. We faced financial<br />
uncertainties, yet God intervened in ways we could never<br />
have imagined. For example, I gave a TEDx Toronto talk<br />
that released during the pandemic, generating funds and<br />
donations from across the world.<br />
Can you share with us some of the current ministry highlights<br />
that have occurred at BridgeNorth? (stories, encouragements)<br />
There are many to share! Ontario’s Ministry of Children,<br />
Community, and Social Services (MCCSS) has selected<br />
BridgeNorth to receive $2.5 million over five years,<br />
beginning in 2020/21, which will be used to offer survivor-led<br />
peer mentoring and day programs for children<br />
and youth, providing holistic, strengths-based, traumainformed<br />
supports from early intervention through to<br />
stabilization, transition, and reintegration. Recently Pastor<br />
Tim Cressman of Bluewater Baptist Church (Sarnia, ON)<br />
reached out to help create congregational awareness about<br />
BridgeNorth and to support us financially through a special<br />
Christmas event, which exceeded its goal $10,000 with a<br />
faith offering gift of $30,000.<br />
My advocacy work within York Regional District School<br />
Board has been recognized by the Ministry of Education<br />
and is being adopted across the Province of Ontario. I have<br />
also been appointed co-chair of the Ministry of Education’s<br />
Anti-Human Trafficking Working Group, which ensures<br />
that BridgeNorth’s good work will reach students in<br />
Ontario from Kindergarten to Grade 12, safeguarding thousands<br />
of children most at risk, while providing training to<br />
over 200,000 teachers.<br />
BridgeNorth has experienced growth in many areas, including<br />
the addition of two new team members: Alison<br />
Williams, who serves as Board Chair, and Janice Moro, who<br />
serves as Managing Director. Both women have years of<br />
experience and will bless our ministry greatly. Through<br />
government funding, we now have the ability to expand<br />
our work. Please pray alongside us as we endeavor to reach<br />
even more survivors in the months and years to come.<br />
WE FACED FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTIES,<br />
YET GOD INTERVENED IN WAYS<br />
WE COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED.
Change language