Freedom Boutique and DIVAS Who Win work toward mutual mission – Red and Black

Local thrift store Freedom Boutique sells gently worn womens clothing and various gifts to support DIVAS Who Win Freedom Center, an Athens-based nonprofit. The nonprofits mission is to support women who are overcoming addiction, prostitution and sexual exploitation, while also tackling the stigma surrounding these topics.

The Freedom Center, located on Hawthorne Avenue, serves over 150 women each month by providing them with basic needs such as free lunches, laundry services and peer support. The services are provided free of charge, so the nonprofit relies on donations and profits from the Freedom Boutique to keep supporting the women they serve.

Chanda Santana, the nonprofits founder and executive director, said the profits from the boutique primarily support a workforce development program called She Works.

The Freedom Boutique opened in April 2021 to raise funds, bolster awareness and support sustainable living. Doubling as an education center, the shop provides statistics about sexual abuse, trafficking and child labor in the fast fashion industry.

Signs hang on the wall of local thrift store Freedom Boutique. The signs provide information on sex trafficking and the environmental impact of fast fashion. (Photo/Alex Ciardiello)

In the boutique are various donated clothing pieces, shoes, purses and jewelry, alongside items from companies with similar missions as DIVAS Who Win. One of the companies is Thistle Farms.

Santana discovered Thistle Farms, a nonprofit based in Nashville, Tennessee, dedicated to helping women recover and heal from prostitution, trafficking and addiction by providing a safe place to live, a meaningful job and lifelong support, and decided to become a part of its sister network. She was inspired by Thistle Farms' safe house because this is one of DIVAS Who Wins long-term goals.

DIVAS Who Wins safe house is still in the planning process but will be called the Freedom House. It plans to give women somewhere to call home while theyre healing and Santana hopes to raise the funds needed for it in the next two years.

The Freedom Boutique has a vital role in the success of the Freedom House.

The goal of the boutique is that when the Freedom House is established, and women get through phase one of the program then we will have a thriving thrift store that they can come work at. The boutique isnt bringing in enough funding right now to employ more than one survivor 30 hours a week, Santana said.

A pink DIVAS Who Win sign is encased in greenery inside the Freedom Boutique. Located on Hawthorne Avenue, proceeds made from the boutique benefit the nonprofit organization. (Photo/Alex Ciardiello)

The nonprofit mostly operates on a volunteer workforce, but there arent many volunteers who work at the boutique. Out of those volunteering, some are students from the University of Georgia like Jacqueline Adam, an intern working toward a master of social work at UGA.

Adams works at the boutique once a week and does a number of tasks for the nonprofit including writing grants, creating surveys and developing annual reports. Adams met Santana in 2017 when she was writing a dissertation on LGBTQ people of color who have been sex-trafficked in the Southeast.

Santana introduced Adams to people she later interviewed. Since then, Adams has been engaging with and volunteering for DIVAS Who Win but started working for the organization last year.

They know that folks who have experienced substance use and sex trafficking are also likely to experience incarceration, discrimination or sex-based violence. I love that they approach it in this intersectional way, Adams said.

Adams wants more people to shop at Freedom Boutique so that the organization can keep providing services for women who need them.

If you are having privilege or you do have a little bit of extra money, come shop at the boutique, Adams said.

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Freedom Boutique and DIVAS Who Win work toward mutual mission - Red and Black