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Injustice Unspoken
Injustice Unspoken Podcast where silenced crime victims voices are heard
Injustice Unspoken
Born into trafficking-Jacki's Story
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This weeks episode is Jacki's heartbreaking story. Her mother was groomed and taken from a group home in the '80s. She was trafficked by the janitor, who, along with his friends, ran a sex trafficking ring. Jacki and her sister were born into this nightmare experiencing abuse since infancy.
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was born into trafficking. My mom was uh groomed from a group home in uh Burian, Washington, and she was groomed and took in at the age of eighteen by the janitor. They didn't do background checks back then. Um when was that age? Yeah, what when was back then? Um eighty eight or no, I was born in eighty eight, so that was in the eighties. Okay. Uh no? Yeah. Yeah, eighties. And traffic by the janitor to say my mom. Yes. So my mom was took in uh we he uh and a bunch of his buddies um had a sex traffic ring and would later be known as mine and my sister's dad's and um we call that Pacific one Uncle Norman and um what a place to uh prey on people in a in a group home. Yeah um so I was born into it. Um my sister I have five sisters only one of them at that time was with me um I will uh a little bit older than me and um we we kind of experienced everything from that would go into that um starting as an infant to child trafficking and uh child infant porn I'm Betty Frizel.
SPEAKER_00And I'm Christine Moreland and this is in Justice Unspoken podcast where the silent voice of crime victims are heard.
SPEAKER_06I run the More We Love which is a crisis center creating pathways out of homelessness, addiction human trafficking and domestic violence for women and children.
SPEAKER_00I'm a former chief of police with over 30 years of investigative experience.
SPEAKER_06We are excited for our next guest and we are looking forward to getting going. Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00I'd like to introduce our next guest Jackie Schleppy she is a case manager an advocate a familiar human traffic survivor and the biggest accomplishment of all mother of six.
SPEAKER_06Welcome Jackie six you even found the time to join us today Miss Jackie with all of that case manager, advocate mom of six that's a that's a lot of things. Thank you for being here today. I think that this is probably going to be one of the most important discussions I know I could have most of you guys know that I'm the founder of an organization called the More We Love that creates pathways out of homelessness, addiction and human trafficking. And I'm really proud to have you here Jackie because Jackie's actually one of our case managers and one of our advocates over at the More We Love and directly works with the women and children that we get to serve. And so I'm just honored because we don't often since we do this work get time just to sit down and have these conversations. But I get time to watch you do the work that you do and I've just sat in awe of you Jackie for I don't know what the last year now and and just watch you work with these women. But um you know what I ask and I'm always going to ask this right out of the gate what is your why?
SPEAKER_02Why would you want to step into this work and you know work with the women and children and be part of an organization like the more we love how we want to know about you pathway of how you got here today and you know what does that story look like what motivates Jackie I think it starts at the beginning right so um I was born into trafficking my mom was uh groomed from a group home in uh Burian Washington and she was groomed and took in at the age of eighteen by the janitor they didn't do background checks back then um when was that air what when was back then? Um eighty eight or no I was born in eighty eight so that was in the eighties. Okay yeah eighties. And traffic by the janitor to say yes so my mom was taken uh we he and a bunch of his buddies um had a sex traffic ring and would later be known as mine and my sister's dad's and um we call that Pacific one Uncle Norman and um what a place to uh prey on people in a in a group home. Yeah um so I was born into it. Um my sister I have five sisters only one of them at that time was with me um I will uh a little bit older than me and um we we kind of experienced everything from that will go into that um starting as an infant to child trafficking and uh child infant porn and um unbelievable that there's even a demand for what you're talking about right now. And I can have questions I can go more into like what that what that looked like too but um at seven years old I was um the police got involved and my uh uh biological mom at the time she was doing like a final sale so there was a whole bunch of stuff that kind of led up to that moment.
SPEAKER_00What was the final sale for the people out there?
SPEAKER_02Um a final sale would be she was going to um we were no longer gonna be with our mom. Okay. Yeah. So um it happened in Kent Washington uh up James Street. I remember bits and pieces of that m that night from my seven year old mind and um like an exchange almost. Yeah. Yeah and then the next thing you know the streets are closed down um there's guns drawn my mom's out in the middle of it with a knife there's police cars um where it took it into someone else's car one of her friends ended up there um and um she experienced a lot of trauma herself and so I remember her holding a knife and saying you know yelling at the police like I know you want to rape me and to come and do it and I'm not sure how they got her in the car but I remember her being in the car and her telling us to um we were able to go up to the police car and say goodbye and um so the final sale got interrupted. Yeah yeah yeah and um yeah so she told us to run and go get Uncle Norman and I refused and there were some things she said you know that no child shouldn't be said my sister ran and remember police running after her and um anyway so that was that was Uncle Norman was your biological father is that right he was not so he it was um he was just in the ring. Yeah yeah so um there's yeah I'm not quite sure who my si my sister's dad's um are or my sister's dad was at that time um but my dad was yeah involved in that he actually got arrested when we were younger and that's when Uncle Norman took over took kind of stepped in and so he was yeah so he was arrested for forcing himself on one of my sisters on his side and um or yeah and he wasn't in jail for too long because I was in foster care by then. So at seven I went into foster care. So the officers took you that night then my sister and I and um from then till 12 years old in the the next five years I was in 17 different foster homes and unbelievable. Yeah um from eight to ten I actually ended up in that same group home that my mom was at uh Ruth Dykman and Birion and no longer a group home but were you exploited there when when you were brought back to the when you were brought into the group home were you victimized in any way in that I was I was not no I was not no um good because I feel like some part of me wants to go shut them down on me too. They're shut down yeah okay yeah um there were some other questionable things I guess and so it just you know they kind of closed down the group home setting in foster care right so that's not as easy target common yeah and then um there was a time and when I was 12 years old that I was victimized by older foster broth um brother um and yeah so that kind of I was separated from my sister that I actually plays a key point. Um so we we went in together we started together there was a lot of behavioral issues they thought we had um um borderline personality disorder I was yeah definitely diagnosed with a lot of different things that I well fight or flight since being an infant I mean really right yeah um I know when we went in foster care we had um a rape get done and I know there was um some evidence of like inward like um uh trauma and stuff on the inside and stuff that we're told like um I know especially for my sister and for we were told that you know we may not be able to have children ever but um that's not the case obviously thank you D bong yeah yeah thank you is she older or younger than you she's older than me yeah um and when you guys were separated I can only imagine how scary that was because I would imagine for the both of you even though you were going through so much trauma and so much harm that at least being together provided some sense of security I would assume.
SPEAKER_06I would imagine that being separated was probably one of the harder moments.
SPEAKER_02Yeah absolutely it um there were some behavioral issues there was some physical stuff I mean um I would try to we well because there was a lot of incest as well in in the sure in the childhood thing there was you know sibling interactions you know that when you're exposed to that stuff it becomes part of the norm. Yeah and then in foster care there was a lot of beh behavioral more violent on my end chasing foster parents around with knives um yeah running running away running down the street um like those are the kind of kids that they want to just throw out right like you're not gonna be able to be rehabilitated and you know that one's being um you know we have some kids in our program right now right that yeah have been deemed to be like he's not gonna be able to be you know his behavior won't improve kind of thing. He clearly has yeah and so they separated you guys? Yeah so and yeah after that incident they separated us um and from there she stayed in a home and I uh went on to many different boss rooms in the group home and stuff and I actually was talking to at that group home I had a clinical um therapist who I reconnected later with in my adult life and I was actually having a conversation with her this last month and I was yeah and I was like you know I I've really was thinking like why in some cases are sisters two different ways or like you know the brother that one went they had the same sort of trauma life and one was very disobedient and one was like very obedient and I would say my sister is like that obedient type and what what made me go the other way um and have so many issues and go through foster care hitting every statistic even in my teenage years teen pregnancy addiction um which I'll get more into too but like what what was the key factor in that and she said without me ever saying the word constant to her she said you know when you were separate you had that you didn't have you didn't have a constant or a consistent person in your life a mother a father like you you had nobody and so there was that detachment yeah and and I think that's why even in the work that I do today like it's so important to have that relationship.
SPEAKER_00And yeah I know I'm uh I've I'm the youngest of eight and I have um I have a sister that's in prison right now for life plus 25 years for murder and and and here I am was in law enforcement my whole life but that um that detachment that's that's sort of what happened but ours was was kind of reversed because generational trauma you can't erase that you know we you were you were trauma you had the general the trauma your your mom had the trauma who knows what she came from there was but it just it keeps coming with us and there there's studies now that said that it's in our DNA. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Have you spoken to your mom are is your mom still alive? Yeah have you been able to have a relationship with her in any capacity?
SPEAKER_02Um I I she is uh lives in Seattle she was intense and on the street and she um is still very much in her addiction and um even when she's not in her addiction she's in and out of psychosis and so there are times that I can get her and bring her back to when I go and visit um probably a handful of time maybe like five since I've been the an adult I was not allowed to until I was 18 um because I ended up being a ward of the state and until you were 18.
SPEAKER_06Yeah and then um so you talked about let's go back a little bit you talked about going in and out of 17 foster homes foster homes and you talked about addiction when is the first time that you uh you tried something and I I would say probably to numb yourself in in all of the ways. When's the first time that a drug was picked up in your world?
SPEAKER_02Well the first time I smoked a cigarette was five years old. So I asked um actually um five yeah I I I wanted a cigarette that I saw some this teenage boy had at five years old and he said if you give me head you know I'll give you a cigarette and so I did yeah yeah and you knew that to be in a in a sick way normal. Right yeah that was really sick way normal yeah and then drugs became part of your reality um I think um and I was exposed to a lot in in childhood and stuff so um I would say alcohol and Adderall high school how are you getting the alcohol high school yeah yeah okay I was gonna say that way I was stealing it yeah yeah okay yeah absolutely um Adderall stealing it from my friend's brother and we yeah um then you probably felt like a superhuman as a teenager right yeah okay definitely um you know I I went through some I went through yeah I I think for what I went through like um I didn't really start until I was about 16 and I think I became very promiscuous um as well you know trying to find that and fill that place with love or you know that's it's a lot of people your boundaries were already askew anyway yeah so yeah I at twelve I did end in a foster home and back with my sister and um I think that played a a key factor into um into the start of my healing even though I I loved it though yeah as she 'cause you got your constant back right yeah yeah yeah and um yeah okay well and then uh you said that you had a a child very were you young when you had your first child well it was shortly after I got pregnant in 17. Okay and um had two more by the time I was 20 I had three I was married young um still in your addiction in your early twenties? Yeah so it started with a lot of ecstasy at that point. Sure drug. Yeah yeah yeah a lot of ecstasy we went to rape yeah clubbing different stuff um and but I was pregnant a lot so that was one one thing I was really good at and I don't know what it was uh people would ask me when I was younger in Foss what do you want to be when you grew up and I was like I want to be a mom that's all I wanted to be I wanted a mom I would cling to like mother figures at church probably wanted the chance at doing it the way you wanted to receive it right yeah yeah and they were like how many kids do you want and I was like I've always said seven you know and oh so we still have one more one more to go possible yeah yeah one more to go um and so where were we at?
SPEAKER_00How did motherhood change you?
SPEAKER_02Your drug addiction yes okay yeah yeah well the motherhood part is is keeping you sober but you were still in the the addiction in your 20s right yeah so a lot of um yeah so after I wasn't pregnant so I always did really good when I was pregnant didn't touch anything yeah so great pregnancies and maybe that's why I kept getting pregnant right away because I knew like I was your chance at things yeah yeah yeah but then at 21 I I was introduced to and I I knew that this was the drug I never was gonna touch and I didn't know as much that Adderall was the same as methamphetamines as much until but I got into meth and that was that was it for me. I was like this is it this is I love this like parenting and all of that I was it made me a better mom. It made um a lot of the a lot of memories started coming back in my parenthood changing diapers um just just little ages that the children my children became that I was that I experienced certain traumas I would have that so I would triggers yeah and so I I I still was in I would talk to somebody I would go to therapy I would try to find and then I would um but yeah so at 21 and I felt like it made me a better mom. I I could yeah yeah I could I could um it stopped the the PTSD like the memories that would come back at 22 I think is around when people started noticing um and I'm not sure somewhere between there and 28 um I I I guess I was like thinking like well how could my mom be the way she was like what could lead that so maybe the more drugs I did and the more stuff I did also like heroin or cocaine or whatever was around right so I um what that intersection what what could I how much can I do that would get me to think and do the things that my mom did and when I started to notice my brain and things shifting I started uh pushing my kids to their dad and and and um at one point then ended up in a hotel room it's almost like you were trying to prove something wrong but ended up right there. Yeah right in in a way and I ended up in a hotel room and I I was very angry at my ex-husband for this but now we have a great relationship and I appreciate him so much for not taking the kids from that hotel room not giving them back and not you know and me even still trying to be there and I would go so your kids were taken yeah by by their dad.
SPEAKER_06Was that a defining moment of more drug use? Was that a I need to get it together?
SPEAKER_02Um no I I was I definitely was in the start of I believe I met this guy on um it was on on one of those dating apps and oh boy yeah I know how those stories finish. Um we went on date he had a video camera he took me to like a hotel and it's kind of like um and because of my history and the things I I think because of that and because of of God and and being raised um in that last house we even had a neighbor down when I was when I back pedal back to when I was going through the trauma at seven years old we had a neighbor who I think is the one who called the cops in the first place but she would take us to church.
SPEAKER_06And so like she she was seeing something and trying to do something and probably just didn't know in what capacity to do.
SPEAKER_02So like God played a key key factor in in all of this and um even my sister would hide me behind like water heaters and different stuff and and I always knew that God was there like behind there. I I would in my in my memories and my flashbacks I would um things go blank and then it goes light and then there's peace. And so I know that's God protecting in some things that I don't remember. But anyway so going forward and then going forward into um knowing that and being part of that I feel like God also saved me from being trafficked in in my 20s when I didn't have my kids and um I got myself out of those situations. So pretty quick setting up a video He was setting up he was grooming he was asking about my kids he was actually at the hotel that one night with my kids did you just leave or no so my kids were gone at this point and yeah and I kept trying to talk to him I there was one point I ended up in a house with other girls um and this was in Pualeb like South Hill area. Okay. And um I ended up in a house with these other girls and I remember somehow he was connected but I I don't really I was kind of on a lot of drugs then too and I started feeling funny after doing some stuff with these girls and I locked myself in the car and they kept trying to come out to my car and I drove away. And I remember that was the last time I I girl you had a hedge so I was trying to get help from that period on I went back to my kid's dad he he did like and then there was a lot of relapses I ended up at Lakeside Milam which we sent a lot of our girls there were there. I had some relapses after that and um I went to a discipleship program.
SPEAKER_06I mean I'm just gonna stop you right there because it's like so much of what you're saying even from the from birth and you know this is an experience and this experience is what these the women that we um you know work with in our crisis center experience. And I just have to ask you this when when a woman comes you you answer our intake line and we'll we'll talk about really where your trajectory has gone but you've you answer our intake line that's 24 hours a day, seven days a week of women calling in crisis what does that feel like for you to take a call? Does that open up the wounds for you? Does that light a fire in you, Doctor Me about taking a call.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, so I think before I started, um, I would say even from when I I'm it's been ten and a half years since I used stuff since um we just stop and congratulate that moment. Ten and a half years of I mean I I've had a little bit of drinking then. I never really sure you know there was a little there was one point in between there or maybe three years, I had a weekend. I don't I don't like to count that weekend. Um I don't like to count that like week, weekend ish. I went to my pastor after I, you know, and I completely it was shut down real quick. And so I don't count that. But seven and a half years. Good job, girl. Thanks. And um the intake.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, what does that feel like receiving um, you know, uh really receiving a woman into your care who otherwise was in a space of in her life that you were before?
SPEAKER_02I think without the church and without God and without the healing that I went through uh in my early recovery for probably a good um eight of eight of those years and and still um uh I I I think I would have triggers and stuff taking those calls and things, but I but I don't. And that kind of leads up to some of the things I went to went through in the recent um years with my teenagers and when they were approached. Um so there was a period of time not too long ago where I would say about four of my kids, um, I was I was I was doing all the things. I was in church, I was I was serving in the children's ministry, and and I always had like a like a thought, like I always took like those trafficking classes and stuff, and I was always like very drawn to that because I'm like, I don't want people to have to go through the things that I I went through. And so in in there was your pain for the good, yeah. And there was this time where four of my kids um I like I think it's like testing, and it's like where the enemy comes and tries to like tries to take you back to where you are. And so um I know one of my children was approached in a Fred Meyer bathroom at 13 years old. Um one of my sons, and then even um And you said your son at 13. Yeah, it's real in a written bathroom.
SPEAKER_06Our boys are very, very vulnerable to this. And people don't think so that they are certainly mistaken.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And then um a daughter, one of my daughters in uh her her first year of high school with with a boyfriend and a peer. Um, and then um one of my other daughters in middle school with a janitor.
SPEAKER_07Wow.
SPEAKER_02And um was she comfortable enough to speak up to you, or did she go, did she go to you directly? Her dad was there. She went straight to someone. The school had to stop her dad from from getting him.
SPEAKER_06But it for the for the listeners, that's you know, the parents that are are act that way, that that's what you need. That's what we need these days. Because our kids are being exploited in the schools. You hear the headlines, you know, recently.
SPEAKER_02I have always since I've had my kids back for the last 10 years, I've always been very intentional and and very honest, honest with them about the things that I've gone through, age appropriate for the younger ones. But um, yeah, and so I think that is definitely something that is so important to to talk with our children about. And totally yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know one thing, Jackie, I I just want to interject real quick is that coming from a law enforcement background, and um a lot of times uh law enforcement gets very rigid because they feel like um why does this person keep getting re-victimized? Why does this person get victimized over and over and over again? Why can't they just get out? Well, they like you, like with you, meeting you on the street, you're so pleasant and so nice. It's like I would have never suspected this horror that you comes with you, you know. Um, but as far as re-victimization, I mean you you've had pe a lot of people who don't understand, and I've I ran into this when I was a sex crimes detective with other police officers, is that our victims do get re-victimized over and over again. It's not like they asked to be re-victimized, it's just sometimes boundaries are are are not there, or that's just that it's just it's comfortable for them because it's normal to them. Do you think that's what happens sometimes with re-victimization of victims, especially in sex trafficking?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um I I I would say shame plays a lot into it.
SPEAKER_06I think um absolutely like um probably feelings of like I'm not good enough, so I might as well just continue.
SPEAKER_00I'm already runned. That's why I I've had victims tell me I'm already run, so I'm already damaged goods.
SPEAKER_02I felt like um neglect and um feeling like how especially I know everyone's case is different, but like with with m with myself going from different foster homes and wondering like why didn't they keep me? Sometimes I was so good. And I'm like, why didn't they keep me? So just feeling unlovable and being disposable.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah. That's certainly a feeling I I can I can relate to. Um and then then you kind of almost perform sometimes, like what you just said. I just felt that like, am I being good enough? Can you keep like, do you like me now? Can you keep me now? And I think that that's just such a that that to me is one of the saddest parts of like having to like claw for love, like just somebody, you know, love me. And and you know, now to this, I I watch you love people, Jackie, like so authentically, it's unbelievable, but it's like the way that you show up for people. So we we kind of fast forwarded a little much, but I I know I want to tell the audience, you know, what you do now. You could you your point was this coming out of sheer horror and you know, 10 years of sobriety, you it doesn't take you know just a a switch, then it just goes off, and you're like, hey, I'm just this new person. That's an immense amount of work that you have put into who Jackie is today. And I just want to commend you on that because not a lot of people want to dig in and even figure out who they are, but you did. And then I I deeply believe then God gave you a purpose. And um, you know, uh several months ago, gosh, almost a year ago, you were invited into this space to um help support the work of the more we love, working with women and children who are you know victims of human trafficking, domestic violence. And Jackie, I just have to say you jumped all the way in. You didn't put a toe in, you didn't do nothing, you just jumped in. And the one thing you just said is like it's like that thing, you know, you uh you're sitting on somebody's hand, it's like use me, use me. And and you did such incredible work. And now tell us what you're doing at the more we love because you are you know working with us as an employee. Um but it's incredible. So we want to hear about you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so the crisis line, um, taking taking those first calls. Um, I do also do so the case management, um, working with girls one-on-one, I think.
SPEAKER_06Um I love doing it because like you said, like um, it's good we get it when we get it just really honor what we're doing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um being able to walk with especially the mothers coming from there and um it stops it in the tracks of their children being victimized, um, giving them a place to come. Like if my mom had a place like that, you know, like where would it would it be different? Um I I absolutely believe it it would be. Um so yeah, getting to to walk with them um with the things that they need, whether it be addiction, mental health.
SPEAKER_06Um Yeah, tell us about some of the things that the girls need when they come into the center and some of the things that you help them access and and why some of those things are important.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think one of our main things is getting them um clear, clear headed, like sobriety. And so like I think that's one of our main, our first not main, our first things is how can we help them to get silver state, you know, um so we get them into um like a treatment place, uh like cymyelum or um if they need like IOP, and then we have IOP on site. Um for those of us that don't know what IOP is, yeah, behavioral health side of it. Yeah, uh intensive outpatient and um the mental health part.
SPEAKER_06Um we why why do you believe that recovery is so important uh right out of the gate? Why why is it that's something that we at the more we love work on? Why is it that it's just a key piece of this?
SPEAKER_02Identity. I think um Love that you say it that way. Yeah, to their addiction is not who they are. That's right. It's not um it's not what makes them a person. It's it's yeah, and you just gotta get that out of the way. Like that's not who you are.
SPEAKER_06But it's so fun because once we see some of the girls get to these certain stages where they're like, I'm two months, I'm three months, we get to see the transformation. Oh my god. When they first come into the center, they're usually ready to throw down, you know, they're upset, there's something going on, a lot of criminal activity and those kind of things. And then we kind of start to see the it unpeel. So I imagine for you that has got to be profoundly beautiful. It is helping somebody get to that first step and then seeing what the 30th day, the 60th day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, getting their mindset, their sh shifts. They're um, they talk differently, they say things, they think about things differently. And the more time that goes on, the more and the more confident I believe they see in themselves. And I think I love to watch that. I love to see um them being filled with hope. So, like as they're getting, we're having our weekly meetings, we meet each each one an hour a week, you know, sometimes more if they need more. You meet with each of your girls once a once a week for an hour, and some and some twice, um, just to get what their next steps are. So is it employment? Is it to to work on resume building? Is it child care? Um, some don't feel safe enough for their children to go to child care. So we hold on to them a little longer, we find longer-term transitional um programs for them so that they can heal. And yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, you give me a lot of hope just talking to you because um I know that sister bond and I know how um how it is to have not have that all the time, like when me and my sister were separated because uh she was six years older than me. I'm I'm she was my older sister, but um how's your sister now?
SPEAKER_02Um I I want to protect, like I don't want to say uh too much about her because she she's she wasn't so much she's not so much interested in trying to reconnect with her past, but to make a future for herself. Oh good. She's always kind of cut off that victim and she was she jumped right into it.
SPEAKER_06So she everybody else is doing healing beyond amazing.
SPEAKER_02If you think I'm doing good, like if you saw her live, she is Susie Homemaker, she makes all her food by scratch, she mills her own flowers, she has five beautiful children, a beautiful husband, a beautiful house, and she is doing amazing.
SPEAKER_00Well, that gives uh that gives our listeners, you know, uh that maybe going through this or trying to to recover from that, because you know, I I have complex post-traumatic stress disorder, I'm sure that the you know, and to it to have that going forward that that you know, she came out of this, you've came out of this, that there is there is light. There is light that can be there. And I mean you found yours with the church, and I I find that because I'm a woman of faith myself, that um some people who haven't had the experience, like church and school to me, I love them. They were clean places. I got fed, nobody was yelling at me, like and nobody was hitting me. They were great places, just like, and I'm glad that that was your your um your experience as well.
SPEAKER_06Jackie, I don't mean to sound cliche and it's not going to, it's but it could. You know, it's not like that what is the one thing you want everybody to know, but it's what is the one thing that you want to change when it comes to the narrative around sex trafficking and human trafficking? You know, what what is the one thing that you want people to know about this?
SPEAKER_02The the the reality of it or the beauty of it, even if that's I think everything that we walk through is a preparation for where we're going. And so there's growth that we can learn in everything in the trauma.
SPEAKER_06Um and there is a there is another side to uh to being a victim and it's it's living victoriously and it's can you highlight uh one of the incredible women that you get to uh walk alongside it the more we love, you know, keeping of course their identity, but maybe a story of um, you know, somebody who you might have thought just this is this might not be you know perfect for this program, but look at her through flourishing now.
SPEAKER_02Can you share somebody who maybe just touched you in such a way or is currently it's hard to pinpoint one because there's been bits and pieces out of so many and um so many different different women and or maybe something that inspired you in this like of the Yeah, I I would definitely say the one the ones there there there's certain one uh that I I I had the pleasure of knowing at a young age um and then reconnected again through through our program that she was in our program and um I've watched her like transform I've watched her fight for her children, I've watched her um I I've gotta be a part of that. And now not only was now not only do I I was she's someone that I worked with, but now she's someone that I actually work with who actually works with us and beside us and we share other participants that we have to communicate about and we have to help. And so now we're doing it together. We we came from something we she she she did, yeah.
SPEAKER_06It's like the organization's really being led by voices of survivors and through that. Yeah, yeah. That's the thing I think is so amazing is that you know, you you just said it. It's we got a purpose now, and you get it, you get to be part of that purpose, and it it's really it's really profound. I know that there is an immense amount of women who depend on you every day, Jackie. And I think at one point you probably didn't ever feel like you could depend on yourself. And if you could just reflect on that moment, and I mean it's like one of those moments of silence. Like there is a whole intake line, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that depends on on Jackie to be part of the response. There's law enforcement that depends on Jackie to be part of that response. There's myself who dreamed of having The More We Love as a crisis center for this, you know, response. And you are there, Jackie. And I just I sit in awe of you that you um get to be part of the answer and also part of being the constant to these women who need you most. Like nobody understands more than somebody who's walked through the hell that you have walked through, right? And the fact that you have dug into it the way that you are, you know, raising your kids the way that you are. I mean, your daughter is now answering our intake line. And I think I've even heard adjusted her college, you know, courses because of this work. That's the ripple effect, and that is something profoundly beautiful.
SPEAKER_02Not only that, daughter. So now you're yesterday. So last year when I when I started volunteering at the More and We Love, I um I was very quiet about it, but I think uh in in about a year ago, uh in last year, August, one of my daughters uh had a suicide attempt. Um and she was in Seattle Children's at the ICU, and I think that was a key factor for me in my emotions. Um and later later on, he said something to Carolyn. He said, You're one of the most emotionally mature people I've ever met. And that's not something I would have ever heard. That's very real. That's not something I would have ever thought. Yeah, like very real.
SPEAKER_06I've never watched somebody um experience as much as you do in a daily, you know, your days are filled with crisis, your days are filled with listening to women's stories of the unimaginable, and you move in such a beautiful, eloquent way. And it's like you are the sturdy beacon of light and hope, but not just for the women, Jackie, for myself, and like I said, for the officers, for all of us that get to experience you and the essence of you. You are our firm foundation, really, in this.
SPEAKER_00I saw that this morning when Christine was going five million miles an hour, and you were just such a just standalone, okay. It's gonna be all right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I've I found that how'd you get last August? I've last August and a little bit after that, um walking through my daughter with my daughter in those those moments. I found that I really just gave it to God. I was like, our our will, my mind, my will, my emotions. When 30 years old, and before 30, I said, God, at 30, I'll give it all to you. At 30, I'll give it all to you. And then I really did. I really did. And then at 30, it was like, okay, so I'm I'm giving it all. Right. And I had to do that again. It's like a con it's it's a it's a thing you do. And I did. I said, my mind, my will, my emotions, like I, I have to hand that over because it's not for me to hold on. If I hold on to it, it's not, it's it's only gonna hurt the people that I'm walking with. I can't, sorry, I can't when I feel emotion now, I don't feel emotion in the same way I used to. I wouldn't say I'm I'm because it it's not mine to hold on to. And um, and I think that was the key factor in like this deliverance of my um emotions last summer and um and knowing that I had I had Carolyn, I had, I had you and and meeting you, and I had not only were we there and we gotta be a constant for these girls, you know, like we working at the more we love, I I have a community, I have family, I have a constant, and which which I I I I've had before, and I have my husband, I have that, but I had they walk through me through the Carolyn walked through this with me, um, even volunteering there. Uh, and she she was still the constant, and she was there in my daughter's life, and and she like um my she would show up at all hours of the night, right? And uh when we get to do that, uh she's another one that works with us. Um and um it takes a special kind of person to work at the more we love, right? You can't just be the average, and instability doesn't wait for business hours, it's not and that's why there's a handful of us there that it's not about business hours, and you know, I I I yeah, and it's crazy because now I have my whole family. My husband is behind behind behind me in this. He takes the children's when I when he's like, Oh, she's getting a call, she needs the alone time. He they're so proud of me and the work that I'm doing and and and what we're doing, and and with the thing with the Kirkland PD and all this stuff. Wait, what was that? Yeah, with the sting operation that we did. Think about that.
SPEAKER_06You are assisting law enforcement on thing operations to help victims get out safely. And you were there at one point.
SPEAKER_00You were thinking about that, Jackie.
SPEAKER_06Like I circle, just well, yeah, and but I mean, and I like I just sit, I that's why I sit in such awe because really God does the unimaginable and he uses the most broken to do the most beautiful. And if anything, you know, I I've never been the most vocal about my faith, but I've always believed in God, but nothing more than ever than I have when I walked into this work with the more we love and walked alongside people like yourself, because this is the truest expression of what God is able to do, what he can do is transform people's lives. And now we get to speak about that when the women come into our program. Like you can have this too. This is this is all possible. You are not an addict, you are not, you know, a sex trafficking even surviving, you know, it's just none of that has to be attached to you. You are Jackie Schleppy, the most beautiful, profound, angelic woman I've ever met. Right.
SPEAKER_02I mean, thank you. Love was love was never meant to be rooted in pain or brokenness, right? So God, God is love. True, authentic love shows up and it stays, it serves, it builds. And through relationship, community, partnership, the more we show up, the more we constant is the more we serve, the more we transform and grow, is the more we love.
SPEAKER_06Oh, and now I'm tearing up. Uh the be someone's constant. It's actually tattooed on the side of me, has been my my saying for about 20 years. Um, I met a gentleman on the streets of Seattle about 20 years ago when I was doing street outreach, and his name is Johnny Jones. He's one of the most beautiful humans I've ever met in my life. And I didn't even know what it meant to be a constant until I met him. And I just I thought it was me that was his constant, but it was really him being mine. And that's what I get to be part of all the time. And Jackie, you are one of my constants. And I I thank you. Like the fact of the matter is, is that that is it's real. I we run an organization again, like I said, that works with people in crisis. And I get to call on you and know that when I'm calling and saying this young woman has been victimized and we need help now, you are a constant that shows up, Jackie. And that is that is that is profound and not something that anybody can just do.
SPEAKER_00And your humbleness, like you're just very humble about she's telling you all these great, you're just like, Let's I'm just Jackie.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, you've announced me, Hey, what's Jackie do last week? You wouldn't think that it was working a sting operation or any of those things, right?
SPEAKER_02You are like the undercover boss is what you are. This week I was a I was a witness in a trial for a woman trying to get her kids back. And I was in a sting operation and on a podcast. Like all in this week. And answering a crisis line and all that.
SPEAKER_06I know everyone says, what'd you do today?
SPEAKER_00And you're probably going, Well And dealing with Christine, that's another thing too, you know.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, surviving me is a difficult one. I can I I've heard that before. Um, Jackie, what is it that you want the listeners to know? What do you want to leave them with?
SPEAKER_02What is it the last um I was a very big present uh in relationship and aware I like that thank you.
SPEAKER_06Thank you for being so vulnerable. Uh every time I hear your story, I hear a little bit more and I see your strength and your bravery stand even firmer. And I um I hope that the women that are, you know, either standing on the other side of this right now, who may be um victims of this even as a child and feel shameful of being able to talk about are inspired um by Jackie, um, by what Jackie's doing. And, you know, if you are one of those women and you need our support at the More We Love, what do we say? Call that crisis line, you know, reach out. It may not be that you need a shelter bed, it may not be that you need, but maybe you just need somebody like Jackie to talk to or they can understand. And, you know, that's what we serve for, that's what we show up for. Maybe you even need a excuse my language, but a badass Betty to be next to you. But um, yeah. 425-523-1941. If you are one of those women standing on the other side uh who wasn't the shoes of Jackie at some point or need any of our resources, love, support, you can call our crisis line at 425-523-1941. Jackie, I love you, and I am sitting in awe of you.
SPEAKER_00And Jackie, keep writing. That was that's that's gonna be your thing. It's it's very cathartic for you, and just if whatever we can't say we can write, that's that's a gift there. Well, if you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you like, share, subscribe so that we can keep voices like Jackie's heard. And Christine? And you know what I say.
SPEAKER_06Be someone's constant. Thank you all.