Southlake Chamber of Commerce
There are a few unlikely heroes that live in Southlake. Some of them came together Tuesday evening to help save some of the world’s most vulnerable population, children.
Leadership Southlake is an organization within the Southlake Chamber of Commerce that assembles business leaders for a nine-month orientation program that professionally develops them within their community. The 2018-19 program started in August last year and ended with their class graduation in late May.
“This experience has taught us so much,” Leadership Southlake Project Chair Lisa Harrington iterates. “We’ve learned from each other. We’ve grown our businesses. We have learned to handle adversity and challenge. We’ve learned to rely on each other and have made some lifelong friendships.”
But aside from the personal growth business leaders experienced from participating in the program, there was a bonus benefit that Leadership Southlake got the privilege to present during the Southlake City Council’s regular meeting Tuesday. They raised over $6,000 for Unlikely Heroes, a local nonprofit dedicated to fighting human trafficking across the globe by rescuing and rehabilitating children who were trapped in sexual slavery.
“Our USA home is right here in Tarrant County,” Unlikely Heroes Executive Director Kelle Sherpy remarks. “We were so grateful and lucky to be chosen as the 2019 Leadership Southlake project recipients for this year.”
Since its founding in 2011, Unlikely Heroes has rescued over 400 children from the human trafficking trade and raised them in one of their seven restoration homes in the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico and the United States. According to their website, medical care, education and job training is provided for the children that live in their restoration homes.
Approximately 92 percent of their funding supports survivors and the program’s restoration homes, while eight percent is allocated for staffing and administration.
“Quality restorative care is not cheap,” Sherpy iterated. “We work really hard to make sure these kids receive everything they need to live a transformed life. We couldn't do that without incredible community partners standing alongside us.”
Harrington stated that Leadership Southlake raised $4,307 in proceeds from their service event for Unlikely Heroes and an extra $2,500 from raffle donations, bringing a total donation of $6,807 towards the nonprofit. The organization presented the check to Sherpy during the council’s work session Tuesday night.
Sherpy expressed her gratefulness for the program’s involvement towards Unlikely Heroes’ mission, but she said they gained something more valuable than money through their collaboration with Leadership Southlake - exposure.
“You can’t defeat a network without a network,” she expresses. “And we’re really passionate about creating those community partners.”
To learn more about Leadership Southlake, go online at SouthlakeChamber.com. To donate towards Unlikely Heroes’ cause, go online at UnlikelyHeroes.com.