On January 11th, 2026, we officially celebrated The Landing’s 10-year anniversary!
To honor this occasion, we are walking back through the past decade of service and reflecting on key milestones from each year.
Every one of these accomplishments represents real lives impacted—and each one was made possible only through your faithful support. We are deeply grateful for every supporter who has stood with us by giving, praying, and serving. Your commitment sustains this life-changing work:
2016
On January 11, 2016, we opened the doors of the very first Drop-In Center in Houston for survivors of human trafficking. Our founders, James and Deborah Gates and Natasha Paradeshi, created this center in response to the real needs they witnessed in our community. They started The Landing with the mission of serving survivors of sexual exploitation with a trauma-informed approach fueled by the love of Christ.
Our center meets people where they are, offering a safe, nonjudgmental space where they can receive respite care, food to eat, a place to sleep, relational support, and the practical resources they need to work towards healing.
Since we intentionally based our Drop-In Center on Bissonnet, a nationally known hotspot for commercial sexual exploitation, we also started proactive street outreach efforts—offering essential resources and informing survivors that the Drop-In Center was open and available to them.
We also began seeking out resources that could empower survivors on their journeys toward emotional healing. We discovered Ending The Game© (ETG), a psychoeducational curriculum that helps survivors understand and uproot harmful psychological coercion. This program was an essential part of our early work at The Landing, and ten years later, this framework is still helping clients rewrite their futures.
2017
With the support of a new partnership with the Office of the Texas Governor, we were able to expand our care by hiring additional case managers and launching new programs, including a community group, a women’s health class, and a Celebrate Recovery group.
Over the years, our group and class offerings have continued to grow and evolve, creating meaningful spaces for survivors to learn, heal, and connect.
Past and current offerings have included:
- Classes led by public health students to help survivors better understand their own bodies
- Fitness and art classes taught by volunteers
- Bible studies for those interested in spiritual growth
2018
We launched our Empowerment Program, an initiative that we are still proud to offer today.
This program supports survivors through education, job-readiness training, financial literacy, life skills development, case management, volunteer opportunities, and personal growth. We also use Ending The Game© (ETG) as a core element of this program to help survivors find community, foster sisterhood, and bond over shared lived experiences.
Graduates of our Empowerment Program are offered a $1,500 scholarship, which can be used for goals such as:
- Pursuing further education
- Enrolling in technical or trade school
- Achieving certifications for their chosen career path
“I know by coming here I have so many people in my corner and it makes me not want to go back out there. I know I can make it!”
-The Landing Client
2019
In 2019, The Landing stepped onto a national stage for the first time, presenting at the JuST Conference alongside the Child Sex Trafficking Team from the Texas Governor’s Office. This milestone reflected how God was expanding our reach, allowing survivor-centered voices from our community to help shape conversations beyond our city.
That same year, we piloted a Survivor Internship Program rooted in dignity, healing, and growth. Participants received hands-on training in trauma-informed care, crisis response, harm reduction, and mental health support, while also building practical skills for the workplace through ongoing mentorship and support.
Two graduates went on to pursue long-term careers in the nonprofit sector, one now serving in a management role and another helping provide housing solutions for those experiencing homelessness. Though the program is not currently active, it remains a meaningful example of how faith-filled, survivor-centered investment can open doors to hope and purpose.
2020
Our most notable achievement in 2020 was launching our Youth Advocacy program—an initiative that remains one of our core services today.
Our Advocates respond 24/7 when a child or teen is removed from a harmful situation. From that first moment and throughout the recovery process, they walk alongside each survivor—offering emotional support, helping them navigate community programs and services, and ensuring their voice is heard every step of the way. This is a field-based program, meaning Advocates meet youth where they are—both physically and emotionally—removing as many barriers as possible so children and teens can access the support they need.
The Landing continues to partner with the Office of the Governor (OOG) to support our Youth Advocacy Program.
In 2020, we also pivoted our service model through adaptive measures like delivering food directly to survivors’ houses and offering case management over the phone so we could stay in service despite the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
At our five-year milestone, we celebrated with gratitude all that God had done through The Landing. In just five years, we had the honor of walking alongside over 1,000 clients, each with a story of resilience and hope. What mattered most was the trust survivors placed in us and the sense of belonging they found here:
“I consider The Landing as family. They are not there to judge me.”
-The Landing Client
This milestone wasn’t just about numbers—it was about lives met with compassion, dignity, and care.
2022
Through a new partnership with United Way of Greater Houston, we were able to expand our Empowerment Program and Drop-In Center services, creating more opportunities for survivors to build confidence, skills, and independence. Graduates of the Empowerment Program who were interested in entrepreneurship were able to pursue additional training and develop business plans, equipping them to move toward sustainable, purpose-filled futures.
In 2022, we also increased our outreach efforts specifically within the Youth Advocacy Program by creating a Youth Advocacy Outreach Specialist position.
This role was established in recognition that providing Human Trafficking 101 and Internet Safety presentations to youth in schools would significantly increase the likelihood that young people could recognize the warning signs of trafficking, identify unsafe situations, and seek support earlier.
That same year, we reached another significant milestone, serving our 1,500th client!
2023
We fostered a meaningful partnership with Harris County Youth Village to host a program for young people, centered around education and awareness.
At the same time, our Empowerment Program continued to grow, and we were proud to celebrate 43 graduates in 2023.
We also served our 2,020th client this year as our reach continued to grow.
“The Landing totally flipped my situation into an Empowerment experience. I love them sincerely! They offered so many resources and supported my boys and I till the end! Thank you all for believing in me… now I believe in me!”
-The Landing Client
2024
Our Youth Advocates piloted a “Grown-ish” program for older youth clients, which addressed life skills and financial management to support their transition into adulthood.
In 2024, we also made an intentional decision to emphasize the importance of mental health: we incorporated mental health counseling sessions as a requirement to graduate from our Empowerment Program. This instigated a powerful change. As our clients witnessed other survivors going to counseling and saw how instrumental it was in their journeys, more and more of our clients were encouraged and motivated to take advantage of counseling.
During this year, our partnership with Path of Progression contributed to a 130% increase in individual counseling and support group participation.
The Drop-In Center also hit a major milestone in 2024—having delivered 100,756 total services in its 9 years of service.
2025
In 2025, The Landing served 477 Drop-In Center clients and 94 youth through our Youth Advocacy Program, while celebrating five Empowerment Program graduates. Clients achieved 1,517 goals, supported through 3,041 case management sessions, 6,119 meals, and mental health counseling for 180 survivors.
READ: Your Impact in Action: 9 Ways The Landing Supported Survivors in 2025
In response to rising needs, we expanded access to trauma-informed mental health care and welcomed a new CEO, Lisa Bourgoyne, a Licensed Professional Counselor and seasoned servant leader with more than 27 years of experience serving vulnerable populations in Harris County.
In 2026, we anticipate serving more than 700 survivors. We’re expanding into adjacent suites to create more space for healing. We’re deepening partnerships across Houston to serve survivors regardless of location or language. We’re measuring outcomes in housing stability, mental health, food security, and economic independence.
God has been so faithful for 10 years, and we believe He’s calling us to scale and deepen our services to human trafficking survivors. We want you to be part of the next decade of transformation.
Here are 3 ways you can participate:
- Join The Well, our monthly giving community, for $10, $100, or any increment of $10 a month.
- Give a one-time gift of $10, $100, $1,000, $10,000, or $100,000.
- Invite 10 friends to support The Landing.
With your bold faith and continued generosity, we can continue to transform lives right here in Houston, showing survivors that they are not alone.
Want to get involved by serving survivors in person? Help us serve a hot meal every day we’re open. Here’s why: One goal we hope to reach this year is fully launching our 16 Churches initiative.
We provide meals for survivors of human trafficking every day our Drop-In Center is open.
Some days that means simple, heat-and-serve options, so no one goes without. But when a church or business steps in to prepare and serve a fresh, hot meal, something changes. The room softens. Conversations begin. Trust starts to grow.
Our vision is to offer a hot, home-cooked (or catered) meal every day our Drop-In Center is open. If just 16 organizations committed to serving one day a month, this could be a reality.
Would your church, business, or organization be willing to be one of the 16?
