BE Faithful - Annie Schomaker Interview

Annie is the co-founder and Director of Expansion for Eden's Glory and a therapist for Foster Kairos, our minors program. MANY hours of learning, research, networking, writing, revising, wrestling, creativity, heart, and PRAYER have been given to the creation of a two-year treatment program for survivors of human trafficking.

Annie's heart is for the holistic healing of each survivor and is privileged to have walked with a number of women and children through the healing process as well as consulting with others around the country who have a heart to duplicate the work. As far as adversity...there isn't much involved in this work that hasn't felt like deep adversity and I'm a pretty open book :)

Whether it was just trying to get it up and running, finding funding, the first resident who arrived and reminded us all of how deep the wounding went and how ill-equipped we felt, finding and retaining healthy qualified staff, working with our first children who were trafficked, seeing the first resident leave before we felt she was ready, watching a number of them struggle despite our best efforts...did I mention the funding? LOL and then all the personal - I've nearly died twice since we opened the home due to health complications, learning how to balance motherhood with 2 girls in a world that is so cruel...my own faith journey...marriage...again - I could go on and on haha:)

But ALL of it, I see the Lord's hand so clearly...providing, equipping, healing, redeeming, preparing...again I could go on and on but it's truly been one of the best things of my life is going through all of this - Some areas, I'm still waiting for the redemption and healing and others have stories of miracles:)

Currently I'm balancing the roles of doing therapy in our minors program, trying to help get us out of a financial struggle as an org and also working with other communities to replicate. You can find us at edensglory.org as well as Facebook and Instagram!)

Executive Director  Holly is a proud alumna of Greenville College, where she earned her degree in Education. Her journey into advocacy began in 2010 at a Passion Conference, where she first learned about the realities of modern-day slavery. Deeply moved, she felt a clear calling from God to support survivors in a tangible, Christ-centered way. Eight years later, after returning to her hometown, that calling led her to Eden’s Glory. Since then, Holly has dedicated over seven years to the field, serving in a variety of roles leading to Executive Director that empower survivors to encounter Jesus and walk in freedom.