Frequently Asked Questions
Our Cause & Advocacy Work
Frequently Asked Questions
What cause does the Georgia Festival of Trees support?
The Georgia Festival of Trees is committed to helping end sexual exploitation and trafficking, protect children and vulnerable individuals, and support survivors on the path toward healing, recovery, and restoration.
Our work extends far beyond the Festival itself. Throughout the year, we work with nonprofit organizations, businesses, community leaders, and other partners to increase awareness, provide education, connect resources, support survivor-serving organizations, and encourage meaningful action.
Why did you choose sexual exploitation and trafficking as your cause?
Sexual exploitation and trafficking are happening in communities across Georgia, yet many people know very little about what they look like, who is vulnerable, or how survivors are affected.
Children are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation, but trafficking affects people of all ages. Young adults and adults, both women and men, can also be targeted and exploited. Survivors may face significant barriers as they work toward safety, healing, stability, and rebuilding their lives.
We believe stronger communities begin with informed communities. By helping people understand the issue, recognize warning signs, support prevention, and learn how they can respond, we can help protect those who are vulnerable and strengthen the organizations working to help survivors heal and rebuild.
Is there information about exploitation and trafficking at the Festival?
Very little. Information about trafficking and sexual exploitation is intentionally kept to a minimum at the Festival and is not prominently displayed throughout the event.
The Georgia Festival of Trees is designed to be a joyful, family holiday experience. Parents should not expect to encounter graphic, mature, or highly visible messaging about trafficking that could lead to unexpected or difficult conversations with their children.
Guests who want to learn more about our cause will have opportunities to do so, but most of our education, awareness, and advocacy work takes place outside of the Festival throughout the year.
If advocacy isn’t a major part of the Festival experience, how does the Festival support the cause?
The Festival gives us something incredibly valuable: a way to bring the community together.
Ticket sales, sponsorships, donations, the auction, volunteer participation, and other Festival activities help provide the resources and community connections that make our broader mission possible.
The Festival also introduces thousands of people to our organization and creates relationships with individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and community leaders that can grow into year-round involvement in prevention, education, advocacy, and survivor support.
What does your organization do throughout the year?
Our work doesn’t end when the Festival closes.
Throughout the year, we work with community partners to provide education, increase awareness, connect people and organizations, support prevention efforts, develop resources, strengthen survivor support, and create opportunities for individuals and businesses to get involved.
We believe ending exploitation requires collaboration. Our role is to help bring people, information, organizations, and resources together to prevent exploitation and help survivors move toward safety, healing, independence, and restoration.
What is FREE?
FREE stands for the Foundation to Resource the End of Exploitation.
FREE is our year-round initiative focused on strengthening the community response to sexual exploitation and trafficking. Its work includes prevention and education, advocacy, community partnerships, resource development, and strengthening the organizations and networks working to protect vulnerable individuals and support survivors.
A key part of FREE is the development of a comprehensive online resource network designed to connect nonprofits, businesses, community organizations, advocates, service providers, volunteers, and others working toward the same goal. Through a searchable website and growing resource database, FREE will make it easier to find organizations and services, identify community resources and needs, and connect people who can work together.
The goal is not simply to create a directory. It is to build stronger connections across the community, encourage collaboration, reduce duplication of efforts, identify gaps in resources, and help organizations find the partners, expertise, volunteers, funding, and other support they need.
Through FREE, we work to prevent exploitation before it happens, help people recognize the signs and respond sooner, and strengthen the community network that supports survivors as they find safety, heal, rebuild, and move toward lasting independence.
How are FREE and the Georgia Festival of Trees connected?
They are two parts of the same mission.
The Georgia Festival of Trees brings thousands of people, volunteers, businesses, and community organizations together each year. FREE builds on those relationships to support education, advocacy, prevention, collaboration, survivor resources, and action throughout the year.
Simply put, the Festival helps build the community. FREE helps mobilize that community around the cause.
Does FREE provide direct services to children, women, or survivors?
FREE is primarily focused on education, advocacy, collaboration, and resources rather than duplicating specialized services already being provided by experienced organizations.
We work alongside community partners whose work may include prevention, intervention, child protection, emergency services, recovery, housing, advocacy, trauma-informed care, and long-term survivor support.
By helping connect and resource these organizations, we can strengthen the network of support available to both those at risk and those working to rebuild their lives after exploitation.
Do you financially support other organizations?
Financial support for organizations working to prevent exploitation, protect vulnerable individuals, and provide services to survivors has been part of our mission.
But our impact isn’t limited to financial contributions. We also use our relationships, volunteers, community reach, partnerships, and year-round activities to help strengthen organizations and expand the resources available for prevention, education, recovery, and restoration.
What does “Awareness Driving Action” mean?
Awareness matters only if we do something with it.
We want people to move from “I didn’t know” to “Now I know what I can do.” That action may be learning the warning signs, having important conversations with your children, sharing reliable resources, volunteering, supporting survivor-serving organizations, advocating for change, contributing needed resources, or helping someone else become informed.
Awareness is the beginning. Action is how communities protect the vulnerable and help survivors rebuild.
How do you work with other organizations?
We believe collaboration is essential. We work with nonprofits, agencies, businesses, community leaders, advocates, volunteers, and survivor-serving organizations that bring different expertise and resources to this issue.
Our goal isn’t to replace organizations already doing good work. It’s to help connect, strengthen, resource, and amplify their work while identifying opportunities for the community to fill gaps and respond to real needs.
How can I get involved in the cause?
You don’t need to be an expert to make a difference.
You can attend an educational program, learn the warning signs of exploitation and trafficking, share reliable information, volunteer, support FREE, contribute resources needed by survivor-serving organizations, introduce us to a potential community or business partner, or make a financial contribution.
There is a place for everyone in helping prevent exploitation, protect vulnerable individuals, and create a community where survivors have the support and resources they need to rebuild.
Does attending the Georgia Festival of Trees help support this work?
Yes. When you attend the Festival, volunteer, sponsor, donate, participate in the auction, or otherwise support the Georgia Festival of Trees, you are helping make our broader mission possible.
You get to enjoy a holiday tradition with your family while helping build the community, strengthen prevention and awareness efforts, and support work that helps children, women, and survivors of exploitation move toward safer, stronger futures.
