About the Rahab Fund

Your donation to the Rahab Fund will be used for the direct needs and support of the girls and women that use Kwanzaa’s Northside Women’s Space (NWS). NWS is a place where girls and women who have been exploited by sex trafficking and the sex trade can find rest, a place to think and connections to services and supports that will help them get from where they are now to where they want to be. Direct needs and support can be the personal hygiene supplies that will be used in the building (bath towels, laundry detergent, hair products, hand soap); items for members to take with them (like toothbrushes, shampoo, sanitary products); or food and beverages. Other direct NWS needs are new carpet for the floors, furniture, paint and cleaning supplies as we grow into the 10,000 square feet of available space in the building. NWS and the girls and women we serve are a long-term investment.
 
Biblically, Rahab is the prostitute who played a key role in the conquest of Jericho. She lived in a house in the city wall where she hid spies that promised to spare her and her family when they came back to conquer the city if she followed their directions. Rahab believed in their work and their God. Because of her actions, when Joshua came back for his famous seven day march around Jericho, Rahab and her family were spared. Rahab goes on to become one of Jesus’ ancestors, is the most mentioned woman in Scripture, and is used alongside Abraham as an example of the well known assertion that “faith without works is dead”. In today’s world, Rahab would be a ‘real life success story’ - NWS exists to create and support this same success in and around our own community.
 
In a striking poem by Thomas Merton, Rahab’s scarlet cord (her code to the spies that she had been faithful in her promise to protect their secret) is described as the signal that spelled her own safety; through her actions, she saved both herself and her family. Merton goes on to say “It is the flowers that will one day rise from Rahab’s earth, That have redeemed them from the hell of Jericho.” We believe that the girls and women who have come, and will come, to NWS have the same needs, and potential, for hope and rebirth as Rahab. Life on our streets today can be hell without a way out; together, we have thoughtfully and carefully imagined and built such a place.

Scripture references from: Joshua Chapters 2-5, Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25.
 

Ways to Give

Creating a new birth and a new beginning takes time, planning and support. We are grateful for yours. Click the buttons below to give online.

Giving by mail
If mailing a donation, please mail to the Kwanzaa Community Church offices payable to:
 
"Kwanzaa Community Church PCUSA"

Mail donations to:
Kwanzaa Community Church
ATTN: Rahab Fund
2100 Emerson Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55411