Executive Director & Co-Founder: Bonnie Gatchell
Route One
Route One Ministry is a local non-profit that works to address sex trafficking and exploitation within the city limits of Boston, Springfield, Worcester, and Hartford, CT. Over the past 12 months, Route One has experienced changes and hit milestones. Some of these changes have come in the form of challenges, and some in the form of expansion.
As a quick reminder, the vision of Route One is that every woman has inherent value and exploitation of any type is wrong, oppressive, and needs to be abolished. We believe that each woman is the expert on her own journey; our role is to listen and navigate the road together. We do this work only with partner churches like CPC and the good wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
This year, we expanded our reach by launching a site in Connecticut in March of 2025. The Connecticut site currently meets at Trinity Church in Tariffville, CT. The team is led by Marj Vatile of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Simsbury. They conducted the preliminary training and spent 6 months driving and praying over the clubs from May to December. On December 24th, they entered both clubs with great success and a good response from the women who work in the clubs.
Additionally, this team was able to bring gifts to the club located in S. Hadley, where they were most certainly welcomed. While our Springfield site coordinator had resigned as she shifted from single to married, we, Route One, are still dedicated to Springfield and the women who work in the strip clubs. Over the next 6 to 9 months, we plan to launch a search for a new site coordinator and to resume outreach in Springfield.
A milestone for Route One was Bonnie’s sabbatical. Bonnie has served Route One for 15 years, and while she was offered a short 6-week break in 2021, this year was the first year that she was able to spend an extended amount of time resting. She was able to rest and be refreshed because of partner churches like CPC, allowing stable financial support to hire the quality staff needed to maintain Route One in Bonnie’s absence.
Over the next 12 months, Route One plans to strengthen its current Worcester and CT sites through volunteer recruitment, training, and expanding local church support in each of these locations. Route One plans to search and hire a new site coordinator to reopen the Springfield outreach doors in the next 6 to 9 months.
