OUR FOUNDING STORY
INSPIRED BY STING AND THE SONG "ROXANNE"
Our origin story is quite unusual for an International Rescue Organization. It begins with the founder's teenage dedication to the rock band, the Police, and the lyrics to its best known song, Roxanne, about a man falling in love with a sex worker and offering to rescue her.
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"Roxanne,
You don't have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don't have to sell your body to the night."
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Twenty five years after first hearing Sting's music, the imagined connection with him deepened when Joshua had a series of life threatening Manic and Depressive episodes and was eventually diagnosed as Bipolar 1, the most dangerous and challenging Bipolar type to resolve.
His first psychiatrist tried to paint a picture for Joshua that being bipolar can be a good thing when handled creatively, and mentioned Sting as a glowing example. Joshua was shocked to hear that one of his idols have this dreaded dysfunction--and thrived because of it.
Even with this inspiring message Joshua has spent many years imprisoned within his mental disorder until recently. This long experience of being overwhelmed by his life has given Joshua a profound compassion for others imprisoned within their situations such as many of the Live-Cam models we meet.
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Our name and essence was inspired by a Sting/Police song, Roxanne, although Sting nor the Police are part of our organization.
The song, Roxanne, is about a man who falls in love with a prostitute on a soul level as equals, "I loved her since I knew her, I wouldn't talk down to ya." And he then he sets a plan to rescue her from her circumstances.
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Some of the finer points of Roxanne Rescue come straight out of the song, especially not ever talking down to a sex worker. Our organize helps the live-cam sex workers we connect with, as fellow humans, stuck in sometimes dangerous work scenarios. It is truly heartbreaking to see women in the couples and group livecam rooms, experiencing rape-like scenes. But it's even harder seeing a model with a route out of their career in sight, and still they can't move into a new life due to the good wages and often debts to their studio. Sometimes they owe their studios too much money to ever leave.
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Joshua began this organization after meeting with a live-cam model who was also a single parent of a toddler. She was so exhausted by her work and parenting schedule, she began collapsing when out in the world doing errands. He eventually helped her own a small nail salon, a life long dream. Months later, to his surprise, considering the cost, the salon failed, but she found work outside live-cam. The lesson he learned was that life change was possible, but it wasn't the resources which created it.
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It's not a usual kind of care we provide, nor is it a usual kind of non-profit. In fact from the very beginning, we have hired Live-Cam models for a fundraising jobs despite a steeper learning curve with technology than if we strictly hired from traditional international employee sites such as Upwork. We found that our employees who use to be in the sex work business are uniquely able to help another worker start their journey. We know there is a deep inner shift that most sex workers must pass through in order to pursue the rest of the lives empowered to take on all the challenges even in impoverished areas. It's often a slow transition, but that's what our non-profit is here to support.
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