Since we opened the first building on our property, our home has often been filled beyond the capacity for which it was built. It was built to hold 12 girls, but there have been times when 15 girls have been living together under this roof.
Our first building, currently housing 12 girls
Thankfully, we have blueprints already in place to continue construction and increase our ability to give more girls a safe home to recover in and receive critical care after they are rescued from sex trafficking… but of course, it takes money to build those buildings, and money to sustain the projects.
I have to be honest, I’m very excited about plans for construction of My Refuge House… but slightly less excited about fundraising for it. Our plans are to build 5 small cottages that can house 6 girls in each, in order to make the healing environment they are a part of as family like as possible.
Visioneering studios designed some incredible facilities completely pro bono for us, and we are thrilled at what those plans, once completed, will allow us to accomplish. Our hopes are to build the five cottages, an admin/school/ counseling building called the Garden Gate House, and a multi-purpose building called the Ohana Pavilion.
Our goal is to have all of these completely constructed by the end of 2015 giving us the capacity to house and care for up to 45 girls at one time!!!!
Design of the new cottages, with a "healing garden" in the middle
However, In order to build all of this it will cost $500,000.
Obviously, this is not a small chunk of change. Our plans are to start building by January, to develop some much needed infrastructure and security foundations (fence, sewage lines, etc). Because our property is rural, none of the infrastructure exists on the land. In addition, the nature of the type of girls we serve demands that we have fairly high security, in order to satisfy the requirements of a “safe house.” Therefore, almost 1/5 of our total budget is needed for this first part of the project!
I’m sure everyone can assume… raising money to build a fence and create sewage lines is not the easiest thing to do. Thankfully, The Cause Community Church in La Brea donated $10,000 for construction earlier this year, and Sevenly.org ran a campaign for us that raised over $16,000, all of which will go directly to this construction.
In addition to all of this, this week… we miraculously received an anonymous donation for $25,000.00!!!
I have absolutely no idea who this generous donor is… but THANK YOU, from the staff, the board of directors, and all the girls who have and will have a safe place to recover.
We currently have $51,000 to start Phase 2 of our construction project, but we still need $449,000. Please consider giving today, and help us increase our capacity to serve many more rescued girls.
–Crystal
Phase 2 of Construction: Scheduled to start January 2013!!
Wow, that is awesome! Thank God!
Thanks Ingrid! We are so thankful!!