TULSA -- A local organization is restoring hope for the hopeless by opening a facility aimed to help sex trafficking victims.
Young women, victimized by the cruelty of sex trafficking, can now find strength in the promise of the Demand Project’s new restoration home. With more than 50 acres of land purchased, the project is underway, and 2 Works for You got a glimpse at how lives will be transformed.
The entire project is founded on faith, and those who are spearheading it are asking the public to also have faith, and help save the lives of women who have lost everything.
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Piece by piece, Mount Arukah is coming together.
“Its Hebrew for restoration and transformation,” Kristin Weis, co-founder of the Demand Project said.
Kristin and her husband Jason, are fulfilling a calling.
“It was 13 years ago we were living in Denver… We saw a story on channel 9 news about a man who had raped his two year old little girl and he videotaped the rape and put it on the internet,” Kristin said.
Adding to the upset --- thousands logged on to watch.
“That's when our whole life changed,” Kristin said.
That’s when she and her husband started the Demand Project -- aiding in the rescue and restoration of trafficking victims in Oklahoma. But -- they felt called to do more.
“I feel honored that God entrusts us to do such a huge thing,” Kristin said.
Fifty-four acres, with 8 homes and a dining hall, were all donated. Those buildings will eventually house up to 60 minor sex trafficking victims, along with up to 16 adult trafficking victims.
It will consist of transitional housing, a life skill training center, and a crisis home for emergency situations.
“It will be somebody's first home,” Kristin said. “It'll be somebody's first safe place to lay their head down at night where nobody's going to come in the bedroom and hurt them. It'll be somebody's very first bed that doesn't have the stain of rape on it.”
But providing hope isn't going to happen overnight. Kristin said community involvement is key, but there's a catch.
‘We just have to keep it confidential,” she said. “How do you tell people that you need so much, but they can't actually be here and be a part of it.”
For safety -- the location of Mount Arukah is secret. Although you can't see it, organizers hope faith will give the community sight.
And that chipping in a couch or a bed, will make all the difference in the lives of those who've lost so much.
Mount Arukah is set to open next year. If you’d like to make a contribution, you can contact the organization by clicking here.
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