Kendra Scott’s Exclusive Line of Jewelry Benefitting The Refuge

Kendra Scott’s new Masie Statement Necklace and Earrings launched today, and 20% of proceeds benefit The Refuge Ranch! These pieces are an exclusive line in the Kendra Scott Shop for Good giveback suite, which “helps women and children live their brightest, healthiest, and most empowered lives.”

From the very beginning, Kendra Scott has been an ardent supporter of our work at The Refuge Ranch. Before we welcomed the first girl at The Refuge Ranch, Kendra Scott supplied the cottages with creature comforts including yoga mats, nail polish, and picture frames to help make the ranch feel like home.

Since then, Kendra Scott has continuously stepped in to bolster our mission through sponsoring events, donating jewelry for the girls and for staff appreciation, and through financial contributions.

In the fall of 2019, the Kendra Scott design team led a Makers Class onsite at The Refuge Ranch. They walked the girls through the design process from inspiration to final product, and then the girls made their own original pieces.

Inspired by the colorful crafts made by the girls in our care, as well as the therapeutic, calming effect of intricate weaving and beading, the design team at Kendra Scott created an exclusive jewelry line benefitting The Refuge Ranch. The Masie suite brings together a rainbow of playful paracord and Kendra Scott’s iconic custom stones. The Masie Statement Necklace and Earrings are limited to 150 pieces each and 20% of proceeds benefit The Refuge for DMST™.

“The opportunity to not only spend time with the residents of The Refuge Ranch, but also design these styles that give back to their organization, represents one of the many things I love most about this brand: using our passions to support the communities we call home.” – Kendra Scott

Thank you, Kendra, for your endless support of the girls in our care!

3 Key Takeaways from the 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report

This month, the US Department of State released its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, one of the most comprehensive and reliable resources on human trafficking. The TIP Report is a great place to look to understand labor and sex trafficking and how the United States is combating it globally.

This year’s report includes important topics such as trafficking amidst a pandemic, the complexities of familial trafficking, the negative impacts of trafficking misinformation, and much more. Read the full report and check out our 3 key takeaways below.

3 Key Takeaways from the 2021 TIP Report

1) Trafficking and the COVID-19 Pandemic

“Pandemic mitigation efforts forced many people to shift online, including human traffickers. Online recruitment and grooming increased as children spent more time online for virtual learning due to school closures… [I]t should be noted that a portion of the increase resulted from the recirculation of sensationalized trafficking-related stories and misinformation on social media platforms... With enough time for traffickers to establish effective methods to recruit and groom their victims and insufficient avenues to prosecute various forms of online sexual exploitation, the pandemic accelerated and accrued the challenges to combating online sex trafficking.”

2) Familial Trafficking

“[Familial trafficking] is difficult to identify because it takes place within family networks and victimizes children, many of whom are under 12 years of age, who may not realize they are victims… In these cases, the trafficker may begin grooming the victim at an early age, using their close proximity to take advantage of the child’s developmental stage and inability to verbally express concerns or safety issues. One study estimates that the trafficker is a family member in about 31 percent of child sex trafficking cases. In these cases, the child’s inherent loyalty to and reliance on the family structure make familial trafficking difficult to identify and challenging to prosecute.”

3) Trafficking Misinformation

“For many people, human trafficking evokes images of women and children being forcibly taken and sold into sexual slavery by strangers, or of people locked in rooms or vehicles far from home. These images, however, do not capture the reality of most cases of sex and labor trafficking. Human trafficking is typically not so simple or salacious. Most victims are not kidnapped by strangers or secretive syndicates. Instead, it is often their neighbors, relatives, romantic partners, or other acquaintances who exploit them. Traffickers often use fraudulent, psychologically manipulative, or coercive recruitment methods so they need not kidnap or even physically restrain their victims… Individuals who wish to learn more about what human trafficking looks like in their own communities should seek out resources from established organizations and government agencies that use evidence-based solutions to address the crime.”

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Human trafficking is an under-reported, underground crime. Information on the subject is ever-changing, hard to obtain and often just a snapshot in time, or particular to a specific region. Always check your sources before sharing information. For some of the best currently available statistics on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, see our DMST Statistics page.

Easter at The Refuge Ranch

We had a wonderful Easter weekend at The Refuge Ranch, full of games and fellowship.

The morning on Good Friday was peaceful as the girls enjoyed their day off of school. In the afternoon, we set out blankets for a picnic of sandwiches, chips and cookies. Together, the girls enjoyed the beautiful weather and played a game of 9-square.

After lunch, we had an Easter egg hunt. Staff members, including one dressed at the Easter bunny, hid eggs in trees and light fixtures, under couch cushions—even inside a popped volleyball! Some eggs had candy inside, some were filled with confetti, and special golden eggs were filled with coupons that could be redeemed for prizes, including trips to get ice cream or to pick out clothing items in The Boutique. One special egg had coupons for an entire cottage to redeem together, including a donut breakfast, a movie day, and a pizza night. The two girls who found the egg for their cottage were ecstatic. All the girls had a great time chasing one another, cracking cascarones on each other’s heads, and searching high and low for the eggs.

On Saturday, the girls hung out with their cottage mates and made bird’s nest cookies with Rice Krispies and mini-Cadbury eggs.

The girls received Easter baskets donated by Brunch Babes and Wesley United Methodist Church. The beautiful baskets were filled with sweet treats, games, hair care products, and more. Our staff received baskets of skincare products donated by the Catholic Diocese of Austin. We are so grateful for the help not only in making this weekend special for the girls but also for showing appreciation to our staff!

Easter baskets donated by Brunch Babes

Easter card from the Wesley United Methodist Church Women’s Mission Unit

Girls who attended chapel on Sunday spent time worshipping with our staff and learning about how the resurrection of Jesus brings us into restoration with God. Overall, it was a beautiful and peaceful Easter weekend at The Refuge Ranch!

Spring Break at The Refuge Ranch

We just wrapped up Spring Break at The Refuge Ranch, and it was a wonderful, fun-filled time off from school. Each day we had activities planned and led by different staff members, plus the girls had plenty of free time to rest and reset.

Thank you to Leslie Mellenbruch for donating to the girls’ activity fund to supply games and activities.

Throughout the week, the girls went zip lining, tie-dyed t-shirts, took a painting class, learned to make homemade tortillas, and went to the driving range with our chaplain. We even had an inflatable water slide on-site at the ranch!

The most raved-about activity was a Cupcake Wars competition judged by our staff members. The girls competed in teams with their cottage mates and let their creativity run wild. One cottage decorated their cupcakes with blue flowers, inspired by The Refuge colors, and another cottage used fondant to bring their bright yellow flowers to life. One of the girls made gluten-free cupcakes for staff members with dietary restrictions, and she called her sprinkle-heavy theme “Welcome to Cupcake Land.”

On Sunday, the girls had a movie night to wind down before class started back at our UT Charter School on Monday. We are so grateful for this relaxing week that gave the girls time to express their creativity and to bond with our staff and one another.

Valentine's Day at The Refuge Ranch

Valentine’s Day is one of our favorite holidays at The Refuge Ranch—we use this day of love as an excuse to dress to the nines, celebrate sisterhood, and lovingly serve a formal meal to the girls in our care.

On Valentine’s Day, residents and House Moms at The Refuge Ranch received themed gift baskets, donated by Brunch Babes and Lakeway Church Women’s Ministry, including makeup, nail polish, candy and other sweet treats.

The girls and staff took time to write notes of love and encouragement for each other on over 300 handmade cards. The cards were decorated by the NXP Semiconductors Women’s Leadership Team, the Wooten neighborhood group, and troops from the Girl Scouts of Central Texas Sunnyside Service Unit. Thank you for creating these beautiful cards!

Girl Scout Troop 42116

NXP Semiconductors Women’s Leadership Team

Over 300 handmade Valentine cards

In the evening on Valentine’s Day, Heidi Moga and Kelli Knight, former House Moms who still volunteer to serve the girls, planned to host our second annual Valentine’s Day dinner in The Chapel. The winter storm complicated our plans, but our staff and volunteers were determined and they executed a flawless dinner two weeks later. (Read heartwarming stories from our frozen week here.)

The week leading up to the dinner was full of excitement as each girl received a brand-new prom dress from Foster Angels of Central Texas. On Saturday night, the girls donned their sparkly dresses and high heels and arrived at The Chapel to find it filled with red and pink balloons, flowers, and flickering (flameless) candles.

Each place was set with a red heart placemat, a cloth napkin in a napkin ring, and a fork for each course. “I’ve never seen anything like this except in movies,” one girl remarked as she took her place at the table.

Staff and volunteers served the girls three courses, including soup and salad, a sorbet palate cleanser, Chicken Cordon Bleu, and mini bundt cakes for dessert. The girls were primed with a mini etiquette lesson, and many of them laughed as they reminded one another which fork to use and how to signal they were finished with their course.

The girls joyfully took turns posing for pictures in their prom dresses. Many returned to our photo backdrop repeatedly throughout the night, with another staff member or friend in tow each time, so they would have photos with every single person to mark the occasion. It was an evening of pure delight all around, and we cannot wait to continue the tradition again next year.

Heartwarming Stories from a Frozen Week at The Refuge Ranch

Thank you, everyone, for checking on the girls and staff out at The Refuge Ranch. Your concern warmed us all during a week full of challenges.

There are 29.4 million people living in Texas and every one of us now share a common story of survival when the polar vortex dipped down to the Lone Star State last week. Of these 29.4 million stories, this one is ours and we want to share how miracles big and small kept us going during the storm.

Snow-covered parking lot at The Refuge Ranch.

As the temperatures dropped on Monday and rolling blackouts began in Bastrop County, we were intermittently out of power and hot water at the ranch. We knew our food supply wouldn’t last through the week, and we also realized our normal pharmacy would be unable to fill the girls’ medications. So, we put out a call to our board members and medical contacts to see if they might be able to help.

Lakeway Police Chief Todd Radford, Holly Mills Gardner, Pat Trecker and Travis County Commissioner Ann Howard loading 23 cases of large bottles of water for The Refuge. Thank you to Richard’s Rainwater, Taylor O’Neil, Drew Oetting, and Creighton Honeck for making this water donation possible!

In a matter of hours, we had a “fishes and loaves” miracle on our hands. Board Member Tracy Steinle contacted neighbors who eagerly donated coolers full of food, even though they no power and running water. Austin Ridge Bible Church, one of our church partners, gathered $1,700 worth of groceries. Others donated cases of water, and still others made financial contributions toward our immediate needs following the storm. Through the support of many, we were able to get the girls’ prescriptions transferred to another pharmacy in Austin. By the grace of God, we found a doctor who was braving the ice to travel to Bastrop for work, and she was able to deliver all the food and medication by Wednesday afternoon.

Austin Ridge Bible Church donated over $1,700 in groceries.

Thank you to Megan Niles for mobilizing your church community!

On the second day of rolling blackouts, one of the girls who loves to cook devised a plan to prepare a hot meal for everyone. She prepped everything while the power was out and raced to cook when it came back on. Working through the intermittent power outages, she was able to prepare two trays of chicken enchiladas, rice, and beans so that everyone was able to have a hot meal that nourished body and soul.

Frozen sidewalks at The Refuge Ranch.

On Thursday, our staff, many of whom stayed overnight through multiple shifts, worked tirelessly to clear the pathways of ice. By Friday, the world began to thaw. The resourceful young chef helped inventory all the donated food and prepared a feast for breakfast, including eggs, sausage, hash browns, and homemade tortillas. We began to put things back in order by washing clothes and dishes for the first time all week. As a staff, we debriefed what we learned so that we be even better prepared for next time we have an event that interrupts power and water.

All in all, this last week was an opportunity that showed us what are made of: the girls were all safe and well supported by staff who stepped up to make sure that there was no interruption in care; all staff put down their roles and picked up whatever hat was needed to keep things moving forward; we faced the challenges with smiles, humor and the knowledge there was nothing we couldn’t achieve if we worked together; and the community that supports the mission of The Refuge stepped up again to make sure we had what we needed to succeed. This last week showed us the collective strength of our community and our team.

We are blessed and grateful for everyone who makes this healing ranch possible every day, and especially during this week of challenges.

Halloween at The Refuge Ranch

We had a full weekend of Halloween fun out at The Refuge Ranch! The festivities kicked off after school on Thursday with a Trunk or Treat. Staff dressed up and decorated their vehicles to pass out candy and other snacks to the girls. For a chance to elicit big smiles from the girls, staff members went all out with their decorations.

On Thursday night, the middle aisle in The Chapel was transformed into a runway for a Halloween Pageant. The girls donned their costumes to walk down the runway and participate in a talent competition.

On Friday night, the girls painted pumpkins with their cottage mates and House Parents to put on their front porch.

On Saturday, the girls played Halloween games in the morning, baked cookies in the afternoon, and watched a Halloween movie in the evening.

Thank you Brunch Babes, OUR Austin, and Sisterhood Story for your generous donations that helped make the Halloween festivities a hit with the girls at The Refuge Ranch. Through your support, every girl got to pick out her own costume to wear during Trunk or Treat and our Halloween Pageant. From inflatable penguins to Marvel superheroes, each girl’s costume reflected her unique personality.

The Power of Community: Eight Days of Hope

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Like The Refuge for DMST, the nonprofit Eight Days of Hope arose from an overwhelming community need that was met with countervailing community support. After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, a call went out over American Family Radio’s 180 stations, asking for retired construction workers to come help rebuild the city. Thousands of men and women responded and Eight Days of Hope was born. Since then, Eight Days of Hope volunteers have responded to natural disasters all over the country. Right before Christmas 2019, an army of volunteers came to The Refuge Ranch to complete the Equine Therapy Center, our last major construction project on site. Their experienced team completed the work in just eleven days! (Video coming soon.)

How does a national volunteer organization that concentrates on disaster relief and rapid response end up building a large arena, round pen, six stables, a tack room and hay loft, an office for the Equine Program Coordinator, along with an adjacent classroom to augment therapy?

“Human trafficking is human disaster,” says Eight Days of Hope founder Steve Tybor, “and the need is huge.”

In response, Eight Days of Hope launched a Safe House Ministry to build safe places for trafficking survivors. Steve and his army of volunteers intend to “build a safe house every month,” says Steve, “until God tells me to stop.”

Thankfully for us this includes equine therapy centers in long-term residential treatment centers! We’re hoping we get to work more with Eight Days of Hope in the near future.

EQUINE THERAPY FOR CHILD SURVIVORS OF SEX TRAFFICKING

The seven components of The Refuge Circle of Care™ appropriately and sensitively surround each girl with all the services she needs for her individualized healing plan. As part of the psychological component of The Refuge Circle of Care, equine therapy (also referred to as horse therapy, equine-assisted therapy, and equine-assisted psychotherapy) is a form of experiential therapy that involves interactions between clients and horses. Through these interactions, therapists and survivors can identify and address a range of emotional and behavioral challenges.

As a herd animal, a horse’s survival depends on its ability to read emotions and react accordingly. If an approaching predator makes one member of their herd stressed and frightened, they will all become stressed and frightened. Their ability to mirror emotions helps a trafficking survivor safely process her trauma one layer at a time with the guidance of her licensed clinical therapist and an Equine Program Coordinator.

Equine therapy exercises begin slowly, starting on the ground and progressing over the course of the program to riding exercises. While interacting with a horse, in the moment when a survivor is scared, she can work through her fear with her counselors. When she feels safe and there is trust, then she can calm herself and breathe through her anxiety. When similar fears arise later, the methods she learned in the controlled environment of the Equine Therapy Center round pen and arena can be applied in everyday situations to help her self-regulate and overcome her fear.

The size and strength of a horse is formidable and hard to ignore. How each child behaves toward her horse is a direct reflection of how she faces her own seemingly insurmountable trauma. Trafficked children are often frozen in a hyper-vigilant, fight-or-flight survivor mode that stresses their bodies and inhibits brain development. Through mundane horse care and stable management, children who have endured long-term, complex trauma learn to relax and flourish. While working with horses, a child can work through her triggers in real time. These realizations can lead to therapeutic breakthroughs when guided by her counselors. The horses at The Refuge Ranch act as a bridge, helping each girl reconnect both to themselves and those around them.