9 Survivors Experienced Healing at our Becoming Retreat

Last week in the USA, we piloted our trauma-informed retreat for survivors. We partnered with two local agencies to bring 9 trafficking survivors for an intensive week of trauma therapy.

Seeing these survivors’ smiles and breakthroughs over the week was truly rapturous. It all started when we welcomed the survivors. They each received personalized journals, gift bags, and even gourmet cookies. Their reactions showed that many of the survivors had never been treated with such care. One simply stared and said, "I feel so loved."

During the retreat, they began to heal through animal-assisted therapy, art therapy, individual therapy. More than anything, it was beautiful to see survivors experience transformational love. We saw powerful breakthroughs and tears.

We are more convinced than ever that our program at the Sanctuary is going to transform hundreds, even thousands of lives in ways we can scarcely imagine. The land in Romania is nearly secured, we have already paid for 80% of the property. We are ready to welcome survivors as soon as Covid-related travel bans lift.

Even as we yearn to open the Sanctuary, we’re celebrating the transformation that is already happening across the globe! While we were running our retreat stateside, 15 survivors were graduating from our current program in Romania. This week, they are starting their new lives with jobs and community support. Join us in blessing this new chapter for them!

The door to freedom is swinging wide for survivors. Next, we will unlock the land to the first Sanctuary!

How Generosity Stops Trafficking: Empowering Professionals to Give Trauma-Informed Care

When you support organizations like Uncaged, you are directly helping to end the horrors of sex trafficking. One of the most powerful ways to keep survivors free is to give them optimal care after rescue. This means assembling a team of expert specialists who can journey with survivors.

It takes an exceptional freedom fighter (like you!) to see this large vision and commit to it. It’s why we’re so grateful for people like our donor, “Lee Davidson.” We want to highlight his enormous impact for restoration today as an example of how powerful one person can be in the fight against trafficking.

Lee grew up in a joyful house. Even as a kid, his parents’ deep generosity touched him. “Whenever they got an extra bonus or gift, their first thought was ‘how do I give this away?’” he remembers. He often wondered if that was why they were so joyful.

He first encountered sex trafficking when he was in ministry. He and his wife connected with women in their local area who were working in the “adult entertainment industry.” As his family got to know the women, he and his wife realized how hungry for love many of the women were.

“We wanted to make them feel loved and valued, so we started hosting a special Christmas dinner party for them at our house every year,” Lee says. “We would give them gifts and personalized handwritten letters. We’d play games and dote on them. I remember a lot of them saying that I was the first pastor they ever spoke with in their whole lives.”

For years, Lee would get regular updates about these women. He knew that the road to recovery could be bumpy for survivors, especially if they didn’t have a lot of support.

“Sex trafficking isn’t an issue you throw money at and then women’s lives are magically fixed,” Lee shares. “They need to work through the trauma and integrate into a community where they sense genuine love. In a way, that’s really what lets them start over.”

When he heard Kim Westfall share the vision of Uncaged, he got excited. Here was a chance to show that same love and care for survivors, just like his family had done during those Christmas parties.

Then one day, Lee accepted what he thought was a volunteer position. To his great surprise, he learned that the position offered a generous salary.

Like his parents, Lee knew he wanted to use the unexpected funds to bless a high-impact organization each year. We were shocked and honored when he chose Uncaged as the first of these organizations. Thanks to his generosity, we knew it was finally possible to bring Dr. Vanessa Snyder on board as our international program director.

When he heard the news, Lee was filled with joy. “My first thought was ‘this is awesome!’” Lee laughs, “Knowing that this incredibly talented lady is able to use a skill set that I don’t have to love on survivors, it’s amazing. It gives me incredible joy. I’m convinced anything we give becomes much more when it’s placed in the hands of God.”

We cannot express the fullness of our gratitude for donors like Lee. His heart for survivors will leave a lasting legacy; it will beat every day in our trauma-informed program. Generosity like yours, like Lee’s, goes a long way to stop sex trafficking. People like you pave the way for professionals like Dr. Vanessa Snyder to create research-driven care plans. Every survivor who graduates from our program will thrive because of people like him, and people like you.

Thank you for your support and encouragement of Uncaged. Truly, you are helping to end the effects of sex trafficking and giving survivors the utmost care.

If you want to learn how you can leave a lasting legacy in the fight against trafficking, click here to get in touch with Kim Westfall today.

We hold the keys to freedom!

How We Helped Take Down a Trafficking Ring

I am writing to share some big news with you: we had a hand in taking down an entire trafficking ring.

You may remember that a colleague and I reported a suspicious situation in an airport this year. Two young ladies were being herded around the airport by a younger and an older man. Something felt off about it. After witnessing some concerning behaviors, we alerted airport authorities. They called us that evening to confirm: the two men were trafficking the ladies. Our intervention had saved them just in time. 

If that had been the end of the story, two precious lives saved would have been enough. God had plans beyond what we could see.

In September, we got word that a ring of 24 traffickers had been arrested. They were smuggling women and girls across Western Europe. The syndicate started over 10 years ago. They targeted low-income women, posing as their boyfriends and promising them great jobs abroad before enslaving them.

We were overjoyed to see this pernicious group taken down. Our jaws dropped when we found out: it was our report in that airport that put international authorities on the syndicate’s trail in the first place. The authorities used evidence and the two traffickers involved in the situation we reported to track the rest of the cabal and ultimately take them down.

When we spoke up at the airport, I had no idea the true impact it would have. Those 24 traffickers cannot hurt women and girls anymore. For all we know, hundreds of women have been pre-emptively saved from being slaves. 

All I can say is that when we are faithful to take one step towards fighting evil, God multiplies those actions beyond anything we can imagine. 

It makes me think about the first Sanctuary. It’s an oasis of 237 acres tucked in the countryside. In the face of this global evil, it can look like a smaller battlefield. Then I realize that we are planning to touch 400 lives of survivors and families in 2021. For each of those people we interact with face-to-face, God will be multiplying freedom and restoration far beyond. 

The thought fills me with determination. The place is ready. The program is ready. All we need to do is find the provision to purchase the last 60 acres of land. 

If you want to push us over the starting line by investing in the Sanctuary, click here today.