In 2018, Hey Girl raised over $5,000 for the Refuge Ranch through the sales of our Girl Power line and special promotions. We also had the opportunity to stock the Refuge boutique with earrings and more! Thank you for being a part of something so important to our community.
About the Refuge Ranch
The Refuge Ranch is a 21-building, $7 million, labor of love, nestled among the Bastrop County pine trees. Developed by The Refuge for DMST™ (Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, The Refuge Ranch, is a long-term, residential, therapeutic community for 48 girls, minors through age 19, who have been rescued out of sex trafficking. Built from the ground up on 50 acres in a beautiful and restorative setting, The Refuge Ranch provides trauma-informed, holistic care for the girls on site, including: a University of Texas Charter School program, a medical clinic staffed by community partners and various therapeutic programs uniquely designed for the development of a child survivor.
The Refuge Ranch, with 48 beds, is the largest long-term, live-in rehabilitation facility for child survivors of sex trafficking in the United States. (See some recent photographs of The Refuge Ranch.)
Here’s why The Refuge Ranch is needed:
- Child sex trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world.
- In the U.S. there was an 846% increase in reported child sex trafficking cases from 2010 to 2015.
- There are currently 79,000 young adults and minors being sex trafficked in Texas.
- Texas has the second most reported number of child sex trafficking cases in the U.S.
- There are less than 600 beds available nationwide for child sex trafficking survivors, but we have over 13,000 animal shelters.
- Prior to the opening of The Refuge Ranch, Texas only had 24 beds available for child survivors’ long term recovery from trauma.