On Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast, your host, Paul Cannon, talks with Miranda Corn, the Executive Director for the Texas Gulf Coast Refuge for Women. Refuge for Women was founded in 2009 when the founder, Ked Frank, recognized that despite there being over 100,000 victims of sexual trafficking in the U.S., there were fewer than 1,000 beds for long-term recovery available to trafficking victims. Upon learning that there were not many places for sex trafficking victims to turn to, he decided to form Refuge for Women. The mission has five locations across the U.S., including one in the Texas Gulf Coast, that provide faith-based care for women who have escaped human trafficking or sexual exploitation. Refuge for Women aims to offer women who have escaped sex trafficking or sexual exploitation the hope, support, and tools needed to live a life of freedom. The mission offers women a multi-year continuum of care program to help them work through and heal from their abuse and empower them to live their lives with dignity and hope.
Texas Gulf Coast Refuge for Women Multi-Year Continuum of Care Program
For women who have suffered sex trafficking or sexual exploitation, knowing where to go and what to do after escaping their abuser can be difficult. Often, many women who escape trafficking do not know how to get clean after their abuser forced them to take drugs, and many are fearful that their abuser will find them. When women who have escaped their abusers don’t know where to go, Refuge for Women is there to provide a place to stay and support to thrive. The Texas Gulf Coast Refuge for Women offers a multi-year continuum of care program for women who have escaped sex trafficking or sexual exploitation. The program begins with the Emergency House Program, a program that offers victims up to 90 days of housing and services. The Emergency House Program operates with 24/7 staff support and can accept survivors into its low-barrier home within 24 hours. In the Emergency House Program, survivors receive medical care and detox support, assistance with basic needs, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and case management to support their next safe steps. After residents have completed the Emergency House Program, they move into the Long-Term Program, which lasts for up to 12 months. The Long-Term Program offers residents daily schedules of trauma-responsive, best-practice curricula, a shared residential home, weekly and individual group counseling, psychiatric care, life skills training, educational assistance, and pre-employment readiness services. Upon graduating from the long-term program, women can choose to move into a Transitional Living home. Refuge for Women’s Transitional Living homes provide women with continued physical and mental health services and addiction recovery support, while offering women the opportunity to live alone. Women in this program are employed full- or part-time, seeking employment, and/or are enrolled in an education program.
Additional Services
After women complete the multi-year continuum of care programs, Texas Gulf Coast Refuge for Women offers them the opportunity to participate in the Free to Flourish Affordable Housing program. This program allows residents to live independently in their own apartment while going to school, and/or working full- or part-time, and participate in counseling/recovery services or any life skills courses they may need. When women enter this program, their rent is initially subsidized so that they can navigate school and new job opportunities without needing to increase their financial burden. Each woman is provided a 1-bedroom unit where they can feel safe and independent. Additionally, Refuge for Women offers 2-bedroom units for women with children. In the Free to Flourish Affordable Housing program, women can stay for up to five years to remove the barriers to employment and housing and build critical resources and support networks necessary to succeed.
Volunteer Opportunities
With a staff of only 15 people, Texas Gulf Coast Refuge for Women relies heavily on volunteers to ensure that its residents are able to continue receiving assistance to work through their past, without needing to worry about housing. As a faith-based organization helping women with long-term recovery from sexual trafficking situations, this would be a good opportunity for churches, teachers, older teens, and adults to volunteer. As a volunteer, you may be on an in-program team to help with yardwork or plant watering to maintain the outer appearance of the house, or you may be part of an indoor team to help with teaching the curriculum to the residents, leading art classes with the residents, or cooking with the residents. Additionally, volunteers could work on a team outside the program home. Outside the program, volunteers may help with working and running events.
Other Ways to Help
If you want to help Texas Gulf Coast Refuge for Women but are unable to volunteer, there are other ways to help. One way you can help is by sponsoring a room. Sponsoring a room is a special way for individuals, churches, organizations, and businesses to get involved with the residents and make a positive change in their lives. The sponsored rooms are the rooms where the residents will spend their time doing daily activities and working through the trauma they experienced. If you sponsor a room, there will be a plaque displaying the sponsor’s name and a Bible verse selected by the sponsor to acknowledge the sponsorship. This is a 12-month sponsorship, and sponsors will have the opportunity to renew their sponsorship at the end of the 12 months. Another way to help is by attending the organization’s fundraisers. Texas Gulf Coast Refuge for Women hosts a Spring Gala to empower survivors on their journey to a new life. This gala is an evening of fun, fellowship, and fundraising that the whole family can enjoy.
Furthermore, if you are unable to sponsor a room or attend the organization’s fundraising events, you can visit the website and donate to the cause. On the Refuge for Women, Texas Gulf Coast website, click on “Give” and select or enter the amount you would like to donate. Additionally, if you want your donation to be tangible rather than monetary, you can click on “House Requests” to view the organization’s Amazon wish list and purchase items for them.
Contact and Info
The website address is https://refugeforwomen.org/texasgulfcoast/. On the site, you can find more information about the mission, upcoming events, how to donate, and how to sign up for volunteer opportunities.
You are also welcome to call them at (979) 739-9299 or message them through the Contact Us page on the website.
Refuge for Women, Texas Gulf Coast is a 501©(3) non-profit organization. All donations made are tax-deductible as per the IRS guidelines.
Meet Houston Missions and The Simmons and Fletcher Local Missions Podcast is presented by Simmons and Fletcher, P.C. Injury & Accident Lawyers. Paul H. Cannon is a partner in the firm.
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