"Everything."
That's what the construction of a Freedom Ranch near Brainerd means to Vicki Leckie, co-founder of the Rising Hope Foundation.
"This is a really big day," Leckie said Thursday, July 26, as she watched a house raised to make room for a new addition of dormitories to house human trafficking victims.
Rising Hope is a nonprofit organization Leckie and her husband, David, created in 2013 with the goal to help trafficking victims heal and get back into society.
As part of the organization, the Leckies developed the Freedom Ranch project, which will provide housing where girls rescued from the enslavement of human trafficking can begin healing with the help of counselors, educators and health care professionals in a safe environment.
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With the help of an anonymous donation, the first Freedom Ranch is under construction southwest of Brainerd on County Highway 2. The donor requested the facility be built in Crow Wing County, and Leckie said she just happened to find this property online fitting the organization's needs. The property came with a house already standing that was raised up Thursday, with the help of Leighton Straight, of Leighton Straight Housing Moving. A first floor of dormitories will then be built, creating space to house eight girls ages 12-17 years old for long-term recovery.
"It could be 18 months, it could be two years, it could be three years," Leckie said of how long residents may stay in the house. "It really depends upon how much trauma they've endured."
The house-raising couldn't have happened though, without $5,500 donated by the Nisswa, Baxter, Pequot Lakes/Breezy Point and Pillager Lions clubs. A few months back, the Lions District 5M9, Zone 1, which includes the four clubs along with Brainerd and Merrifield, invited Rising Hope to give a presentation at a zone meeting.
"After the presentation, along with the information they provided that evening, I think the members of the Lions were moved by what we heard," Duane Blanck, Nisswa Lions member and zone chair, said Thursday. "It's something that fits into the category of what Lions are all about in terms of being of service to the community, recognizing a need and responding to it."
The Nisswa Lions then challenged the other clubs in its zone to step up and donate to the cause.
"It's really the power of 'we,'" Blanck said. "As one club, yeah they could make a contribution, but as all of us joined together we could meet that goal, which would have been excessive for any individual club to do."
Blanck, along with his wife Carolyn and three other members of the Nisswa and Baxter Lions clubs, joined Leckie Thursday to watch the house-raising.
"I'm just so glad that this came up," Nisswa Lions member Ray Kuntz said, adding the Rising Hope presentation lit a fire under the Lions clubs.
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Not only does the service element of donating money to Rising Hope fit with the Lions' goal as a service organization, but Blanck also recognized the importance of bringing awareness to the human trafficking issue in the Brainerd lakes area.
"It's such a social issue, and it's a tragic thing that's occurring with young women. And it's more prevalent than we probably realize, and there's just a need to be able to respond to it," Blanck said.
Nisswa Lions Club member Gary Boche and Baxter Lions Club member Dale Eberhardt were also present Thursday and agreed with Blanck's statements.
The Lions clubs aren't the only area organizations and businesses donating time, money and efforts to the Freedom Ranch project. Others who contributed include Schroeder's Appliance Center, Jacobson Excavating and Landscaping, North Star Well Drilling, Northland Septic Maintenance, Becker Furniture World and the Bemidji Eagles Club.
The next phase of the project is to construct the first-floor dormitories. Leckie said she hopes to have the space enclosed by this winter.
When the ranch gets up and running, Rising Hope will work with True North Ranch in Merrifield and Rae's Hope in Brainerd to bring equine therapy to the girls, which Leckie said has proven to be especially effective with trafficking victims.
A chicken coop made out of wood from an old barn that once stood on the property will be added to the ranch as well.
Rising Hope has its sights set on property in Bemidji and Park Rapids for two more Freedom Ranches in the future.
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As lumber and other construction materials are still needed to finish the Brainerd ranch, anyone who wants to donate to the cause can purchase Menards gift cards and send them to: Rising Hope Foundation, P.O. Box 841, Park Rapids, MN, 56470. For more information on Rising Hope or the Freedom Ranch project, visit risinghopefoundation.org.
