CLACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (KOIN) — A therapeutic home for girls escaping sex trafficking received the help of over two dozen volunteers Wednesday for a ‘Roofing Blitz,’ in which the roof of the building was completed in one day.
Called Aniasa’s Place, the facility will house six girls at a time, ages 12-18, who are transitioning out of being exploited for sex trafficking. It is slated to open June 2020 and is the brain child of non-profit organization A Village for One.
“We’re really excited, it’s a community effort,” the organization’s executive director, Cassie Trahan, told KOIN 6 News.
The project is A Village for One’s first housing facility and is receiving the support of charitable organization Home Builders Foundation, which works to build and renovate housing for the homeless in and around the Portland area.
“It’s all about partnership and people getting involved in the community. Because we couldn’t do the work that we do out here without the volunteers,” Home Builders Foundation Executive Director Brenda Ketah told KOIN 6 News.
Partnering organizations have provided raw materials and labor at no cost, including volunteer Builder Captain Jim Standring of Westland Industries, Inc.
The volunteers who helped with roofing Wednesday included National Women in Roofing, Bliss Roofing, ABC Roofing, Malarky Roofing, and Tecta America.
The facility amenities will include six individual bedrooms for each of its tenants, 24 hour rotating staff, a house parent, full time therapist, drug and alcohol treatment, and an in-house classroom for clients who choose to pursue home school or correspondence school.
The average age of sexually exploited girls is 12-14, Trahan said.
A Village of One is an Oregon based non-profit with a mission to help youth who have faced commercial sexual exploitation and has been working toward opening the housing facility for the past six years, having originally broke ground last year. Its exact address is kept confidential for client safety purposes.
Editor’s note: this article was updated to remove the phrase “sex traffic work” to clarify that commercial sexual exploitation of youth is distinct from sex workers who are consenting adults. We regret the error.
