Last summer I was on social media and came across a picture of 3 random girls who
looked super cool and were doing something that was way cooler. I started looking more into it
and what they were riding for- to raise money for The Refuge for DMST, a place that allows girls to recover after being rescued out of human trafficking. I didn’t know a lot about the topic of sex trafficking, so I started reading, watching documentaries, and listening to stories of victims. After this, I was hooked. It was incredible to watch their journey, but never for a second did I think that I would be doing what they did, much less doing it the very next year.
I don’t necessarily work out, so when two of my best friends and I decided around the
dinner table one night that we were all in this together, I was absolutely terrified. The only time I
ever really biked was during a spin class a couple years ago and it was honestly a bit of a tragic
experience- you should ask me about it. However, even though I have never biked longer than a
couple miles, I am truly determined to do this thing.
As I have spent some time learning more about human trafficking, it has become
something that I am extremely passionate about. How crazy is it that there are currently 313,000
victims of human trafficking in Texas alone and people like me can spend years completely
oblivious to it? Precious women and children are being removed from their places of comfort
and are taken advantage of on a daily basis. When I finally began to understand more of the full
story on human trafficking, it didn’t sit well with me. I think it’s so common in todays world to
think “oh that’ll never happen to me,” but in reality it can happen so easily to any of us and that
is what I think is so scary. I finally realized that this kind of passion isn’t the thing that I can do
nothing about. So I decided to take some action and do something bigger and more scary than
anything I have ever done before.
I am riding for those women who are crying for help and longing to be loved. I am riding
for every girl in this world who has felt like they were a nobody. I am riding for the voiceless and
the women who are seeking to be heard. Let’s do this thing!!!!
