Cedar Refuge

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is rest…so a little rest day for the Gipes. 🌲

We spent the day exploring Lassen Volcanic National Park, walking through Subway Cave, slowing down by Manzanita Lake, and enjoying the kind of quiet that reminds you how important it is to stop and simply be present.

We talk often about healing, restoration, and creating space for people to rebuild. Rest is part of that.

We want the value of rest to extend to our staff. The work of caring for others can be deeply meaningful, but it can also be emotionally demanding. Cedar Refuge will be a place where rest is not treated as something you earn only after burnout, but as a healthy and necessary part of sustainable service.

We cannot build a culture of restoration for our residents without also building one for the people who serve them.

What is a “Romeo Pimp”?

A Romeo pimp is an informal term for a trafficker who uses romance, affection, attention, gifts, or promises of a future together to build trust before introducing exploitation and control.

For example:
A young person meets someone who makes them feel seen, valued, and protected. The relationship becomes serious quickly. Over time, the person begins isolating them from friends and family and creating emotional or financial dependence.

Then comes the request:
“We’re struggling right now. Just do this one time for us.”

One time becomes another. Affection becomes pressure. Pressure becomes manipulation, threats, or control.

What looked like a relationship can become a pathway into exploitation.

Cedar Refuge exists to provide aftercare, healing, and restoration services to commercially s*xually exploited children. We believe survivors deserve more than an escape from exploitation. They deserve a safe place to heal, rebuild, and experience restoration.

Join us and our community as we build this beautiful dream! Link in bio.

📖

There is something sacred about safe, imaginative play.

A stick becomes a fishing pole.
A rock turns into a whole hidden world of bugs, frogs, and tiny creatures.
The bend in the trail feels like it might lead somewhere magical.

Some of us grew up with moments like this; building forts out of branches, jumping into cold water, catching our first fish, learning a backflip on a trampoline, riding bikes until the streetlights came on, making mud pies, and pretending the bedroom floor was an entire kingdom.

Those moments taught courage and built confidence.
They helped us wonder, risk, laugh, imagine, and feel safe enough to explore.

At Cedar Refuge, children need a place where joy thrives and where safe adventure, healthy risk, and simple childhood wonder are part of healing.

We want to create space for kids to explore just around the next bend. Learn more by visiting the link in our bio. 🌿

*xtraffickingawareness

We’re building a safe refuge for children who have been s*x trafficked in the USA.🌲🌲🌲🏡

On a farm, you learn pretty quickly to stay on your toes. 😂🐣🐓

One minute, it’s a peaceful morning on the farm. The next, somebody has escaped, gotten into something they shouldn’t, or created a brand-new problem no one saw coming!

That’s part of the joys of farm life and is something we genuinely look forward to experiencing when Cedar Refuge one day opens its doors.

We’re building a place of safe refuge for children who have experienced s*x trafficking in America. A place where healing and restoration can unfold in the middle of real life. 🌲

Follow along as we bring our dream of a healing refuge to life!

We have missed these two!!

Justice and Hank left a few months ago to join their owner at college - Brandyn and Quinn were missing them tons. Super glad to see them back at Shiloh Flower Farm while we’re still here 🤗.

It’s an easy misconception to believe that people who are trafficked simply made bad choices and therefore either want to be there or should be responsible for finding their own way out.

The reality is far more complex.

Many victims are trapped because exploitation has been presented as their safest or only option for survival. Others have relationships, housing, money, children, private information, or even their own safety leveraged against them.

This is often part of grooming; when a bad actor builds trust, creates secrecy, fosters dependence, or exploits someone’s vulnerabilities in order to gain control.

By the time the exploitation becomes obvious, the victim may already feel isolated, indebted, threatened, emotionally attached, or convinced that there is nowhere else to go.

Understanding grooming helps us replace judgment with awareness and recognize that leaving is rarely as simple as walking away.

If you’re new here, we are Cedar Refuge—providing safe refuge for the healing and restoration of children who have been s*xually exploited in America. Give us a follow for more content like this!

*xtraffickingawareness

There really is something about the country.

The slower pace. The fresh air. The wide open spaces. The simple rhythms of caring for animals, exploring outside, and ending the day under a sky full of stars.

At Cedar Refuge, we’re building a long term healing refuge in the country where children can experience safety, consistency, and the freedom to simply be kids again.🌲

A place to climb trees. Ride horses. Learn to garden. Catch frogs. Build confidence. Discover peace. And slowly reclaim the childhood that was stolen.

If you’re new here, we’re Cedar Refuge, a nonprofit building a healing refuge for children recovering from s*x trafficking in America. Follow along as we build it, one step at a time.

Today is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. 💙

Behind every statistic is a child who deserves safety, stability, and the opportunity to heal.

🚨Up to 45% of commercially s*xually exploited children are boys
🚨1 in 7 missing children are likely victims of child s*x trafficking
🚨NCMEC received more than 113,500 reports of possible child s*x trafficking in 2025
🚨Up to 80% of victims have been involved with the child welfare system
🚨One study found an average of 27 placement disruptions for children impacted by exploitation
🚨An estimated 100,000 children experienced s*x trafficking in the state of Florida alone - 1 out of 50

If you’re new here, we are Cedar Refuge, a nonprofit working to build a place of long-term safety, healing, and restoration for children who have experienced s*x trafficking.🌲

Awareness matters. Action matters too. Share this reel, follow our journey, and help us build a place where children can experience safe refuge to heal and pursue hope filled futures after trafficking. 🤍

“So traumatized children are just going to ride horses and magically get better?”

No. Healing is not magic, and horses are not a sole approach cure.

If you’re new here ✨We’re Cedar Refuge, a nonprofit working to build a long term healing refuge for children recovering from s*x trafficking in America.🌲

📌Our vision includes safe housing, therapy, individualized education, safe relationships, life skills, recreation, agriculture, equine assisted therapy, and more - all within an environment designed to help children feel safe enough to begin healing.

Because for a child whose body has learned to survive through fear, control, and constant alertness, healing often begins long before they have the words to explain what happened.

Horses respond to what is happening beneath the surface. They notice tension, fear, confidence, calm, and inconsistency. They mirror the energy brought into the space, offering immediate and honest feedback without judgment.

Through equine assisted therapy, children can practice regulating their nervous systems, setting boundaries, building trust, communicating clearly, and remaining present. ❤️‍🩹

Caring for and working alongside such a powerful animal can help a child reclaim confidence, experience serenity, and recognize their own strength.

Sometimes healing looks like sitting quietly beside a horse.

Sometimes it looks like taking the reins.

Sometimes it is the moment a child realizes:

“I can be strong without being afraid.”

At Cedar Refuge, horses will not replace licensed therapists, individualized treatment, education, or safe relationships. They will be one meaningful part of a whole person approach to healing.

Because these children deserve more than just a safe place to stay.

They deserve space to breathe, rebuild, reconnect, and discover that healing is possible.

Follow along as we build a place of refuge, healing, and restoration. 🤍🌲

Newsletter goes out to inboxes tomorrow at 10:30am pacific!

SUBSCRIBE!!! 💌💌💌 link in bio.

Cedar Refuge July Update! We’re building a safe haven for children who have been s*x trafficked in America. 🌲

Join us!