Future Sex Trafficking Safe Home Pushes Through Setback

A future safe haven for child sex trafficking survivors is asking for help after cold weather caused a pipe to break in one of their buildings. 

The organization is called the Demand Project and fights child sex trafficking and online exploitation. 

Once they open their doors in Green Country, they hope this will be a nationwide resource.

About a year ago, someone donated property in Northeast Oklahoma to Kristin Weis and her husband who is a police officer. 

Since then they've been working to turn the property into a safe place for survivors. 

"It's gonna offer a safe home the first bedroom that they'll ever have that they don't have to worry about a buyer walking into the room to purchase them for sex," said Co-Founder and Executive Director Kristin Weis.  

With the goal of opening the campus in just a few months, they hit a devastating setback when bitter cold temperatures blew open one of their pipes in a building. 

"It was like a tsunami coming out of the ceiling into the kitchen, so it ran down the walls, through the kitchen, laundry room and into the living room," Weis said.

Weis said thousands of gallons of water wreaked havoc inside the building causing thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.

"It's so devastating It was a rush of emotions yesterday I felt like, okay am I supposed to quit are we even going to be able to do this," Weis said. 

Several businesses have stepped forward to help and Weis said she is determined.

"When I put it in perspective, this is one setback for us to change the life of a child, we'll deal with the setbacks and we'll move on and the community has raised up," Weis said. 

Once up and running, the property will provide an endless amount of resources for survivors from educational opportunities to mental health resources and much more. 

"Everything up and running in their life to be a success, there's nothing that we can't do, if we just have the help of the community," Weis said.    

We're not identifying where this property is located in Oklahoma, so it will remain a safe place for survivors.

They hope to open the campus in March. 

If you'd like to help, visit TheDemandProject.org