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Blanket Fort Hope invited supporters to pray and write Bible verses on the framing and floors of its restoration home for child sex trafficking survivors on Saturday, May 18 in Columbiana. (Contributed)

By EMILY SPARACINO | Special to the Reporter

COLUMBIANA – A local nonprofit organization for child sex trafficking survivors recently marked progress in the construction of a new children’s home.

Supporters of Blanket Fort Hope’s restoration home in Columbiana came to the property on the morning of Saturday, May 18 to pray and write Bible verses on the framing and floors of the home, which is expected to be finished later this year.

“We had a steady stream of supporters come for five hours, in and out,” Blanket Fort Hope Project Manager Phaedra Galloway said. “We had markers there, and they wrote encouraging Scripture. It was just a fun time.”

Galloway said visitors prayed over each part of the home, including the kitchen, common area, offices, houseparents’ suite and the nine bedrooms for trafficking survivors.

“We’re faith-based, so (we pray) they would feel the love of Christ and heal,” Galloway said of the home’s future occupants.

At a December 2022 groundbreaking ceremony at the home’s 73-acre site, Blanket Fort Hope CEO Alexa James said the organization was excited to build a children’s home that will give government officials a place to house children who have been trafficked and are unable to remain in the care of their families.

According to James, the 8,000-square-foot home is designed to fill the need for more housing for survivors, specifically girls ages 12-17, along with more resources during their healing from trauma and abuse.

Galloway said the home will be available to survivors from other states, not just Alabama.

“We’re debt-free so far,” Galloway added. “That’s huge. God is paying for this as we go.”

Annual fundraisers like the Hold the Fort Races and Restoring Hope Gala help the organization provide services, and now a restoration home, for child sex trafficking survivors; train communities and industry professionals to identify and compassionately respond to survivors and share the Gospel with victims and perpetrators inside the human trafficking industry.

Earlier this month, Blanket Fort Hope received its child placing agency license, which allows the organization to recruit and train foster families to provide a safe and trauma-informed environment for children in need of a home.

Galloway said the second phase of the home project will involve building therapy cottages, horse stables, greenhouses and gardens.

The organization is also accepting orders for engraved bricks to create an inspirational walkway leading up to the home.

For more information about Blanket Fort Hope, visit Blanketforthope.org or the organization’s pages on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

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