Our community is awesome. We've had so many people step up and step out for the sake of our ministry and our residents. From events to donations, we've been blessed by our tribe all summer long! So, what's been going on? Check it out!
Heart to Hands Event
A senior in high school, bringing her community together #4theloveofeach1! Abigail hosted an event to educate others on the issue of human trafficking and to make a tangible difference for affected persons in her area. Abigail invited Garden Gate Ranch to attend as one of the highlighted restoration homes in the Des Moines Area. The event included presentations by a local aftercare worker, a survivor of sex trafficking, and a retired law enforcement expert. During the event, attendees put together care bags for the residents of different homes. 17 of these bags were donated to Garden Gate Ranch.  We're encouraged to see such a young community member proactively stand against injustice!
Dress to Bless
At the beginning of the summer, we were delighted to discover that a Nebraska-based clothing company, Mack & Benji, decided to donate 50% of their summer collection proceeds to Garden Gate Ranch. To the left you can see a few members of our staff sporting Mack & Benji sweatshirts! Garden Gate Ranch received $5,000 from Mack & Benji as a result of this partnership. This has blessed our house by helping to provide things like food for the kitchen, personal necessities for residents, and salaries for staff as they provide 24/7 care. We can't thank Mack & Benji enough!
A Day of Pampering
For one Saturday activity of the summer, Des Moines local, Alicia, invited residents into her home to pick out new clothes from her LuLaRoe boutique and to get their nails done. Alicia was incredibly generous in her donations of clothing and time, and our residents raved about the afternoon for many days after. We're so appreciative of community members like Alicia who give what they have in order to show Garden Gate Ranch's residents that they are valuable and worthy of love and attention.
Physical Donations
Over the last few months, Garden Gate Ranch has received a number of tangible gifts from community members, each blessing our residents in a unique way.

For the kitchen, an Instant Pot, a Kitchen-Aid mixer and a juicer were donated, allowing for new culinary adventures.

For the residents' children, a Des Moines local knitted little hats and blankets, and the kids of an Ankeny summer VBS donated a plethora of toys, all for the joy of the kids at The Ranch.

When we asked our community for help compiling enough yarn for residents to make baby blankets, we were blown away by the generous response. We received many skeins of yarn in perfect baby blanket colors, as well as hooks for crocheting. Our residents have already started on their blankets!
World Day Against Trafficking Fundraiser
In our summer newsletter, we announced an upcoming fundraiser in honor of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30th. Our team was shocked by the final donation count at the end of just one day. Thanks to an incredibly supportive community, Garden Gate Ranch received $17,201 from this less-than "mini" fundraiser! This day of donations purchased a much-needed generator and security cameras for The Ranch House.
Teacher Association Training
Early this year, Garden Gate Ranch was contacted by Terry Gladfelter, Director of Membership for the Professional Educators of Iowa (PEI) organization. This organization offers continuing education credits to its teacher members, representing school districts across the state of Iowa. 

Terry mentioned they had received requests from teachers to offer "human trafficking from an educator's standpoint," and he wanted to pursue this as a topic. To qualify for continuing education, topics must have at least 15 hours of relevant content pre-approved by PEI. Garden Gate Ranch was happy to partner with The Set Me Free Project to be able to meet this need.

In addition to content provided by TSMFP, an Iowa trafficking survivor was able to share her personal story of how trafficking can happen in plain sight and to the students that teachers least suspect, sharing that many impacted students may not recognize what is happening or have a way to talk about it openly.

Attendees shared that the survivor testimony was the most impactful topic as it made the other topics 'real.' Those who attended had their eyes opened and were very appreciative for the content.