Building the Freedom Highway

In 2021, 30 people gathered at The Sanctuary in Romania for a Freedom Summit. These anti-trafficking advocates created a strategy for reaching out across Europe with the keys to unlocking freedom for those enslaved.

Those individuals gathered realized there was already a vast network of Romanians who lived across Europe and wanted to activate an alliance. We realized the ripple effect that was possible. One person trained with connections in other countries meant more doors opening. One volunteer with the power to recognize traffickers meant more survivors finding freedom.

In March of 2021 over 300 individuals gathered in Western Europe and pledged to support the Freedom Highway and fight to end trafficking.

Two years later the Freedom Highway is expanding in ways we never imagined. Stay tuned all month long as we share the building blocks of this path to freedom, how all the pieces fit together to form a robust network, and how your support means one step closer to saying, “Slavery no more!”

A Strategy

We set out with the goal of unlocking transformation for trafficking survivors. We quickly realized that aftercare and healing go hand in hand with prevention. We believe we can work together towards ending human trafficking once and for all. This is possible with the right strategy and the right people. We brought experts from around the world together who have crafted an approach to do this.

The road ends with transformation. Survivors of human trafficking have a safe place to go, get world-class aftercare, and a chance to overcome trauma and reiterate into society. But how do they get there?

That’s where the strategy of blanketing Romania and beyond with anti-trafficking knowledge and practices comes in! The more people know, the more they can prevent trafficking from happening in the first place. They can recognize survivors and know what to do to help them. And they can connect them to places on the Freedom Highway for protection and healing.

An Alliance

The Uncaged team is just one part of the Freedom Highway. We cannot end something as big as the massive criminal enterprise of human trafficking alone. That’s why it’s so important to share our knowledge and best practices with abolitionists everywhere.

First, comes training people and sending them out into their communities. They have connections and they tell others how to protect themselves. Individual connections turn into alliances with churches, educators, businesses, social workers, healthcare workers, hospitality workers, police, government officials, and on and on.

In 2001 the Freedom Highway started with 30, then grew to 300. We shared recently that just this year, our team has trained over 2000 individuals. Can you imagine what that number will become when they share what they’ve learned and live it out?

The Freedom Highway is growing every day!

A Path to Freedom

In 2021 there were 58 women tucked in safe houses across Europe. The Freedom Highway found many of them and connected them. This network of individuals made sure thee survivors stayed stable and supported.

Earlier this year, we shared an incredible story about a businessman we trained in Romania. His new knowledge about how to recognize a survivor of human trafficking paid off within weeks. A battered woman showed up at his doorstep. He realized she had just escaped from her trafficker. His family hid her in their apartment until our team could get her to a hospital. Tamara is free because this member of the Freedom Highway knew what to do!

The right strategy plus a network of committed advocates means freedom for more survivors. Join us in building the Freedom Highway!

Activate Your Network

You may feel there is not much you can do to make an impact on the huge problem of human trafficking. Your gifts can make a difference.

But, your impact goes beyond a single gift! Mother Theresa said, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."

You could be the person that begins a ripple that turns into a mighty wave of freedom!

You have a network - connections with your family, small group, church, and friends. Could you be the one to spread the truth about human trafficking with your inner circle?

How do you do that? We’ve made it easy!

#1 - Share Upcaged with a Friend.

If you're not already on our email list, subscribe today. Then, send the link to a friend and ask them to subscribe. Help them grow in their understanding of the problem of human trafficking and how they can be a part of the solution.

#2 - Download our free Bible Study (and share it)!

We’ve developed a Bible Study that highlights God’s passion for the cause. We would love to share Bathed In Sunlight with you for free, and encourage you to share it with your inner circle. Then, encourage them to share it with their small groups, churches, friends…and on, and on. We can see a ripple effect that reaches wider, impassioning more people to answer God’s call to announce freedom to all captives (Isaiah 61).

#3 - Take a step.

We aren’t asking you to go into the trenches and onto the frontlines to help survivors. Our incredible team is trained, positioned, and ready to make an impact in Eastern Europe and beyond. But we need YOU standing behind us praying, encouraging, and supporting us.

What’s your step? Asking your small group or church to study Bathed In Sunlight together? Is it to make a donation for the first time? Maybe it is to commit to monthly giving by becoming a Key Holder? To increase your monthly giving?

You may only be one person. But you can take your stone and cast it across the waters to create many ripples. Pray. Give. Activate your network. Unlock freedom for survivors today!

Hope Begins with You

All summer long, we’ve been sharing with you the horrible reality of 50 million people enslaved in our world today! This truly is a life and death situation.

As hard as it can be to face these facts, we believe it’s the first step in throwing open the doors to free survivors. The more you know, the better anti-trafficking advocate you can become, and we want to spread this knowledge.

Rescue is only the first step for trafficking survivors.

We must walk alongside her through the healing of complex trauma. It takes time, commitment, love, and the support of many people.

But she will begin to heal, see her worth, learn new skills, and learn to fly!

There is hope.

And it begins with you.

Stop for a minute and imagine the world of good YOU can do today. You can see it clearly in the lives of two survivors.

We are watching Tamara, who just found freedom this year, begin to find her way, thanks to partners like you. Hear her incredible story.

We have seen incredible transformation happening in Snowy’s life over the past four years! Read the most recent update on Snowy's healing journey.

If you've heard about the horrors of trafficking and you want to help, you can accomplish a lot this summer. If you don’t want to sit back and just let women and girls continue to live in bondage, you can unlock the cage!

Here's how you can unlock the cage in 2023:

Give $23

You could skip one fast-food meal out this week. Maybe you could do without a few extra lattes this month? Could you set aside $23 to impact the life of a human trafficking survivor instead? $23 might not sound like it can accomplish a lot, but check out this quick video to see just what your $23 can do this month when you partner with Uncaged!

Give $230

What good can $230 do in 2023? There’s still plenty of summer left for celebrations. Maybe you’re planning a backyard barbeque or a back-to-school bash. You’re likely to spend a couple hundred dollars on groceries and supplies for that. For the cost of one summer cookout for your friends and family, you could feed a human trafficking survivor for a month!

Give $2300

You can bring a survivor to The Sanctuary for an entire healing experience with a gift of $2300, paying for a four-week trauma-informed retreat!

Give Today!