Why We Ride
We ride to raise funds, to support survivors, raise awareness, and fight human trafficking locally and wherever it exists.
The Problem
Human trafficking is the trade of human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or child soldiering. This modern form of slavery is a world wide issue and at its highest recorded levels in human history.
Some Heartbreaking Facts
- An estimated 47 million adults and children worldwide are victims of human trafficking (globalslaveryindex.org). About 5 times the population of New York or 15 time the population of the state of Iowa.
- Approximately 75-80% of human trafficking is for sex.
80% of those sold into sexual slavery are under 24, some are as young as six years old (UNODOC). - An estimated 30,000 victims of sex trafficking die each year from abuse, disease, torture & neglect (UNODOC).
Our Beginning
In 2011, a ridiculous 200 mile one day bike ride was transformed from an amazing feat of self achievement into a platform to fight human trafficking that we call Break The Cycle 200 (BTC200), formerly OK200:Stop The Traffic. After doing the first OK200 for personal satisfaction the core riders agreed that a second OK200 would be done the following year, but with a purpose beyond personal goals and pride. We realized that when we told other cyclists that we were riding 200 miles in one day they would typically say, “You’re crazy”, and “Why are you doing this?” The core riders discovered that on a second OK200 they would have an opportunity to grab the attention of others by talking about the ride and they would be able to use that as an opportunity to raise awareness and fight injustice in the world.
We realized we couldn’t do it alone and formed a strategic allliance with Venture Expeditions. They specialize in using adventurous activities throughout the United States, like climbing mountains or running across a state, to raise funds and awareness for humanitarian initiatives around the world. OK200 and Venture partnered to help fight the injustice of human trafficking in the U.S. and around the world.
Local – Des Moines and Beyond
Break the Cycle 200 (BTC200) supports local restoration homes for survivors of sex trafficking. We see this as a “community problem, and everyone can make a difference” (Mike Ferjak, Retired Iowa DOJ).
Law enforcement officers in Iowa say there is a deficit of resources to help keep these young girls out of harm’s way and to help them turn away from the underlying issues that lead to being trafficked.
By supporting local homes for restoration and emergency care for victims of trafficking, BTC200 is helping resolve this very deficit.
These homes will serve teens and youth recovered from the sex trafficking industry with residential and non-residential staff who are trained to provide a safe, therapeutic, healing home environment. There are four pillars of care that will be provided including Physical Health, Mental Well Being, Spiritual Recovery and Skills on the foundation of a home where they will have consistent, predictable, reliable care givers. We will provide that care with compassion, love, non-judgemental, respect, dignity, appropriate boundaries, consequences and structure. There is no risk of ‘aging out’ or timelines for completion. Each girls’ own experiences will dictate the level and length of time of care.
There are a wide variety of community partners organized to provide support and access to specific programming to enhance the experience. Additionally, the youth program has a sustainability project that will help fund the programming and provide healthy programming for the girls living there.
Global – Nepal
Human trafficking is the trade of human beings for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or child soldiering. This modern form of slavery is a world wide issue and at its highest recorded levels in human history. One place where this is a major problem is Nepal.
According to Untouchable: Children of God, Thousands of Nepali minors are forced to sleep with more than fifty men per day; they are locked into rooms or cages where they are beaten, starved, drugged, burned and raped by their captors and countless men who use and abuse them. The average age of a Nepali girl trafficked to India is 13 years old. A mere 1% of these sex slaves ever escape or get rescued.
BTC200 is dedicated to helping “Stop the Traffic” through strategic partnerships that are responding to one of the World’s greatest atrocities. We are especially dedicated to the Badi caste in Nepal, a class of people that are considered untouchable. Employment options are very limited for the Badi, making prostitution for girls and women a very real possibility, as it provides much needed income. As Badi girls are born into prostitution, raised to be prostitutes, or are sold into the very large sex slavery industry in India, they can fetch thousands of US dollars for their families.
In Nepal, BTC200 supports Lighthouse Ministries in Kathmandu which supports the survivors of human trafficking by providing shelter (hostels). These hostels give their residents – shelter, nourishment, medical care, education, Christian teaching, and a sense of purpose and importance. Lighthouse takes a big picture approach to breaking the cycle of trafficking and breaking the chains of a caste based society.
According to the director of the Lighthouse Foundation, Pastor Raju, the Foudation has 10 hostels including Miriam Child Care Centre and Half Way House (Rescue home for adult woman). The hostels are situated in Kathmandu City. Presently, there are nearly 700 children under the supervision of 54 dedicated staffs working throughout the hostels.
Proceeds of BTC200 directly support the Lighthouse Foundation in Nepal.
Our Response
Our response to this horrible problem has been to sacrifice ourselves physically and use those efforts to benefit the oppressed in the US and in Nepal.
We have raised over $750,000 in the last 8 years.
That money has been used in many ways from supporting safe houses for sex traffic survivors in Nepal and to fully funding a film about trafficking awareness called Don’t Get in the Van. Thousands of lives of been positively impacted by BTC200. It is not a stretch to say that lives are being saved because of your support and BTC200.
Rocky Vest, a founder of BTC200 said, “None of us knew that we would be where we are today. We just wanted to use our bikes and help others.”
What started as a small, faithful response to an egregious problem has grown and changed our lives and saved lives across the world.
We Ride So They Can Be Free!