http://redemptionridge.org/

This is a story of rescue and redemption—of one local winery putting its wine where its heart is to make a difference in our neighborhood and for our kids.

The challenge—human trafficking. According to the U.S. Department of State, more than 100,000 youth are at risk annually for trafficking into the sex industry in the United States. About fifty percent of the abused are children between the ages of eleven and seventeen. Portland has the second largest number of children in forced prostitution of any city in the United States. Medford sits on the I-5 corridor, nicknamed the “Kiddy Track.” One in three runaway teens are recruited by human traffickers within 48 hours, but there is hope.

The challenger—Redemption Ridge. Founded in 2011, Redemption Ridge began providing healing and restoration to young female survivors of commercial, domestic sex trafficking. In June of 2017 the doors opened to Grace House, the house that love built. Donations ranged from labor and materials for remodeling to monetary gifts from individuals and businesses. Grace House is a warm and welcoming residential haven for girls who were former trafficking victims left hurting and confused. Their first resident was just twelve-years-old. Grace House has ample room for seven residents at a time, and forty young women have already benefitted. A care team of trauma-capable specialists and mentors are with the girls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To keep it going takes money and volunteers.

Brooke DeBoer, Director of Development added, “We also provide outpatient therapy and have launched a human trafficking awareness campaign this year as a preventative measure, focused on education and how to spot warning signs of minors being trafficked. You can find videos and resources right on our website to share and help be part of the solution!”

Enter, RoxyAnn Winery. Their association with Redemption Ridge provides the perfect metaphor for helping these girls. Cultivating quality wine grapes involves a series of delicate and intentional steps. It provides the opportunity to carefully train something from infancy to fruition. Redemption Ridge is shaping precious and vulnerable lives in much the same way. As sure as food and wine unite people, this new effort helps heal wounded individuals and reunite families.

I asked Kirsten Arreguin, former Executive Director at Redemption Ridge, how this divine match-up with Chad and Oakley Day, owners of RoxyAnn Winery, came to be. “I was invited to a Junior League meeting one evening. There were probably fifteen or twenty women there. I just told them the story of these girls. I remember one woman saying, ‘I know someone who this happened to.’ I told them what happens at Grace House and what we do for kids, and within a week we got a call from Chad Day, who said his wife had come home a little tearful and said, ‘We’ve got to do something in a real way for these kids.’”

Chad confided, “We really wanted to try and focus our donation budget toward a cause that meant a lot to us. Yes, Oakley found the project. This has been our marriage. We lived on a boat for four years and I can honestly say it was her idea to live on the boat, and she found the boat and the slip where we lived, so when she comes up with an idea, she makes it happen.” He added, “We have two little girls, eight and five, so the cause really hit home.”

The result was the release of a custom 50/50 blend of Pinot Noir and Tempranillo aptly labeled Redemption Ridge Red. According to Chad, it’s an easy drinking red, which may be appreciated by a wider audience than their bigger reds and serves as a perfect table or picnic wine.

Bottles sell for $20, with $10 going toward the organization. The other $10 covers growing and bottling costs. RoxyAnn produced 200 cases of twelve bottles each. As of this writing, only 30 cases remain.

“We’re very grateful to RoxyAnn. I will tell you that,” Kirsten said. “And the wine is delicious! This was a blessing and a gift from them, and I’m quite humbled that they would do this for us. These are wonderful kids. They come in a little rough around the edges, but like the wine, they age too. I’ve asked girls who have run away from foster homes why they haven’t run away from here. They answer with, ‘Well, that wouldn’t be very smart. I know they love me here.’”

The Days will present Redemption Ridge with a check for $24,000 at the end of sales. They have already committed to another RRR bottling for 2021.

“It’s raised a lot of awareness,” Chad said. “Because of the wine, I’ve had acquaintances and friends step up and do things for them.”

Thank you, RoxyAnn Winery, for helping to redeem lives and restore hope.

To learn more about Redemption Ridge and donate today, please visit www.redemptionridge.org. If you would like to speak with their staff, please call 541-816-4415 or Toll Free 1-888-256-7921.

Peggy Dover has called the Rogue Valley home for thirty-eight years. As a freelance writer, her column, Southern Oregon Journal, appears in the Sunday Mail Tribune, where she loves the people connections and adventures that make up her subjects. She genuinely appreciates and promotes the arts, and when she’s not reading a great book or watching old movies, she’s out discovering another tasting room.