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No. 15 Vol. 6
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www.themendhamnews.com
June 2017
Fundraiser Provides Seed Money To Help Female Victims Heal From Sexual Exploitation
By Cheryl Conway he community is invited to learn about and support a new non-profit organization to help provide a safe dwelling for women who have been victims of sexual exploitation. Come spend the afternoon on Sat., June 24, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for Health, Wellness, Nutrition at Healing Path Massage Therapy and Spa in Long Valley. All proceeds will benefit Zera House, a faith based organization that will provide a home for women who need to experience healing after
being rescued from the horrors of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Healing Path Massage Therapy and Spa will not charge an entrance fee but proceeds for services will go toward Zera House. Participants can get a massage for $1 per minute; and a 10 minute skin care analysis for $5. For those who want to enroll in any Isagenix system- which includes solutions to weight loss, energy, performance, healthy aging and wealth creation50 percent of the referral bonus will go toward Zera House.
There will be refreshments, Isagenix samplings, music and a special presentation from Ariel Wagner, co-founder, director and C.E.O. of Zera House. Wagner, 35, of Phillipsburg, co-founded Zera House in Dec. 2015 along with her friend Katie Van Gorp of Atlanta, Ga. For extra support, they partnered with School For Life in West Virginia as well as support from the church community. The motivation behind the organization began eight years ago when Wagner was first introduced to the concept of humans being trafficked, sexually exploited and sold into slavery, she explains. In Feb. 2012, she went on a two week mission to Thailand with a non-profit group that rescues children- Remember Nhu- and worked with orphanages with 75 children aged two to 18 targeted for such abuse. The purpose of her trip was to help with programs and projects such as music lessons and exercise classes, and to go into villages of local Thai women to see if children were at risk of being sold into slavery for child prostitution. If she found any in an unstable environment, they were removed and brought to a safe home. “This just grieved my
heart for so long,” says Wagner, who decided to share her vision with Van Gorp to establish a refuge in the mountains to help women heal. Wagner had been working for ten years as a massage therapist in Phillipsburg, from 2007-2017, when she says “I was called to do this, to do Zera House. “The lord gave me this vision.” After being in a “bad relationship” for almost three years, that had involved sexual, mental and emotional abuse, Wagner had to go through her own healing before realizing the need for Zera House, she says. “I came out of my own abusive situation and said I want to help others heal too,” says Wagner. Zera means seed in Hebrew, hence the name of Zera House, which translates into the hope ‘to plant seeds into their hearts and souls so they are equipped to live out their purposes of their lives.” The program is faith based, with a holistic approach involving sustainable living practices. “We at Zera house have a passion for helping women who have been subject to the horrors of human trafficking & sexual exploitation,” as stated as its mission. “We have a home where these women can
come and heal. Our mission is to share the love, hope and grace of our loving father in heaven.” In Aug. 2016, Zera House was given a physical house in the mountains in McDowell County, West Virginia, a poverty-stricken area compared to that of a third-world country, describes Wagner, with drugs and prostitution, sewage under homes and no-running water. The house, which will be able to help four to five women at a time, is being renovated and is expected to open by the end of this summer, she says. Since April, Wagner has been living in a loft in a large school with many rooms to board women,
whether for a week, month or year. The school has been provided by School for Life, an organization that contacted Wagner through her church, The Chapel of Warren Valley in Washington, where Wagner’s parents are members. At that church, volunteers got involved with Jersey Crew, a dedicated group that visits that impoverished area of West Virginia at least five times a year to help with repairs and construction. When her mom told the founder at the School for Life about her daughter’s idea about Zera House, he said “this is where she needs to be.” Wagner says, “I came here to visit; when I first continued on page 2