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+LIFE beyond human trafficking

@myrefugehouse

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On a journey of hope, healing, and restoration with survivors/communities impacted by commercial sexual exploitation in the Philippines 🇵🇭 💙#MRH

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Meet Izhabella. An 8 year old with a lot of heart. Her sister Princess has already been with us waiting for her. Help us welcome her to @myrefugehouse with open arms.

You support just such a welcome when you attend events like @muchadoforfreedom or @fashioned4freedom and when you create your own peer advocacy and support through @movementforfreedom and personal birthday appeals. Thank you.

#meetthemrhgirls by @myrefugehouse

[Sound up for joy. Stay tuned for more about @ustangelicumreapprogram and REAPlympics]

Tonight a lot of kids get to be someone else for a few hours: a superhero, a princess, a lion.

At My Refuge House, every day is about a girl becoming more fully herself. A student. A winning teammate on the MRH REAPlympics volleyball team. A new leader in the Lotus Troop, our girls’ own Girl Scout troop. A young woman with a future she gets to name.

That kind of becoming takes time, community, and people who stay. Thank you for being some of those people.

Happy Halloween from all of us at MRH. 🎃 by @myrefugehouse

Thank you for an unforgettable night at Fashioned for Freedom 2026. 🤍

Photos from the evening are now up on our Facebook page in four albums. Find yourself, tag your friends, and share your favorites. Tag is, the photographer, and @reemcouture_ ✨

📸 facebook.com/fashioned4/photos_albums

If you haven’t fulfilled your pledge yet, or you’d still like to give, it’s not too late. Every gift supports @myrefugehouse.
💛 secure.qgiv.com/for/fff2026event

Thank you to our photographers:
Megan with Forevermore Photography @forevermorephotos
Katie Nixon Photography @katienixon_photo
Audrey CleoAnne @cleoanne.art
Priscilla Dasilva @possiblepridasilva

Uniting fashion and philanthropy on the runway.

#FashionedForFreedom #MyRefugeeHouse #CoppellArtsCenter #FashionForGood by @myrefugehouse

“Never doubt the capacity of art to bring about moments of profound emotion and reflection.”
— Sir Patrick Stewart

I first met Sir Patrick Stewart backstage at a show my husband was performing in with the Lyric Opera and Second City. I’d already been laughing with Sunny, with no idea they were connected. When the dots finally joined, it all made sense. Both of them have a way of inviting you into their very down-to-earth but deep presence. I still (half) joke that my first handshake with him was the most spiritual handshake of my life.

I’m certain I’m not alone. So many people have a story like this, because of the way he lived and the way he was with people.

That show led to his connection with the Improvised Shakespeare Company, and I’m grateful for the way it wove our worlds together.

I dream of helping people feel that seen with just a hello, eye contact, and a handshake. It’s what we hope to offer at My Refuge House, and it’s why the arts have a home on our campus and in our events.

Where there are places thoughts can’t reach, art can.

Thinking of Sunny, his family, and everyone who loved him today. Grateful for his life and legacy. 🤍 by @myrefugehouse

We are so grateful for our 11-year partnership with @myrefugehouse . We are grateful for Heather Bland and her incredible team who work tirelessly to facilitate hope, healing, & joy to survivors of exploitation in the Philippines. We are grateful for the wonderful volunteers who set up and run the Much Ado For Freedom benefit each year. And we are grateful for the spectacular audiences who turn out year after year to laugh, learn, raffle, and cheer in support of this great cost. Join us again (or for the first time!) this year on November 19 in South Pasadena for another evening of community and laughter to benefit My Refuge House!
Link in bio.
📷by @jill.petracek by @myrefugehouse

Want your name on one of the most joyful nights in South Pasadena? 🎭

Much Ado for Freedom is just under 4 weeks away, and sponsorships are open! Join us for an evening of laughter, magic, culture, and community at the Woman’s Club of South Pasadena on November 19, supporting girls at @myrefugehouse in Cebu, Philippines, who are healing and claiming their own stories.

Sponsor by November 6 to be featured in our event program. ➡️ MyRefugeHouse.org/muchado

#MuchAdoForFreedom #MyRefugeHouse #ImprovisedShakespeare #SouthPasadena by @myrefugehouse

Our girls and staff in Cebu at @myrefugehouse just recently watched @forgottenislandmovie together, thanks to our friends behind the film. What a gift. I’m so grateful to everyone who made it possible.

I wasn’t there with them, but I keep picturing that room. I mean…I blurred their faces, but here they are listening to a message of encouragement just before the movie started. You can almost feel what it was like for them all to be together for this fun outing.

One of my coworkers says Forgotten Island is a love letter to the Philippines. It’s true.

As I’ve been sitting with it though, I think it’s also a love letter FROM the Philippines.

I know that letter. For over 11 years with My Refuge House, Cebu has been writing it to me. Inviting me to be inspired by a commitment to joy and resilience and a sense of home that transcends place. Inviting me to nurture a shared humanity.

Forgotten Island carries that same deep humanity. It speaks to fear and friendship, hope and purpose, and it sneaks up on you with joy and a little wistfulness. It invites all of us to belong, to hold on to our roots while reaching for what’s next.

I’m grateful for our staff, who show me every day how Filipino culture holds all of us together, even across an ocean. I’m grateful for the way @joel.crawford.art @janimatedultd and @swiftyelvis brought this @dreamworks creation to life. The friendship and chemistry sparked by @hermusicofficial and @lizasoberano got me right in the feels.

Go see it, and bring someone you love.

Tayo na!

Salamat kaayo. by @myrefugehouse

“There was a star danced, and under that was I born.” 🌟🎭

Much Ado for Freedom is back! Join us on Thursday, November 19, at the Woman’s Club of South Pasadena for an evening of laughter and hope with the Improvised Shakespeare Company. Every laugh supports girls in Cebu who are writing the next chapter in their futures.

Tickets are on sale now, with 10% off early bird pricing through 10/8!

Sponsorship are also now open.

✨ INFO AND TICKETS ✨
MyRefugeHouse.org/muchado by @myrefugehouse

Platinum and Gold seats are officially SOLD OUT! 🖤✨

Thank you to everyone who’s already gathering with us for Fashioned for Freedom. Your support fuels healing and freedom for survivors in Cebu.

It’s not too late to join us! There’s still time to be inspired by the stunning creativity of @reemcouture_ , the joy and brilliance of the girls of @myrefugehouse , and our Emmy winning emcee @kennedydendy ✨It promises to be an unforgettable evening at the award winning @coppellartscenter ✨

Preshow Reception and General Admission tickets are still available, but not for long. Grab yours and bring your people.

October 21 | Coppell Arts Center Tickets at the link in bio. 🎟️ by @myrefugehouse

✨ Meet the voice of our @fashioned4freedom runway!

We’re thrilled to announce that Emmy winning communicator @kennedydendy will emcee Fashioned for Freedom at @coppellartscenter on October 21!

Kennedy spent years as a reporter, anchor, and producer, covering everything from breaking news to the stories that shape local communities. Today she brings that same heart to the Dallas Cowboys social media team. Whether she’s behind the scenes or behind a microphone, her favorite thing is using stories to bring people together.

We can’t think of a better voice to support @myrefugehouse for a night called Gather. ✨

Who’s coming with you?
Tickets at fashionedforfreedom.com by @myrefugehouse

Twenty-five years today.

In my marriage and family therapy program at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, I was introduced to a word I have not been able to unsee since: re-membering. The term comes from the anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff, who used it to name a particular kind of recollection, and it made its way into narrative therapy and pastoral care from there.

It is not the same as remembering, the cognitive work of recalling what happened. Re-membering is putting back together a self, a body, a community where suffering has taken apart. The hyphen does so much work. It concedes that something was dismembered, and it insists the pieces are still there.

A lot of what I do now involves creating space for re-membering, and it is most of what I watch the girls at My Refuge House do. Not retrieving the past on anyone’s behalf, but staying close while a person or family or community puts itself back together, at their pace and in their own order.

Today a great many people are remembering. Some of us are re-membering. The second takes far longer and asks more of the people faith-fully standing nearby. Thank you for holding space with us today.

Peace, Heather
CEO, @myrefugehouse

❤️‍🩹🫶🌏 by @myrefugehouse

Only six weeks left until we gather to support the life changing work of @myrefugehouse We’ll gather at @coppellartscenter where fashion and philanthropy will unite on the runway. If you haven’t purchased your tickets to this year’s @fashioned4freedom show featuring @reemcouture_ , we hope this video featuring @rbonneynola (last year’s incredible designer) might inspire you to take the leap.

Get your tickets now at fashionedforfreedom.com

Video credit: @ryancslepski by @myrefugehouse