The first time Taylor Neustaeter heard about human trafficking, she was 16 and watching a documentary called Nefarious.

"When I watched this documentary I was shocked to learn about trafficking and that it's a problem that happens right here in our area. It happens in all the big cities of the world but also in small communities as well," she said.

This inspired Neustaeter, now 24, to take part in Altona's first ever Ride for Refuge, which happened Saturday at Centennial Park.

Taylor Neustaeter took part in Ride for Refuge.

"When I heard about the issue of human trafficking I knew that I had to do something," she said. "This is an issue that my heart is really concerned about. This is an issue that's really heavy on my heart, and I knew that I had to get involved."

It's been two years since Neustaeter put those words into action and enrolled in a program with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a Christian ministry project that takes young adults to embark on missions across the world.

During this time, Neustaeter volunteered with various organizations that do rescue and rehabilitation work with survivors of human trafficking. The money raised from Saturday's event will be donated to the Joy Smith Foundation for this very same purpose.

"On average it takes about $600,000 to rehabilitate a survivor after all costs of training, therapy, and everything else to get them back on their own feet," said Ryan Wiebe, who organized the event with Macey Friesen and Johnny Friesen.

The team's goal was to raise $5,000, but that total was surpassed, hitting more than $6,000 Saturday morning. Wiebe said donations will be accepted until the end of October.

For Wiebe, organizing this event was about more than fundraising.

"It started because I've always been a very protective brother, and I wanted to know how we could make the community safer for my sisters to begin with, and also for anybody young or old. I hated the idea of this [human trafficking] ever affecting anybody," he said. "I thought, 'we got to start somewhere to make a difference,' and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get the community together to make that difference."

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