Untold Truth

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Ambassadors Program

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FREEDOM RIDE 2019

BEND, OREGON TO NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA

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GET INVOLVED

THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO RIDE A BIKE.

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ABOUT THE FREEDOM RIDE PROJECT

WHAT WE DO

Established in 2016, The Freedom Ride Project is a 501C3, with the mission to raise awareness about human trafficking and move people to action in their own communities. We do this through athletic events like The Freedom Ride, which raise awareness about human trafficking, and through our Freedom Ambassador Program, where youth actively address human trafficking through their own grass-roots community projects.

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WHO WE ARE

Our Team is made up of a great leaders, volunteers, riders, crew and ambassadors. Every one of us is committed to ending human trafficking in his or her own way, through service, sport, being a voice. We all do it in our own way, but we are ONE VOICE for ONE CAUSE. We hope you will join us!

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GET INVOLVED

This is where the rubber hits the road! Our mission to raise awareness and move people to action really makes a difference when citizens like you step up and get involved. Our vision is that you not only learn about human trafficking, but also take action to transform your community and make it a safe and trafficking-free.

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Why Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking is the fastest growing illegal enterprise in the world, second only to drug trafficking, and surpassing it in some regions.

Billion Industry Globally

Million Slaves Worldwide

Thousand US victims identified in 2017

%

of Victims are Children

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GET INVOLVED

DONATE

Donate to the Freedom Ride Project and help us raise awareness about human trafficking and move people to engage in and start projects in their own communities. You may also donate specifically to the Freedom Ambassador Program to help empower youth to address human trafficking through grass-roots community projects.

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SPONSOR

The Freedom Ride Project provides a unique opportunity to promote your company as one that cares about local communities, the safety of our children and families, the dignity and potential of human beings, as well as fair practices in business through the elimination of slaves in our supply chains.

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RIDE WITH US

The Freedom Ride is a 15-day bike ride covering about 1500 miles from Bend, Oregon to Newport Beach, California typically taking place in early fall 2019. The course winds through beautiful back roads and hills in Oregon, then follows the ocean along the Pacific Coast to finish in Newport Beach. Stay tuned for a possible Gran Fondo in 2019. Sign up HERE for Freedom Ride updates.

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VOLUNTEER OR MENTOR

Interested in joining us? There are all kinds of ways to make a difference, from becoming a mentor in our Freedom Ambassador Program, to joining us for the Celebration Event in March, to helping us put on our Freedom Rides. Join a team of likeminded volunteers or bring your department or company out for a day of fun and impact!

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Freedom Ride Updates

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Ambassador Program

Sep. 2018 – March 2019
  • Empowering Youth
  • Transforming Communities
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Community Celebration

March 2, 2019
  • Come celebrate our Freedom Ambassadors at the Ensure Justice Conference
  • Meet our Freedom Ambassadors and learn about their projects
  • View the early release of the Freedom Ambassador Video
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Freedom Ride

Fall 2019
  • Join us for the ride of a lifetime and help end human trafficking!
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OUR TEAM

MEET OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Elisabeth Gegner

Founder and Director, Freedom Ride Project

Elisabeth (Beth) Gegner is passionate about cycling, the outdoors and nurturing friendships around the globe. Having grown up in Southern France, she remembers the Tour de France coming through her hometown when she was a little girl. But most of all, she has a heart for bringing hope, justice, healing, and a fresh start to victims of slavery and oppression.

Her initial exposure to human trafficking occurred in the late 1990s, while volunteering at an orphanage in Northern Thailand. As she worked with the children, she was shocked to find out that several had been victims of sex trafficking.

Since that time, this tragedy has weighed heavy on her heart. In 2014, after surviving a potentially fatal bike crash with a car, the miracle of her survival triggered in her a powerful sense of calling to make a difference. So in August 2015, Beth decided to ride her bike 1700 miles from Laguna Beach, California to Bend, Oregon – about 100 miles a day – to raise awareness and to fund a safe house for girls in Pattaya, Thailand. In sharing about the cause, she witnessed a significant interest and desire from people along the way to learn more and become involved in their own communities.

These conversations, as well as those with Lisa Bowerman, who rode with her the last three days of the journey, inspired The Freedom Ride 2016. One might say that this ride was born on the bike, as Beth and Lisa climbed over beautiful McKenzie Pass into Bend.

Besides directing the Freedom Ride 2016, Beth holds a Masters in Organizational Behavior and has served in various leadership roles over the past 20+ years, advising businesses on improving their performance. She lives in Laguna Beach, California.

Elizabeth Bowerman

Co-founder and Bend Director, Freedom Ride Project

 

My name is Elizabeth Bowerman; my friends know me as Lisa. I am an avid cyclist, emergency room nurse, wife and mom of 2 grown children. I am passionate about my faith, my relationships, and having a meaningful impact in people’s lives.

In 2015, I met Beth through a mutual dear friend, and had the privilege of riding several days of the freedom ride with her. I was inspired by her story, and how she was raising awareness for human trafficking. The more I learned about the topic, the more I realized how many misconceptions I had. Not only is human trafficking a global problem, but it is happening in my own backyard, and I can do something to stop it!

As an ER nurse, I now realize that I can make a difference in my healthcare community. At least 89% of human trafficking victims come through an ER or urgent care seeking medical help during the time they are trafficked. Few, if any victims are recovered during that health care visit. There is a great opportunity to educate health care providers on how to recognize these victims and provide them the help they desperately need.

Riding over McKinsey pass with Beth, it became clear to me that I could combine my passion for cycling and my heart for victims of this abuse, to raise awareness about the issue in different communities and to teach others how they, too, can become involved in their own backyard.

I live in Bend Oregon, I had the privilege of planning our 2016 Community Event and of completing the 1500-mile ride. Today, I am helping St Charles Hospitals launch an anti-human trafficking training program for our staff.

Earl Bowerman

Board Member, Freedom Ride Project

Earl is an accomplished international business manager. Earl has worked in semiconductor, medical device, aviation and renewable energy industries. Earl’s real passion is to serve others before he takes a leadership role.

He has established his own non-profit ministries serving foster families, and sponsors 58 families in a weekly food distribution program in Central Oregon for the last 5 years. Earl is driven to make a difference in human trafficking and has partnered with his wife Lisa to disrupt this atrocity on our children.