My Refuge House

My Refuge House We have been providing comprehensive therapeutic residential care since January 2009. Our programming has evolved through the years to meet the changing needs.

My Refuge House is on a journey of hope, healing, and restoration with survivors and communities impacted by commercial sexual exploitation and abuse in the Philippines. Founded by members of New Heart Community Church in Southern California, we opened our doors in Cebu, Philippines to survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and abuse. Today, we are 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported

by and partnered with stakeholders around the globe to accomplish our mission of RESTORING ONE LIFE AT A TIME. We want to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of the girls in our care, and we also want to create a ripple effect of change within the wider community. We are grateful that we are large enough to see patterns and small enough to pivot. We have increased our long-term capacity, added a transitional program for girls entering young adulthood, and developed a community outreach program focused on prevention, advocacy, and collaboration/leadership with other organizations. We have also expanded and are working on formalizing our work with families. We now focus on three areas of impact: Prevention-Restoration-Reintegration.

โžก๏ธ bit.ly/mrh2026summerYou may never know the full weight of what your support carries. We hope our summer newsletter gi...
05/28/2026

โžก๏ธ bit.ly/mrh2026summer

You may never know the full weight of what your support carries. We hope our summer newsletter gives you a glimpse. ๐Ÿ’›

The Summer 2026 issue of The Restorer is out with stories from a season of typhoons, an earthquake, and grace that showed up anyway.

Meet our new girls and be inspired by supporters who said yes.

Read it. Share it. Thank you for holding us through it.

๐Ÿ“– Even When You Didnโ€™t Know It | Wherever Two Or More Are Gathered | When The Door Opens | Walk With Us | Become A Restoring Partner

This Memorial Day, we pause to remember those who gave everything . . . who lived by their convictions so fully that it ...
05/26/2026

This Memorial Day, we pause to remember those who gave everything . . . who lived by their convictions so fully that it cost them their lives. We honor them today, and we carry them forward.

To our donors who have served: your sense of duty didnโ€™t end with your service. Many of you carry with you a profound love for the Philippines: for our people, our culture, our connections made across a shared mission. That same spirit of responsibility and care is what moves you to give today.

โ€œThe highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.โ€ โ€” JFK

We are honored to walk alongside people who truly do. ๐Ÿ•Š๏ธ

Happy Motherโ€™s Day! Thank you to all the mothers and mother figures who show up with wide open arms and hearts. This Mot...
05/10/2026

Happy Motherโ€™s Day! Thank you to all the mothers and mother figures who show up with wide open arms and hearts. This Motherโ€™s Day, we invite you to dedicate a gift to MRH in honor of your mother, a mother figure, or in celebration of the house mothers who pour so much love into our girls each day.

Text โ€œMRHMomโ€ to 50-155.

05/05/2026

This is your sign to sign up as a creator, mover, or neighbor for this year!

Amidst the hustle and bustle and twists and turns, itโ€™s the moments of slowing down and tuning in that refuel us when we...
04/26/2026

Amidst the hustle and bustle and twists and turns, itโ€™s the moments of slowing down and tuning in that refuel us when weโ€™re on the move. Pictured here are some scenes of reflection and contemplation at after our full day retreat yesterday. The girls asked all week to watch the trailer for and we finally had a chance to do so after dinner. ๐Ÿซถ Weโ€™re so excited to see it when it comes to theaters in September! We also had time to soak in the quiet of campus after sunset. Looking forward to what the rest of the year might bring.

Stay tuned at for something exciting thatโ€™s launching on 5/1.

Snacks and crafts during a lunch break! Sometimes knitting our community together is metaphorical as a job. Sometimes it...
04/20/2026

Snacks and crafts during a lunch break! Sometimes knitting our community together is metaphorical as a job. Sometimes itโ€™s literal. Both require intention.

Ate Gaga and Ate Bebs pictured here a howing us all how itโ€™s done.

Pictured here: quilts from the quilting circle of St. John Lutheran Church in Abingdon, VA, vacuum sealed, tucked into l...
04/13/2026

Pictured here: quilts from the quilting circle of St. John Lutheran Church in Abingdon, VA, vacuum sealed, tucked into luggage, and headed to Cebu tomorrow.

Our CEO will tell you sheโ€™s not original. She comes from a line of quilters. So she does what quilters do. She takes the time, talent, and treasure of others and stitches it together in hopefully new and restorative ways.

Thatโ€™s really just a description of the work of +LIFE beyond human trafficking โ€” The only way to do what we do is with each other. The days of heartbreak demand it. So do the days of joy. The days that hold both especially require the sustaining act of relationship.
The journey of our girls is not linear. We know this. Our hope comes from decades of walking with them through every twist and turn, and watching them stay determined to find and build their own futures.
None of us carries that alone. We carry it the way quilts get packedโ€ฆcarefully, together, and across great distances.

โ€œI hope youโ€™ve all had a wonder-full Easter. I woke up this morning with these Easter thoughts. Theyโ€™ve stuck with me th...
04/06/2026

โ€œI hope youโ€™ve all had a wonder-full Easter. I woke up this morning with these Easter thoughts. Theyโ€™ve stuck with me through the day, so I wanted to share this simple Easter reflection with you before the sun sets on my day.โ€ - Heather Bland (CEO, My Refuge House)

Scroll to read the reflection. The last slide also has a QR code where you can share your thoughts of encouragement and info to participate in our Spring Campaign. ๐Ÿซถ

04/01/2026

Meet Elisha. ๐ŸŒธ She joined our +LIFE beyond human trafficking family just in time for Womenโ€™s History Month, and she is ready to shine.

At this yearโ€™s MRH Search for Miss Juana 2026, she walked away with not one, but two awards. Her housemates and staff already know her for her independence and resourcefulness.

This 17-year-old has her eyes set on the skies! Elisha dreams of becoming a flight attendant. When sheโ€™s not dreaming big, youโ€™ll find her dancing, spiking a volleyball, or dominating on the badminton court.

๐Ÿซถ Thanks Rose Ann Obenque - Ababa for all you inspire with My Refuge House.
04/01/2026

๐Ÿซถ Thanks Rose Ann Obenque - Ababa for all you inspire with My Refuge House.

This week marks the ๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽ๐ญ๐ก ๐Ž๐›๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐š๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐†๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ-๐…๐š๐ข๐ซ ๐“๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐†๐ข๐ซ๐ฅ ๐‚๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐–๐ž๐ž๐ค. We are honored to spotlight our partners at My Refuge House Ministry Inc., whose unwavering dedication continues to champion the rights, safety, and empowerment of girls across the region.

Watch the full message from Ms. Rose Ann Ababa, Director of Program Operations, dedicated to the resilient women and girls of Region 7. โฌ‡๏ธ

"๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ญ ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐‘๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ ๐ž ๐‡๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž, ๐ˆ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฅ๐ค๐ž๐ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐ข๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ ๐š๐›๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. ๐ˆ๐ง ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐ˆ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง ๐ˆ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ง๐จ ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐š๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ, ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž.

๐“๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ž๐š๐œ๐ก ๐๐š๐ฒ. ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐š๐›๐š๐ฒ๐ฅ๐š๐ง๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐š๐๐ฒ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ง ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ง ๐œ๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ. ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐œ๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐๐ฏ๐จ๐œ๐š๐ญ๐ž. ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ž๐๐ฎ๐œ๐š๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐Ÿ๐ข๐๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐š๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ž๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ซ๐ž. ๐ˆ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐š๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฒ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐Ÿ๐ž๐ญ๐ฒ, ๐ซ๐ž๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ, ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐›๐š๐œ๐ค ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐›๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ. ๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ž ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐œ๐ž. ๐…๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ. ๐‚๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ.

๐“๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Œ๐‘๐‡, ๐ˆ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐š ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ๐ž. ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐œ๐ž. ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐‹๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐’๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐›๐ฅ๐ž, ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐ž๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ž๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ .

๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐–๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐งโ€™๐ฌ ๐Œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ก, ๐ˆ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐ ๐›๐ž๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ. ๐“๐จ๐ ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ, ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ค๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐Ÿ๐š๐ข๐ญ๐ก, ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ ๐ž, ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ๐ž."


Address

2275 Huntington Drive
Arcadia, CA
91108

Telephone

+16267881674

Website

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