Homestead Ministries on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 312

We talk with Deb Klutz of Homestead Ministries about long-term, holistic care for adult female survivors of sex trafficking in Manhattan and Celina. We dig into why trafficking is underreported, why some survivors seek faith-based support, and how the community can offer practical help that makes recovery possible. 
• Homestead Ministries’ residential model and what holistic long-term care looks like 
• Why many survivors ask for faith-based recovery and spiritual support 
• How highways, large events, and local conditions can increase trafficking risk 
• Why the numbers look “low” and how fear drives underreporting 
• Klutz’s description of SRA claims and why higher-structure care may be needed 
• Success stories after one to three years of care and the impact of stable housing 
• A leadership pipeline that equips graduates to lead anti-trafficking work 
• Concrete ways to help now through mentoring and household supply donations 
homesteadministry.org

GMCF

CFAs

Transcript

Sponsor And Segment Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Philanthropy today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on News Radio KMAN. We return with the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN.

Meet Deb Klutz And The Need

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Our next guest is Deb Klutz, who uh do you come in annually or do we need to get you in here more often? Because uh the mission of homestead ministries is something that's just you know so needed in this day and age, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

You know, unfortunately it is. Yeah. And I heard you and Verden mentioned the World Cup.

unknown 0:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I hadn't even thought about some of that.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Really? Oh my gosh. Uh huge. It's huge in regard to that. And so our our partners and affiliations in the Kansas City area are really knocking it out on trying to reach out and uh to all of the folks being poured in to Kansas City for trafficking

Holistic Long Term Survivor Care

SPEAKER_00 1:07

purposes.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

Let's talk a bit about and just to remind our listeners, because not everybody understands, knows what Homestead Ministry is, what you do, and what your mission is.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yeah. We uh minister to

Why Faith Based Support Matters

SPEAKER_00 1:19

we have a uh holistic, long-term care for adult female survivors of sex trafficking. And we've been going for 14 years here in Manhattan, five years over in Celina. We have houses in both locations. Uh we have 11 beds available for survivors who want to have a hand up, want to have great resources and great support around them, holistic care so they can get healing, recovery, get back on their feet again. We do career training with them. Um help them when they're ready to transition into their own place. We have pods full of furniture and household goods so we can set them up and help them out.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

You're a faith-based organization.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

We are. We are.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

How does that uh how does that help you bring everybody in?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

You know, you I want to say over 80% of survivors are interested in faith-based. They've tried everything else. I mean, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

And and many people feel that it is a last resort. And unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

I've heard so many of our ladies say, you know, I've tried everything else. It's like that whole definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. It just there's not different results, and they just get really tired and and hopeless almost, despairing. And they'll turn to the Lord. And then they want a faith-based organization to continue to uh cultivate that relationship and honestly resource because it's a strength beyond their own, and they know they can't do it. They've tried. Many have tried many, many times, decades worth of time. And they just haven't been able to do it a lot of times. So yeah, we honestly, the ladies that come to us are looking for a faith-based organization.

unknown 3:14

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 3:14

And a lot of people don't realize with I-70 and with Celina and the intersection of I-135, trafficking is just nonstop.

Why Kansas Is A Trafficking Corridor

unknown 3:26

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

It is nonstop. It is. We, you know, we're a little bit off of the beaten path as far as I-70, but it really doesn't matter. I mean, when you have a a D-1 university and you have uh military near, um, unfortunately, those also are there's an uptick with trafficking when there's those uh conditions.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Aaron Ross Powell Do you have an idea of how many individuals and and you know you cater to females.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Do you have an idea of how many are involved in sex trafficking in the state of Kansas?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Who you know I don't have my stats in front of me. I really don't.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

It would be a surprising number, I believe, for the Trevor Burrus.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

You know what's surprising is that the numbers look low considering almost no one reports. Yeah. Almost no one reports. Um it's one of those underbelly things. And the mind is so shifted against law enforcement and you know that they're the bad guys and they're just gonna arrest you and throw you in jail and da-da-da-da. There's so much non-reporting. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

There's so much fear.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah, so much fear. You just don't get accurate numbers. I I think worldwide you don't get accurate numbers.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Aaron Ross Powell So on our list of questions that you provided us, there's um a new phrase that I've never

Defining SRA And Trauma Claims

SPEAKER_01 4:57

heard of.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Satanic ritual abuse. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. You call it SRA for short because you know that's a lot of syllables. Right. SRA is, you know, quick to the point if you understand what it is. What is that?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

You know, that's become startlingly too too big of an issue. Um out of Denver, we partner with Rescue America out there. They're saying that up to 30% of their rescues are also SRA survivors. Atlanta is saying up to 60% of their rescues are also SRA survivors. So I feel like again, we're behind the we're behind the curve. All of the safe houses, all of the services behind the curve on what is this and what's going on with this, you know. But basically, what it is when you have sex trafficking survivors, you have severe trauma. And in severe trauma, the mind splits so the core person can function, right? So what these traffickers are doing is they're tapping into e dark powers, doing rituals on the split-off parts of the people, and then they have more control. They have mind control, they can program, they can access them literally from anywhere then. They don't have to be present. And the torment and the torture is hideous, and the wickedness is beyond comprehension.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Is it something that's building too quickly? You're seeing more and more cases of this?

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I many, many, many of my the applicants for us now are SRA. And I'm pretty convinced that we're gonna have to probably have a separate house with a separate program that's more more structured and even more intensive for our SRA survivors, maybe even just for the first nine months to a year, and then they could shift over to our regular uh programming. But um it it's it's a higher level.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

How do they escape it?

SPEAKER_00 7:30

You know, how do any of them escape it? Yeah. I mean, you know, it's so random that they can get away.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

And vicious.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

And vicious. And then these the SRA ladies, many of them, I mean we just had a girl, a gal, that um was SRA. And the torment in her mind, the paranoia, because she they can't escape their voices. They can't escape feeling like they're present and being watched at all times, and that they are literally in the city before they even get there. Um and we even had this girl x-rayed for devices because they will insert tracking devices in uh people. Um definitely phones and all of that, but you can get rid of that. But they will insert things. So we had her x-rayed. Uh she had no devices and it was in her mind and she couldn't get away from them. So she just kept running. She just kept running.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

These individuals, when they come to you. Mm-hmm. And you had said, you know, there's time where they need to adjust because of the experiences they've had and the nature of what they've been up against and how different that is than other individuals who have been merely, and I say that satirically, sex trafficked. Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Right. Because that's a whole it's it's a whole nother level of trauma and honestly wickedness.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

You know, I don't think we think that this could happen in Kansas.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Aaron Powell I don't think we could you know my whole wickedness box was blown up. Uh I've known about the SRA uh situation probably four years. So I'd been doing this work for a number of years. And I can honestly say my wickedness box was blown up. I had no comprehension of this level of horror and wickedness that people do to other people. It was it was just beyond my comprehension. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

You know, we've seen all these types of scenarios in movies and thrillers, suspenses, and and you know, you just okay, that's Hollywood.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Hollywood has some basis to it. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

It certainly does.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

And and there probably is some background that leads to the Trevor Burrus.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Yep. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

We don't have a whole lot of time. So I mean this just this is just totally blowing my mind right now.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah. It blows a lot of people's minds. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

I don't like my mind blown up on a Monday.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Well, that's probably true. You've got a few days to

Wins After Care And New Leadership

SPEAKER_00 10:10

go. So let's talk about some of the good things that are happening. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 10:15

You have a Manhattan home for for these ladies that uh you know are trying to get back on their on their good feet. And you've had some good things that have been happening at this residence.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

Aaron Ross Powell We do. You know, there's we've had 102 ladies for long-term care now. That's one to three years with us. So we're it's really rewarding to see when, you know, when they're given the opportunity, they're smart, they're capable, they're beautiful ladies, they're so appreciative too. And um, boy, they turn their lives around and it's just amazing. It's amazing uh what happens. Uh what we've seen too, what we wanted to do was focus. One of the initiatives we've started here in 2026 was uh we were really focusing on empathy, you know, as far as helping survivors and such. But then we have a whole uh other half of folks that want justice. What are you doing to end this, you know? So uh we've we've implemented a leadership pipeline for our graduates, for the ones who are interested. And we've had, we've just started it. And so uh we've had several of our girls get started on it as far as training them for leadership positions in the anti-trafficking world. Um, they're the warriors that, you know, need the confidence, need the training as far as speaking and managing people and managing money and being able to be a leader in this realm of influence and go out there. They have the passion for their sisters that are still out there. And they're not afraid. They've seen worst of the worst, and they're just not afraid. And they want to go after it. And so we've we're created this leadership pipeline to begin to help them um gain the confidence and the tools to go out there and do it.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Aaron Powell You have some 100 survivors through Homestead Ministries just in in this area.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

What a way to pay it forward.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yes, that's exactly right. And so my answer to justice is let's let's get the survivors equipped and turn them loose to go out there and and go after.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

What are some things that the community can do to help homestead ministries and these uh ladies that get into these predicaments?

How The Community Can Help

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Aaron Powell Yeah, you know, I think one of the things where right now I'm trying to expand my mentor pool. One of the things we provide is a walk alongside friend. And so that's, you know, that's something that people are like, well, you know, I don't know that I can relate. Da-da-da. And I'm like, you don't have to relate. They don't want you to be like them. They really just need a friend. Uh we have our ladies come from all over the country. And so we've had a couple of foreign nationals as well. And so they don't know Manhattan. They've never been to Kansas, many of them.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

And how do they find you?

unknown 13:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Rescue organizations. Yeah. Rescue organizations, which those are increasing, which is fantastic across the country. So yeah, we get, I probably get at least three calls a week uh with inquiries.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

And you're an all-volunteer agency. We pretty much are.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

I'm full-time, our house managers, we pay them. Okay. But they're all part-time.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

So do you need volunteer help?

SPEAKER_00 13:46

We always need volunteer help. And like I said, the mentor pool would be volunteer. Um right now, you know, I think house supplies are the big thing. You have five, six ladies in a house. You're running through toilet paper, you're running through tissue, cleaning supplies, laundry supplies, you know, you're just running through things pretty quickly. The other things here in Manhattan is we need towels. Uh many times when a gal leaves, she'll leave a towel, she'll take a towel or two with her, which is fine. But yeah, we're just informed we're running low on towels.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

So Do you have a preference on towels? Do they need to be new? Can they be used?

SPEAKER_00 14:21

Just in good condition.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah, as long as they work.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

As long as they work. You know, that's important.

unknown 14:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Do you have a drop-off location or do you think that's a good thing?

SPEAKER_00 14:30

You know, our offices are at Westview Community Church. So that's on 615 Gillespie Drive. And I would say that's probably the easiest way because there's, you know, church staff secretaries and that sort of thing, offices open. It's just easy to drop off that way. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Before we close, any quick last thoughts? Anything that we haven't discussed that you want to make sure we share?

Sobering Rescue Stats And How To Reach Them

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Yeah, I will I'll say um.1 percent get rescued. And only 0.1 percent get rescued.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

That's one out of a thousand.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

And only 30 percent of the 0.1 percent stay rescued. It's such an uphill battle. It's such a tremendous thing to tackle, to change your life after so much trauma, uh, addiction, mental health issues. So we feel really good about the ladies. We've been able to assist. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Deb plus thank you for the work that you do.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, thank you for letting me talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah, yeah. Hopefully we have uh, you know, some good movement forward, continued good movement forward. You know, it's you're not going to conquer it all in a by the next time we talk, but you're you know, it's kind of like that starfish. You know, you save that one.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

And that's what matters.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

That's exactly right. We feel like the little injured that could sometime. But you know what? We're still making it over the mountain.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Website is homesteadministry.org. Her name is Deb Klutz. She'd be uh delighted to visit with you. And and if you could provide some assistance as some of the matters that she had uh mentioned, they'd be great most grateful. Homestead Ministries. We're gonna be um moving into a much more happy, joyful discussion

Website And Transition To Next Guest

SPEAKER_01 16:12

here. Brent Sigman is next. He is the new executive director of the Flint Hills Volunteer Center. And we're gonna get to know him and a little bit more about what's happening with H F H V C just a couple of moments here on the GMCF Community Hour on News Radio KMAN.