The Anchor House: First residential shelter for sexually-trafficked boys to open this year

The very first shelter in the United States to welcome sexually-trafficked boys will be ready this year. However, it has not been an easy ride for the Christian couple behind the initiative who has spent the past 3 1/2 years trying to complete the project.

The Anchor House is a residential shelter under Restore One, described as "a ministry that seeks to open safe homes that are Christ-centered free of cost to male victims of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) and Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE)." The facility will first take in four adolescent boys, which will eventually increase to 12, aged between 12 and 18.

According to Christian Headlines, Restore One was founded by Chris and Anna Smith in 2012, and they initially intended to open a shelter for girls. They later discovered through those who have founded similar facilities that there is no such residential care available for male victims, considering that 50 percent of sexually exploited minors are boys.

"We started to learn and started to see that boys were forgotten," Chris said, as quoted by Catholic Online. "That their stories were real. That across America, boys, just like girls, are being sold for sex. And no one is talking about it."

However, they encountered difficulties along the way. Chris told The Daily Reflector that donors started asking questions if the project was going to push through because they had already spent months looking for a suitable place to put up the shelter. They eventually found one in Greenville, North Carolina.

Due to the need for privacy, confidentiality, and security, they kept the real purpose of the facility from the community. But the shelter's location was subsequently disclosed since there was the necessity of raising both awareness and funds. The community was not happy about what they learned. They complained, opposed, questioned, and put up banners, one of which read, "No sex trafficking lodge here."

The commissioners, however, could not halt the construction because the place had no zoning restrictions.

Jerry Jones, chairman of the Greene County Board of Commissioners, told Kinston.com in October last year, "I do not like how the whole thing started and how it was all hush-hush, secret-secret, whatever. Nobody likes that. ... But anyway, what's done is done."

The Smiths assured the local community that the facility will have a $12,000-security system as well as night guards and volunteers. Moreover, the boys, before being taken in, will undergo drug sreening and persoanality evaluations. They will be referred by advocacy groups and law enforcement agencies.

The property where The Anchor House stands measures 10 acres. Its two-story main building measures 4,430 square feet and there is a cottage measuring 1,639 square feet. Financing came from private donors, and while the project has incurred no debts, $400,000 is still needed for maintenance costs once it opens.