Kentucky First Lady Britainy Beshear stepped into a nearly finished building on June 15, but she was really walking into the middle of a story that started years ago—with a mother’s grief, a community’s faith, and a determination to build something that did not exist anywhere else in the state.
The building is Redeeming Hope, a 6,000-square-foot therapeutic foster home on five acres of land donated by Church on the Rock in Berea. It is set to open in late July or August. And when it does, it will be the first and only facility in Kentucky specifically designed to house and rehabilitate girls ages 14 to 18 who have survived human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
“This is an amazing project,” Beshear said during her tour. “This is going to help a lot of girls in our foster care system who have been sexually abused and exploited to have a place where they can heal and grow.”
The Woman Behind the Walls 🧱
Lisa Foster founded Redeeming Hope after her daughter, Jordan Morgan, was killed in a home invasion in 2022. Morgan had been an assistant prosecuting attorney in Northern Kentucky who fought against human trafficking.
Foster told God she needed something to do with her life if she was going to keep living. What she built was a 24/7 home for some of the most vulnerable young people in the foster care system.
“We’ve worked so hard for four years and this actually finishes up the construction of the home,” Foster said.
The home will serve girls from across the commonwealth. How long they stay depends on what they need—therapeutic support, educational services, technical school training, and the kind of stability that many of them have never had.
A Collaborative Consultation 🤝
Beshear’s visit was not just ceremonial. As a trained clinical social worker with a long-standing platform advocating against human trafficking and domestic violence, she brought more than political goodwill to the tour. She actively brainstormed therapeutic design elements with the staff.
During the walk-through, Beshear recommended integrating dynamic, color-changing LED lights to help stabilize mood fluctuations—a practical, evidence-based intervention for trauma recovery. She also suggested installing physical sensory-grounding tools, including a dedicated therapeutic ball pit, to assist the girls during acute trauma-recovery episodes.
Those recommendations will now be part of the home’s final design. It is the kind of detail that turns a routine political tour into a genuine clinical consultation.
The Beam Blessing ✍️
Visitors to Redeeming Hope are invited to write scripture on the support beams before the drywall goes up. Previous visitors include Daniel Cameron and Congressman Andy Barr.
When Beshear toured the facility, she added her own message: “Go and do likewise” from Luke 10:37—the parable of the Good Samaritan.
“Jesus stops and helps this person,” Beshear said. “He tells us, ‘Go and do likewise,’ and it is an instruction for us as the broader community and neighbors of the world to help one another even though there might be differences among us.”
A Community Effort, Debt-Free 💛
The project has been funded entirely through donations—from individuals, churches, organizations, and businesses. A $100,000 check from the Kentucky General Assembly, presented in May, helped push the project across the finish line.
Foster emphasized that the facility is debt-free, a point of pride for a project that has relied on community support from the beginning. “Local leaders and our state leaders are really taking a step to fight human trafficking,” she said.
But the fundraising does not stop when the doors open. Redeeming Hope is still raising money to provide for the girls once they arrive.
The Hardware Is Built. The Software Is Just Beginning. 🛠️
Building a facility with donated lumber, volunteer contractors, and state capital grants is a localized hardware problem that a community can solve with a concrete end date. Berea has done that. The walls are up. The beams are signed. The building is nearly ready.
Operating a 24/7 residential home with highly specialized, trauma-informed clinical staff, round-the-clock security, and continuous medical oversight is an ongoing software challenge. That is the next phase, and it is the harder one.
Foster is raising money to cover the ongoing operational costs. The home will need staff who can love as well as treat. It will need therapists, nurses, teachers, and support workers who understand that healing from trafficking and exploitation is not a linear process. And it will need the community to keep showing up—not just for the ribbon-cutting, but for the long haul.
The Need Is Real 📌
Zinnia Hensley, community resource coordinator and social worker for the Berea Police Department, said there is a misconception that human trafficking and sexual violence are not common in this area.
“It’s one of the highest areas (for abuse and trafficking) that I’ve seen,” Hensley said. “I was in the military, and I’ve been to a lot of different places.”
The numbers back her up. Recent landmark hotline data cycles from the National Human Trafficking Hotline show Kentucky received 278 signals for the crime in 2024. Seventy-five of those were from victims or survivors. The hotline found 139 cases that year involving 256 victims.
“This facility is going to be an eye opener,” Hensley said. “But it’s also going to help a lot of people here.”
A Home, Not Just a Facility 🏡
Foster has been intentional about making Redeeming Hope feel like a real home. Staff are hired for their ability to love, not just their credentials. The girls will eat meals together, spend time outdoors, and have access to a Florida room designed so they do not feel trapped indoors.
“Anything that you would do for your kids at home is something that we want to do for these kids here,” Foster said.
The goal is to help the girls build identities beyond their trauma.
“We all have to have some sort of identity outside of here,” Hensley said. “We don’t want their identity to be that they were abused and victims. We want them to be survivors who help and hope out in the world and our community.”
The Bottom Line ✅
This is the kind of story that does not always make headlines, but it is the kind that defines a community. A mother turned grief into action. A church donated land. A community raised money. The state stepped in. And now, a first-of-its-kind home is about to open in Berea.
This is not just a building. It is a response to a problem that is larger and closer than most people realize. And it is happening because people here decided to do something about it.
Beshear said it well: “I think the work Lisa is doing here is absolutely phenomenal. I think that it’s long overdue.”
Sometimes a good local story is closer than we think. This one is on five acres just outside town, and it is almost ready to open its doors. But the real work—the ongoing work of healing—is just beginning.
Quick Summary ✅
- The Core Facility: Redeeming Hope is a nearly completed 6,000-square-foot therapeutic group home built on five acres of land donated by Berea’s Church on the Rock.
- A State Milestone: Set to open in late summer 2026, the home represents the first and only dedicated facility in the Commonwealth engineered exclusively to protect and rehabilitate foster youths surviving human trafficking.
- The Origin Story: Founder Lisa Foster launched the non-profit following the tragic 2022 murder of her daughter, attorney Jordan Morgan, who spent her career on task forces countering exploitation.
- Clinical Input: Utilizing her background as a professional clinical social worker, First Lady Britainy Beshear collaborated with onsite teams to design color-changing LED mood-stabilization features and sensory grounding tools.
Related Stories 🔗
Upcoming Community Events 📅
- June 17 – July 31, 2026: Together We Thrive community art exhibition on view at the Berea Arts Council gallery.
- June 19–28, 2026: Macbeth final weekend performances at The Spotlight Playhouse.
- July 10–12, 2026: The Berea Craft Festival at Indian Fort Theater.
This article originally appeared on BereaOnline.com — your home for Madison County news, community events, and local updates.
About the Author ✍️
Chad Hembree serves as the Executive Director of Spotlight Acting School, The Spotlight Playhouse, and Spotlight Performing Arts. A resident of Berea, Kentucky, and a former member of the Berea City Council, he has spent decades working in community theater, arts education, and local journalism. Since 1995, he has operated BereaOnline.com, focusing on local news, civic issues, and stories that highlight community collaboration and grassroots efforts across Madison County.
Sources 📌
- The Berea Citizen Local Infrastructure Profiles (June 17, 2026)
- WKYT State General Assembly Appropriations Index (May 2026)
- National Human Trafficking Hotline Regional Case Registry Data (Compiled 2024–2025)
- Redeeming Hope Organizational Founding Bylaws and Mission Charters (December 2022)