Cyclists On A 3,000 Mile Ride To End Human Trafficking
Route passes through Kansas and Missouri this Summer
The fight against child trafficking fuels their journey. Beginning June 14, eight cyclists and their crew will embark on a non-stop, transcontinental relay in the 2025 Race Across America (RAAM), riding from Oceanside, California, across Kansas and Missouri, to Atlantic City, New Jersey.
It’s an annual ride of ZOE International, which has a mission to reach people with the Gospel and rescue children from trafficking. The organization focuses on prevention, rescue, and restoration in five countries, including the U.S., Mexico, Japan, Australia and Thaland.
Organizers say this is the classic American road trip on a continuous loop for six days. Except on bicycles. Using a never-ending supply of muscle ointment. The route eventually makes its way across both Missouri and Kansas.
The ride is a grueling, muscle-numbing, sleep-depriving, and stunningly beautiful ride, covered in alternating 15-minute calf-searing sprints by each rider. The cyclists will travel through the Kansas communities of Pratt, Kingman, Wichita, El Dorado and Fort Scott before crossing into Missouri to pass through Weaubleau, Wheatland, Hermitage and Jefferson City. They’ll crossover into Illinois at Alton.
Many team members began training as early as the fall 2024, putting in hundreds of hours on stationary bikes, outdoor rides, and strength training. Not only do cyclists compete in the race, but they also raise between $20,000 to $50,000 each for ZOE International to rescue more children and begin the restoration journey.
And it’s worth it. The growing problem of child sex trafficking globally and in the United States is an issue that is close to the team’s heart. Here’s why:
- 6 million people are victims of modern slavery worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO, 2022)
- 9 million of that number are women and girls, who are sex trafficked (ILO, 2022).
- 72% of trafficking victims are women and girls while 28% are men and boys (Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, 2018)
- 50,123 reported cases of human trafficking in the U.S. (National Human Trafficking Hotline, 2021)
- 25,000+ children were reported missing; 1 in 6 were likely victims of sex trafficking (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2022)
Brad Ortenzi, a former undercover online child sex trafficking investigator with the Ephrata (Pennsylvania) Police Department, is ZOE team’s race director. He also serves as the Eastern USA Regional Director for ZOE. The idea of competing in the race began for Ortenzi in 2014 during a life-changing trip to Thailand.
Ortenzi and his wife, Lori, were introduced to ZOE’s work firsthand in 2014. “The children’s fight inspired me,” Ortenzi said. “Every one of them was a fighter—fighting to get their life back. Their fight inspired me and changed my life. Competing in Race Across America allows ZOE to take this fight against child sex trafficking across the United States.”
The race team’s progress will be available via livestream at http://gozoe.org/raam-media
Title sponsor is York Ag. Corporate sponsors include: GFI Transport, Scenic Ridge Company, Eby Trailers, Activate Your Influence, Strasburg Pallet Company, Weaver Companies, Eagle Rental, TLS, The Hess Agency, Four Seasons Produce, Firm Foundations LLC, Breeo, Outback Toys, Esbenshade’s Garden Centers, Perigo Tech, Bomberger’s Store, Diamond Home Transformations, Redner’s Markets, Lanco Sheds LLC, Sensenig’s Feed Mill, Urban Southern, Lapp Structures, Duco Accounting, Univest Financial, King Farms, Signature Custom Cabinetry, Melard Coach, Lancaster Flower Company, Gibbel Insurance Agency, Latte Luv Coffee, Sunrise Sunset Vacation Home.
–Clem Boyd
