Amy Schutter and the Dream Team

Long before Homestead Ministries became a reality, a group of women prayed. They had heard about the atrocity of sex trafficking and their hearts felt a pull. So they prayed. Trafficking was so overwhelming. It was so hard to know how to help, where to start, what to do. So they prayed.

The team of women, dubbed “the Dream Team”, dared to ask God for a safe place in Manhattan for women ravaged by the sex industry to find healing and hope for a better life today and for all their tomorrows.

Amy Schutter, a member of the dream team, young wife and mother, coach, well loved and respected, shortly thereafter became very ill. Hospitalized with an infection, she then died. Her family and all who loved her were devasted. When they heard about the Dream Team and their hopes and prayers, they created a memorial fund in loving honor of Amy. These were the first funds raised for what would later become Homestead Ministries.

n older couple who had heard of the Dream Team and the fundraising, felt that same pull. So they also prayed. They prayed about donating the childhood home of the husband. Once donated, the Homestead Ministries was officially birthed.

The plaque pictured here hangs on the wall just inside the front door of the Homestead house. All who enter, all 65 women who have come through the doors and all the hundreds of volunteers, all pass by this plaque. Some know about Amy and the Dream Team and their prayers, some don’t. But all are blessed.

Amy didn’t live to see her dreams and prayers become a reality. But we can hope that she can look upon it and know that she made a difference and will continue to do so as long as Homestead Ministries remains open.