Mattress Direct donates $10,000 to help human trafficking victims

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, November 13, 2012

Ty Hingle, left, and Lee Burns, both of Mattress Direct, present a check to Laura and Lee Domingue of the Hope House.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Bedding retailer Mattress Direct recently presented a $10,000 check to the Hope House of Louisiana, a 32-acre campus in Livingston Parish that is designed to provide long-term safe housing for the rehabilitation of human trafficking victims.

The organizations ran a Facebook campaign, enlisting its fans to recruit new "likes" for the Mattress Direct, Trafficking Hope or Hope House pages, donating $10 for each one. Response was strong, and in days the goal of $10,000 was met, officials said.

The check will pay for new mattresses for the campus of seven cottages, which each house two residents, and the Hope House onsite staff quarters.

"We are proud to partner with the Hope House on such a great cause," said Lee Burns, president of Mattress Direct. "This money will help provide brand new, high-quality mattresses for these girls as they work to rebuild their lives. After all they have been through, we wanted to be able to help provide the best environment possible."

Burns and his business partner, Ty Hingle, presented a check for $10,000 to the founders of Trafficking Hope and the Hope House, Lee and Laura Domingue.

"Lee and I have been blown away at the outpouring of support from everyone," said Laura Domingue. "From local business to local churches to the enormous number of volunteer man-hours, we can literally say that the Hope House can open in January 2013 only because of all their help. It's been exciting to see so many people giving so generously to help the precious young women who will be restored at the Hope House."