Rachel Riggio is a shoot-for-the-moon woman who wants to heal the world, and she’s starting with an ambitious project in Cambodia.

Riggio and her brother Garrett are at the helm of The Red Road Foundation, a nonprofit group working to bring basic resources to children in need around the world. Their breakout endeavor is Project Phoenix, which will create a safe house, school and farm for young victims of sex trafficking in Cambodia.

The brother-sister team just returned from spending two months in Cambodia to get the project rolling. Rachel will go back to the community of Koh Kong in November when construction begins on a 3-acre site, and plans to stay about 18 months to shepherd the project.

Garrett, on track to graduate from the University of Montana in November with a marketing and entrepreneurship degree, will help with the construction in Cambodia for a couple of months. He serves as program and fundraising director of the foundation.

“We must be the change we want to see in this world,” he said, “and it all starts with making the choice to be that difference.”

The Riggios are spending the summer on Flathead Lake in Rollins with their mother, Nancy Reggio, as they conduct fundraising and awareness for the project.

Rachel, 26, said she’s long been fascinated by tribal cultures and is drawn to their model of living in which everyone works together for the good of the community.

“Everybody’s pulling their own weight; it’s old-fashioned community,” she said. “That’s something we’ve lost in our culture. I want to create those kinds of environments.”

The foundation is named for the “red road,” a term used in American Indian spiritual teachings to represent one who is walking in balance.

“It is behavior, attitude, a way of doing with reverence,” she said.

The facility in Cambodia will feature a safe house for up to 15 children who have been rescued from human trafficking situations. A school will be equipped to handle 40 students, and a farm is being established to create an element of self-sustainability.

The staff will grow morina, a protein- and vitamin-rich plant that could be turned into teas and balms that could be sold to supplement the project’s income, Rachel said. The farm also will grow amaranth, a protein-rich grain.

“Cambodia is the first of many places I want to go,” she said. “The people there are so hopeful, happy, inviting.”

When her research showed a huge need to help victims of sex trafficking, Rachel turned her focus to a safe house.

A graduate of Santa Barbara City College, Rachel has spent the past six years as a youth counselor specializing in group-home settings. She draws on her own life experiences.

Her father died when she was 4, leaving her mother to raise her and her two younger siblings. It was a struggle. Later, when her best friend died in a car crash during high school, Rachel spiraled into a period of substance abuse. She was sent away to a wilderness treatment center in Utah that was pivotal in her recovery and opened her eyes to the needs of others.

“While I was there I found so much joy in helping others,” she said. “The counselors would say, ‘Rachel, you’re here for you. You need to work on yourself.’”

The wilderness experience became the springboard for her work as a youth counselor. And she continues to think big about ways to help people.

“I have this dream that someday I want to have a treatment center on a ship that we would take to Third World countries and have them work in those countries as part of their treatment,” she said. “It would give them a sense of purpose and open up their minds to the idea of helping others.”

A trip to Peru some time back to work in orphanages solidified Rachel’s life cause.

Her position as executive and operations director of The Red Road Foundation is largely a volunteer endeavor.

“Everything I have is going into this,” she said about Project Phoenix. “I feel like a divine something is pushing me along. All the pieces are falling together perfectly.

“I’m putting it all out there. Right now I’m shooting for the moon.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.