When I was a senior in high school, my youth pastor started talking about a movement called 30 For Freedom. It was started by Brent Silky, who had this amazing inspiration to find 30 friends, run 30 miles, and raise $30,000 for this cause to end sex trafficking and it was all to take place on his birthday. The whole movement exists to end sex trafficking in our lifetime through prevention, rescue operations, and survivor care. All the money raised through 30 For Freedom is given to Venture, Lighthouse Foundation Nepal, and F.R.E.E. International.
Venture is an organization that encourages people to run, hike, walk, bike, and swim to raise money to fund the rescue missions and after survivor care. They don't just participate in ending sex trafficking but also provide meals for the malnourished in SouthEast Asia, provide education, and empower children. Venture works in the Thailand Burma border which is a massive global center for trafficking, sex slavery, child soldiers, extreme poverty, and refugees. It's one of the world's worst human trafficking crises.
Lighthouse Foundation Nepal is a non-profit organization that was built to improve the lives of children in Nepal who are at risk for abuse, trafficking, and neglect. Their main focus is to support abandoned babies, orphans, and children living on the streets. They focus on child development and try to encourage the communities to get involved in helping these children.
Project Rescue exists to rescue and restore victims of sexual slavery through the love and power of Jesus Christ. The organization educates poverty-stricken areas and provides residential care for children and prostituted women. They have medical clinics, night care shelters, and red-light district churches that provide care and supplies that are needed. Project Rescue sets up aftercare safe houses for rescued women and children and provides vocational training to give these victims a chance at life outside trafficking.
F.R.E.E. International has four parts- find, restore, embrace, and empower. F.R.E.E. International partners with different programs to find victims of sex trafficking and provide awareness programs for at-risk communities. They also partner with KlaasKids Search and Rescue to organize community search efforts to find missing children.
During natural disasters, human traffickers are known to go to low-income areas and search out the vulnerable. F.R.E.E. International has dispatch to support vehicles which are stationed in low-income neighborhoods to provide vital programs like legal services and medical help.
F.R.E.E. International provides resources to spread awareness to individual, communities, and survivors. The survivors need people to be aware and provide encouragement and support for them from the things they've had to endure.
You can go to https://venture.givingfuel.com/30forfreedom to make a donation through 30 For Freedom, or join me in running, this May, in the 30 For Freedom run. As many as 4.8 million people are trapped in sexual exploitation, that's more than half of New York City's population. Slavery will not end if we keep turning a blind eye to what we know is going on around us. I'm choosing to run for something bigger than myself, will you?
