I know many of you have a few days, or WEEKS, of school under your belt already, but tomorrow is my sweet boy’s first day of second grade! SECOND GRADE!!!
{insert weeping and sniffles!}
Right now his lunch is packed, his outfit is laid out, and he’s snuggled in bed.
I was thinking through my week and what is on the calendar, and I remembered that this Saturday, September 6 is the Exploit No More Fall Advocacy Summit.
What in the world does this have to do with the night before the first day of school???
It hit me like a ton of bricks….there are so many precious girls (and boys!) tonight who are NOT getting ready for school tomorrow!
These precious children are trapped in sex trafficking. Instead of laying out their outfits and filling their backpacks, they are enduring beatings, rape, being drugged, and bought and sold for their bodies.
They don’t get the opportunity to worry about who they will sit next to at lunch tomorrow, or if their hair will lay right, or who will be in their English class.
They are being passed around, forced to do unspeakable things, and worrying, instead, about making enough money to please their pimp so maybe, just maybe, tonight she won’t get beaten.
My heart breaks as I write this. I imagine the fear, hopelessness, despair and pain those precious girls are feeling tonight as I watch my little ones sleep. I can’t even fathom the life they are living. I really can’t.
I’m writing this tonight NOT to guilt you into action. But, most certainly, to encourage you, nudge you, maybe help push you into action that has been pulling on your heart too.
I have been volunteering with Exploit No More for some time now. ENM is working to end sex trafficking in Milwaukee, and also to establish an aftercare home for girls (age 18 and under) after leaving the sex trade. These girls need so much support, healthcare, education, life training, etc. and this home will provide that.
But that takes A LOT of people and A LOT of money!
If you are in the Milwaukee area, please try to spend this Saturday morning, September 6, 2014 8:00-12:!5 at the Fall Advocacy Summit. The people you will hear from are reputable, knowledgeable, influential, and have been working in the trenches of this issue for quite some time.
I know it’s hard to give up a Saturday morning, but really, what is 4 hours in the scope of your week considering what and WHO we are working for!
Register here. If you can’t come, please consider sending someone from your church or organization. As I said, it takes A LOT of people and A LOT of awareness to end this atrocity in our city.
If you’re reading this, and it’s pulling at your heart, but you don’t live in the Milwaukee area, please consider praying for ENM. Please consider donating to ENM. Donations are tax deductible. The money you donate gets us closer and closer to providing a safe place to girls who don’t even know the definition of the word “safe” anymore.
- Attend the Fall Advocacy Summit, and bring someone with you!
- Send someone to the Fall Advocacy Summit in your place
- Sign up for the e-newsletter so you can pray specifically
- Donate to Exploit No More
this and that and then some 