Running for JusticeRebecca Dunning - 27 Oct 2010
A group of thirteen of us, traveled to Littleton, Colorado for the inaugural 5K Justice Run for anti-human trafficking. Each donned a bright red jersey or tee with “Abolitionist” blazing across the front and www.24-7prayer.com underneath it. The back of the shirts states “Stop Human Trafficking”.
According to statistics on www.thejusticerun.org, human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world with a whopping 12 billion dollars per year generated. There are an estimated 27 million people enslaved worldwide, including more than 2 million children currently trapped in forced prostitution. Seventy percent of the victims are girls and fifty percent are children. In fact every thirty (30) seconds a girl is sold into sex trafficking. Shockingly, the average life span of a victim is only four (4) years.
In response to these revolting statistics, Justin and Rawan Shrum, with a team from the US established The Justice Project base in Western Germany working full time in the rescue and restoration of victims of the trade.
Recently, the Shrums’ have turned their focus towards purchasing a new safe house, called The Cloverleaf Center, outside of Karlsruhe, Germany. Rawan approached friends and Denver, Colorado residents, Jeremiah and Jenny Watson, to ask them to put together a 5k run to benefit this effort.
The run was one of the greatest things I have been involved with in a while. I was particularly happy that we were able to include my three children in the cause. We stood out like sore thumbs in our matching red jerseys and tees and were approached quite a few times, by people who came to the event just due to their enjoyment of running 5ks. Several had questions on what 24-7 Prayer was and what it meant to be an abolitionist. Since the event, we have had quite a few people inquire about or place orders for the shirts.
When it was all said and done, over 200 people came out for the event with even more donating funds. Over $7,500.00 US was raised for the safe house in Germany. For me it just shows that we can all do a little something in the area of justice right where we are. We gave three hours of our time, doing something we already love, to help provide a safe haven for those who have no other options.