Freedom Challenge's Team Advent – a group of women from Advent Church in Boca Raton devoted to ending the enslavement of women and children worldwide – raised $35,000 during its Bourbon and Blues fundraiser that will be used to support projects in India and Moldova.
"Blue is the color of the National Human Trafficking Awareness Campaign, and the blues are a genre of music that addresses the darkest issues of life with an unstoppable optimism, so it seemed fitting for the participants to be dressed in blue while being entertained by a live blues band," says Susan Hagen, team coordinator.
In India, Team Advent has supported a project over the past six years that helps girls avoid the practice of temple prostitution. During this time, they have seen the sponsored shelter grow from 15 to 50 young women who are taught life skills and given an education. The shelter is currently in the process of doubling to house 100 girls, in addition to creating an emergency shelter for 50 adult women. Additionally, the new complex will house a community health clinic, a skills training center for women and an office for the Anti-Human Trafficking division of the Good Shepherd Church.
All of this work is accomplished through the efforts of Freedom Challenge through Operation Mobilization, an international Christian mission organization that has been confronting injustice for more than 50 years. O
For more information, visit thefreedomchallenge.net.