Freedom Week 2010

Freedom Week is on in New York City and on October 1, Love 146 took part at the LABA Theater at the 14th Street YMCA. The event combined an evening of dance, speakers, and an interactive panel to educate and invoke the importance of fighting human trafficking.

Love 146’s own Sarah Council choreographed two performances called Shadowlands and Hold Sway. Inspired by the stories of trafficking survivors, Shadowlands opens on faceless dancers, whose exposed spines are contorted into the small spaces of stackable platforms. As the work unfolds, these structures mold and change into hiding places, hotel beds, prisons and pedestals accompanied by a haunting musical score composed by Greg Heffernan. Hold Sway explores the difficulties of a controlling relationship as the two people push and pull out of each other's lives. Performances were done by: Ellen Augusto, Sarah Bodie, Melissa Brading, Kathryn Bringle, Lauren Kime, and Sarah Pope. These two performances together left the audience in rapture of its depth, vulnerability, and insight into the world of human trafficking. Sarah Council is not the only Love 146 member who is also an artist. Love 146 co-creator Lamont Hiebert, also front man of the band Ten Shekel Shirt, contributed with a video of his single, “Fragile”.

After the artistic portion of the evening was complete, Restore's executive director, Faith Huckel, educated audience members about human trafficking and how Restore is taking part to help. Capping off the evening was a panel discussion including Sarah Council, Ed Adams from the Love 146 Long Island Task Force, Deirdre Mars from Not for Sale, and Faith Huckel. The panel addressed such issues as the biggest challenges in fighting human trafficking and what people can do about it in their day-to-day lives. After the audience was dismissed, they were able to peruse merchandise tables from Love 146, Not for Sale, and Stop Child Trafficking Now while enjoying refreshments and talking about what they just learned that night.

The night was a great success for the New York Chapter of Love 146 as more than 100 audience members filled the theater. Love 146 is grateful to all those who helped bring this event together and those who took time out of their Friday evening to come, listen, and learn.

Shadowlands at Freedom Week

Freedom Week 2010 and Love 146 NYC present Shadowlands
An evening in support of abolition

Join us for an evening of provocative modern dance, compelling speakers and an interactive expert panel discussion that will address human trafficking and explore ways we can fight against it to make lasting change.

October 1st at 8pm
The LABA theater at the 14th Street Y
344 E. 14th St (between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue)
New York City
Tickets: $15 at the door
For reservations email: freedomweeknyc@gmail.com

Featuring the works of Sarah Council Dance Projects with special guest speakers from Restore NYC and Hello Rewind.

We will be collecting gently used t-shirts at the door to donate to the efforts of
Hello rewind. Don't miss a great opportunity to clean out your closet for a
worthy cause!

Click below and take a look at the other events on the Freedom Week 2010 Calendar!
http://www.freedomweeknyc.com/calendar.html

April Success

Our collaborative event with Not For Sale on April 1st at Groove in the West Village was a great success! Outside of people already at the venue space when we arrived, over 50 people came out to support the cause, and we raised over $1200 to be split between Love146 and Not For Sale! It was a fun evening and a great way to set the stage for many future events for Love146 NYC.

We not only raised funds, but also raised awareness about child sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Two highlights of the evening were when a woman (who just happened to be dining at the venue) bought two of our auction items, and a man (also not associated with the event) bought a raffle ticket and won the $75 Poco Restaurant Gift Certificate. It was great to engage other New Yorkers in the cause! Now they not only got to go home with great prizes but know a little more about the fight against human trafficking and two organizations fighting for abolition. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event such a success and stay posted for more events to come!

April Fooled

Love 146 and Not for Sale are teaming up to present “April, Fooled”, a live music and auction event that will benefit these organizations who are fighting to prevent and heal the victims of labor and sexual slavery. "April, Fooled" takes place on April 1st at Groove on 125 McDougal from 7:00-9:30 and cover is only $8 at the door. Auction items include rock climbing lessons by Chuck Council, a hair cut and style at a high-end salon, a 1GB Ipod shuffle, a bass lesson with Ben Mars of the Jamie McLean Band (upright or electric), a night at Poco Restaurant in the East Village, jewelry, a gift certificate for two people to attend two speed dating events with NY Easy Dates, an original Kate Spade bag and more to come.

Please join us for this exciting evening and bring friends, family members and coworkers. Check out the link below.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=537050115905&oid=105995812755388

Making Progress

The New Year is off to a great start for Love146’s New York City Task Force. First off, a church in Park Slope, Brooklyn hosted a fundraiser on February 26 and raised $2500! There was music, comedy, and auctioning galore. About 70 people showed up and the night was a raving success. Our own Sarah and Chuck Council even volunteered their evening to sell t-shirts and sold $125 worth, while Derek Devine spoke briefly and showed Love146's "Imagine" video. There were great items up for auction, many of which included volunteer's personal time, such as babysitting, white water rafting lessons, and a personally knitted cap, just to name a few. It was great to see a community come together and use their money, time and skill sets to create change.

The New York task force is also kicking awareness up by distributing fliers throughout the city. Members can now print out fliers with pull tabs that include Love146’s website on them. The next time they go to their favorite coffee shop or restaurant, they just pull one out of their bag and post it on the corkboard that can be found in many establishments in the city. This is just one more way that the NYC Task Force is working hard to make the group and the issue known.

There’s a lot more to come this year, including a Men’s Initiative that will focus on education, awareness, and prevention efforts to address the demand side of sex trafficking. The raising awareness group is also focusing on education and is putting together a curriculum and list of schools to visit this spring to talk about the dangers and prevention of sex trafficking. And lastly, there is a spring fundraiser in the works! Stay tuned for more information on all of these initiatives!

Beginnings

As I sit comfortably in my chair to write this, I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the reality-- the reality that there are children living in slavery all around the world. If you are anything like me, you think of the American South whenever you think of slavery. Of Africans being shipped in herds to America where they would go on to live for years with no money, no education, and no hope for a real future. Those days are over, right? Wrong.

Today, there are 27 million people living in slavery. Children are some of the most vulnerable to this – it is estimated that two children are sold every minute. They wake up one day in the comfort of their homes and the next in an undisclosed location, often never to see their family or loved ones again as they forced into a life of prostitution or labor.

Perhaps you have seen the movie “Taken”. Perhaps you know that things like this are going on, but aren’t quiet aware of the magnitude. The aforementioned numbers will only get larger as the business gets more lucrative. It is estimated that 32 billion dollars is generated from human trafficking each year. What’s even more shocking is that these acts aren’t just taking place in third world countries, they are happening right in your own backyard. On August 10, 2009 a slavery ring was busted in Long Island, only miles away from New York City: http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_of_ours/2009/08/alleged-sex-ring-busted-on-long-island.html

So what can a regular person do about it? And who would want to get involved with something which holds consequences so terrifying anyway? Well, getting involved in the fight against slavery is something anyone can do, and it doesn’t have to be a scary endeavor. Every voice that raises awareness on the subjects contributes to the fight to save these children, to heal them, and to finally stop this epidemic in its tracks.

Love 146 is an international organization dedicated to combating child sex slavery & exploitation and restoring survivors. Just recently, a group of New Yorkers decided to form a local task force of Love 146 to help contribute to this cause. I will be the voice of New York City’s task force, using this blog as a forum to raise awareness and to keep you informed of our progress. To learn more about Love 146, please visit our website at: http://www.love146.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=21460

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

By Pastor Niemoller