By: Mallory Turner
Students gathered on Monday night, April 4, on the Tucker Student Center patio to worship together in preparation for the events that are taking place during Human Trafficking Awareness Week.
Release the Captives, an organization on campus for human trafficking awareness, hosted the worship night. Shelby Robinson, a junior biblical studies major, led the event by preaching from Amos 5.
In the ESV, Amos 5:24 says “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Robinson said that through worship night, she wanted to give people, “a different perspective on injustice throughout the world.”
Photo by Megan Hartman
Sarah Branch and Jacob Kirby sang at the beginning and end of the night, where the group of around forty people were encouraged to sing along, with lyrics such as, “You came to set the captives free.”
Branch noted that she had, “never heard much about [human trafficking] until [she] came to Gardner-Webb.” Kirby, Branch, Robinson and other performers were asked to lead the event by Release the Captives in order to, “set a nice tone for the week and get us in the right mood,” said Release member Mariah Case.
Other events will be occurring throughout the week in honor of Human Trafficking Awareness. Tuesday night, there will be a documentary about human trafficking at 9 p.m. in the Tucker Movie Theater.
Wednesday will be TOM’s Day Without Shoes, where people are encouraged to go the entire day without their shoes on in order to raise awareness of the fact that many people do not have access to shoes.
Photo by Megan Hartman
Thursday will be an open mic night in Tucker Student Center at 8 p.m., and Friday will be the Rave to Save from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., where students can pay $2 to participate. All money from the rave will go to Challenging Heights, an organization in Charlotte that helps victims of human trafficking.
This is the fourth year that Release the Captives will be participating in Human Trafficking Awareness Week.
Emma Shappley, sophomore, said she will be participating in the TOM’s Day Without Shoes and the open mic night, stating that the events are, “really cool things to do to bring awareness.”
To see all photos from the worship night, click here.
