Human trafficking. These two words define the lives of hundreds and thousands and yes, even millions of young women and children, forced into lives of slavery and hopelessness. They are stolen from their homes, or sold by adults they once trusted, taken captive, sold like animals, some in cages. Many face futures chained to beds of sexual slavery, far from any hope of ever being freed.

The buying and selling of souls has been happening for millennia, but never before has the true extent of this evil been so seared upon the American consciousness.

Though slavery was outlawed and supposedly eradicated long ago, aware individuals know it has never left us, only changed its appearance to again slide far enough under the radar to avoid attention.

Only now the flashlight of the world is shining upon it—the evil of human trafficking that is happening not just in third world countries around the world, but here in America as well.

Becky McDonald decided to do something about it. Though she grew up in a traditional missionary setting in Bangladesh, the word traditional has never defined her outlook on ministry. Ever since age fourteen, when a young girl was brought into her life, the girl’s vocal chords permanently damaged from acid poured down her throat by the men who had tried to rape her, Becky has been a warrior on behalf of the helpless and oppressed.

Since starting Women At Risk International in 2006, Becky has fought tirelessly to free the enslaved, wrapping arms of love and protection around those most in need, rescuing them, and restoring their dignity and hope. WAR International now has projects in 14 countries—safe houses in Thailand and India where rescued women create quality jewelry to sell. Cake decorating in Nepal, which provides income to continue the ministry of rescuing trafficked women. Bridal rental shops in Latin America, that not only provide funds for ministry, but a creative means of outreach as well.

And here in America, Becky works with homeland security to rescue our own. Though the majority of Americans once turned a blind eye from those enslaved, Americans today care deeply about ending the atrocities of human bondage. They care and they want to help.

But how can one person make a difference when the need is so vast?

By shopping, of course! As odd as that may sound, WAR International continues and thrives because women all over America are buying the beautiful jewelry, purses, scarves and clothing created by rescued women all over the world. Many churches and individuals are hosting WAR parties, where groups can come and shop together for a great cause. By buying WAR’s products, the rescued women are restored to lives of dignity as they see that their work is sustainable.

Money given to WAR might provide for a girl stolen from Nepal to escape the bonds of forced prostitution. It may provide for a former street worker, now dying of AIDS, to give the rest of her life to fulfilling ministry. It may help the emergency fund, which is specifically for those urgent, unexpected needs, like rescuing a baby going to be sold that very night.

Every once in awhile, the moment comes when we have the chance to change someone else’s whole life—giving them hope, and the Gospel of hope—a change that will last for eternity.

That time is now.

What will you do? How will you change the world?

For more information on how you can get involved, look up- www.warinternational.org.

While I love being in the midst of nature, there aren't a lot of people out there, so I do a lot of my networking in the grocery store. Last Light in Zion by Steve Henderson

Well, gosh Beave. Since everyone else is talking about economics these days, it’s time for me to throw my (gorgeous, handknitted) hat in the ring. While I do realize that I’m not a lettered expert in the subject, considering where the experts are getting us these days, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Today’s pontifications originate in the grocery store, my preferred locale of random human intereaction, where I fell into conversation with a woman who mentioned a new eatery in town.

“Oh, the prices are reasonable,” she assured me. “A half-sandwich, a piece of fruit, and beverage came to just over seven dollars.”

Maybe it had something to do with my surroundings, but I’m thinking that I could slap some deli lunch meat on a piece of bread, grab an apple, do my teeth a favor by skipping the pop, and have several dollars left over for the “I need more yarn because I never have enough” fund.

Does this sound weird to you?

I ask because, through the years, we get incredulous looks from people when we admit that no, we haven’t tried out the new pizza place. We make soup from scratch. Haven’t seen the latest movie yet because we can easily wait nine months and rent the DVD, which by that time won’t be assessed New Feature charges any more.

“Don’t you people live?” we are constantly asked.

“Don’t you people budget?” I have always wanted to retort, with that sweet, gentle smile of mine.

Bill and I just don't fly around in the same circles -- there are far fewer empty pizza carryout boxes in our trash than there are in his. Heading Home by Steve Henderson

It is fundamental reality that most of us are not related to Bill Gates — unless you want to go all the way back to Adam and Eve, but I don’t think Bill takes this seriously — and we operate under limited funds, the majority of which are already designated for property/income/payroll/sales taxes, auto/life/health/insurance payments, utility bills and their roster of attendant fees, gasoline, the monthly mortgage, and dog food. Are we having fun yet?

What’s left over we splurge on stuff like prescription glasses, a visit from the plumber, four new tires, and light bulbs for the bathroom.

Oh, and there’s food.

While I don’t go around asking other people what they make, I do hear complaints about how it never goes far enough, and I am properly sympathetic — because of that tax, fee, and insurance premium thing — until I notice the year, model, and number of vehicles they drive; the quantity of empty carryout boxes spilling from their overflowing garbage can; the regular garbage bags of really nice clothes that they pass on to our tribe not because their own progeny has outgrown them, but because the stripe on the side is a different color this season.

Much of our paycheck is pre-designated to areas that have no direct impact upon our daily lives. Summer Breeze by Steve Henderson

I understand the desire to have new, fun stuff, and if we weren’t already obligated to pay for demanding intangibles that we can’t see or really enjoy, then I’d probably splurge on more of it, but with the little bit we have left over, we make soup, setting aside funds — for emergencies, for a highly anticipated family outing, for an automobile purchase five years in the future. We try hard not to be judgmental, but at the same time, we find it hard to be sympathetic when the same people who call us boring moan because their hours got cut down, and they’re seriously considering cutting cable TV. (Our TV, a cast-off, lies silent until 99 cent DVD Thursdays.)

This is economics: most of what we make is taken up by purchases that do not directly benefit our daily lives.

Because individuals — unlike government — cannot create more money out of nothing, we are forced to make do with what we have, meaning that

1) We can’t buy everything we see, but

2) We can still have special, beautiful things if

3) We don’t fritter it all away in little increments first.

Carolyn Henderson’s lifestyle column, Middle Aged Plague, is published online and in newspapers throughout the nation. As manager and co-owner of Steve Henderson Fine Art, Carolyn writes art-based columns as well. Both she and her artist husband Steve are committed to connecting with ordinary, regular people like themselves, and to this end Carolyn writes about modern life’s oddities and ends while Steve paints images of beauty for normal people — with budgets and mortgages — to hang on their walls. http://middleagedplague.areavoices.com/

It was during and after college that Nancy Alcorn, a native Tennessean, spent eight years working for the state of Tennessee at a correctional facility for juvenile delinquent girls and investigating child abuse cases. Working for the state on a daily basis gave her direct encounters with government programs that were not producing permanent results; lives weren’t changed. Through her experience, she began to realize that only Jesus could bring restoration into the lives of girls who were desperately hurting and searching for something to fill the void they felt in their hearts.

In January 1983, Nancy followed God’s call on her life to build a home for hurting young women who really wanted help and moved to Monroe, Louisiana to start Mercy Ministries of America. Mercy’s free-of-charge, biblically-based program serves a diverse population of young women from various socio-economic backgrounds, aged 13-28 who are seeking freedom from life-controlling issues such as eating disorders, self-harm, drug and alcohol addictions and unplanned pregnancy as well as those who have been physically and sexually abused, including victims of sex trafficking.

As she began to lay the groundwork for the establishment of the ministry, Nancy knew that God had put three principles on her heart to which she must always remain faithful: (1) never take any state or federal funding that may limit the freedom to teach Christian principles, (2) always accept girls free of charge, and (3) always give at least ten percent of all Mercy Ministries’ donations to other organizations and ministries. Here is what Nancy had to say about how God blesses Mercy Ministries through their giving:

How to Bring Increase to Your Life

The Power of Giving

There is no greater joy than to give in a way that makes a difference in someone’s life. When you give, you are sowing a seed that in due time will bring a harvest. I grew up on a farm, and there wasn’t one year that my father didn’t sow seed so the cattle would have something to eat. I would have thought he’d lost his mind if one winter he never planted anything and then at springtime and harvest complained that the cattle had nothing to eat. It sounds silly, but sometimes that’s what we do to God. Reaping a harvest all starts with sowing a seed. This is a law and principle of God that works in the spiritual realm as it does in the natural.

There are seeds of greatness in you, but you’ve got to cultivate those seeds. In the very beginning, God told me to give 10 percent of everything that comes in to Mercy to other ministries. It has been especially important to me to bless those ministries whose teachings have blessed our residents. As we have been obedient to give and sow in good soil, God has always provided everything we need. Now, I have come to expect it.

You too can expect a return when you give, because God is a multiplier. He wants to multiply your seed so that you have more to give. When you let go of what is in your hand, then God will let go of what is in His hand to meet your needs. We can be sure of the promise in Galatians 6:9 which says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Not giving up means sowing with consistency. In the early days, God gave me a vision of a water hose. If I let the water flow out, more would keep coming. But if I ever got worried the water might run out and I blocked it to keep the water in the hose, the flow of provision would stop. We have to embrace giving as a part of our lives and never waver from it.

Matthew 25:23 tells us that if we will be faithful with a few things, God will put us in charge of many things. He expects us to take what He has given us and bring increase. It is important to understand how to bring increase to your life so God can use you to be a source of blessing to others. I had to show myself to be faithful with the very first girl who needed my help before God could entrust me with 10 girls and then 100 girls. Now, all these years later, we have helped thousands of young women. As we at Mercy continue to trust Him and obey His call on our lives, Mercy will continue to grow, and we will be able to serve thousands more!

Mercy Ministries has established locations in Monroe, Louisiana, Nashville, Tennessee, St. Louis, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. The organization has grown beyond the borders of the United States, including affiliates in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada. For more information about Nancy Alcorn and Mercy Ministries, go to http://www.mercyministries.com/.

My name is Kimberly Meneke and I am a wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, friend……a breast cancer Survivor. I am also a Realtor with Coldwell Banker United, Realtors and have been helping others with their real estate needs since 2004. The love, prayers and support of my family, friends and co-workers has given me the inspiration and strength to kick cancer’s butt!

Inspired by my own journey with breast cancer, my goal is to help others with cancer treatments and living expenses so they can keep their focus on healing.

My world stopped on Jun 17, 2010…..I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC), ER+,HER2+ breast cancer. When I was being tested, I thought the results would be negative….talking about being on an emotional roller coaster. This was a very scary, scary time for me and my family. I was trying to be very strong and positive, but I still had moments when I cried. I was so scared and I worried about my son – my angel, who was 8 yrs old at the time.

Being the first in my family to have cancer and feeling so helpless, I was scrambling to find doctors, medicine, and do the right thing, anything to make it go away. To my knowledge at the time, there was not a manual in what direction to go, who to call first, what doctor to see first, or what to do first or next. I didn’t have the luxury of “time” to research……I was scrambling to save my life! I couldn’t eat or sleep and I cried a lot….All I could think of is “I don’t want to die”.

Kimberly Meneke

Finally, on my way and in the good hands of my general surgeon, plastic surgeon, and oncologist and armed with a treatment plan of 6 Chemo treatments, 18 Herceptin treatments, double mastectomy and reconstruction surgery, I am doing awesome and have met the most incredible people along my journey. During my journey, I have talked to some who didn’t have insurance or the money and struggling to get financial help. And, there are so many others in the same position. I made a call for a friend to try and find some help financially with her treatments and I ran into a dead end. I remember asking the person on the phone “what do people do that don’t have the money for treatments; you can’t just let them die?”

Already feeling scared and helpless, think about how scared and helpless they must feel not having the money for their treatments. Since, I knew I wanted to help these people and other people that I haven’t met. I had to figure out how can I help I’m just one person, I’m not a millionaire and I have to work too.

Finally, I thought of a way that I can help financially and to provide a place to find cancer resources which is how www.RibbonsOfHopeRealty.com was created. I make a donation on your behalf* to PAF Co-Pay Relief Program – which provides assistance with treatments and The Pink Fund – which helps with living expenses while being treated for breast cancer. After speaking with Molly McDonald, breast cancer survivor and founder of The Pink Fund, www.RibbonsOfHopeRealty.com (me) has joined forces with The Pink Fund to bring help to your state!

I started researching and found that there are various grants available to help with cancer treatments and living expenses. The dollar amounts may vary, but they all have to be continually funded by donations or fundraisers in order to keep helping others. There are still so many more organizations to be noted, so I am posting them on my website as I discover them in hopes of making someone else’s journey a little easier.

Now, my next thought was “how can I really make an impact and not limit help to one city or state?” The light came on……”I can help anyone with their real estate needs anywhere in the world!” As a Referring Market Specialist and with our vast network of brokers, I refer you to a professional real estate agent in your area. Which means I can help more people with treatments and living expenses by helping more people with their real estate needs. I can’t do this without you….I can only help others with your help! So please, if you know someone looking to buy or sell real estate, refer them to me. I will help them locate a professional real estate agent in their area….worldwide! Together we can help others!

Please contact me if you would like help with your fundraising event or know of resources that offer assistance with treatments, medicine, living expenses and support, so I may post the information to share with others in need.

I am Kimberly Meneke, wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, friend…..AND Survivor!

Kimberly Meneke, Realtor
kimberly@RibbonsOfHopeRealty.com
http://www.ribbonsofhoperealty.com/

*All donations are paid after closing, funding and my receipt of a commission/referral fee for the real estate transaction, which is paid by the agent receiving the referral.

For more information on the Sisters of the Heart, watch the video here.

The proceeds of their handmade items are used to create micro-loans to see that other women are empowered to earn a living. Food is purchased so the poor do not go hungry. Clothes, blankets and mattresses are purchased so that children can stay warm. Rent is paid for widows so they can have shelter.

People of the Community of Kapchorwa

With grant money and the funds they receive from selling their products, a vocational school is being established so they can continue to teach others this trade and continue their ministry. Teenage orphan girls with no chance of getting an education will learn to become self-reliant and enabled to come off the streets. Single mothers or widows will be taught in order to earn a living for their families. Women are empowering women to help create a better life for the community of Kapchorwa.

For more information or to make a donation please visit their website at: http://www.sistersoftheheartfoundation.org/ or you can read more about the work this ministry is doing in the following article:

http://nuggetnews.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=16014&SectionID=65&SubSectionID=105&S=1.