Help Us Fundraise and Run for Freedom

Join us as we take our advocacy a step further by running and fundraising on behalf of Freedom 4/24 and Street Ransom in the Hokie Half Marathon on September 23 to join the fight to bring freedom and justice to women and children across the world who are victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Karla is a Miami University graduate and a current occupational therapist student at Ohio State University.

Shem graduated from Virginia Tech in 2017 and is currently working in Roanoke as a scribe at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Both Karla and Shem recently completed their year as members of the 2017 Blue Ridge Fellows part of the Fellow Initiative program out of Roanoke,VA. They both have a passion for running and wanted to run for a good cause.

Why we are running

We have a dear friend who works at Street Ransom, a nonprofit organization that exists to educate the community about sexual exploitation of children and domestic sex trafficking. Street Ransom is currently raising the operating costs and funds to build a shelter, with 8 private bedrooms, for young girls to stay and have access to crisis counseling, schooling and medical services after they have been rescued from exploitation. Although the average age of a girl to enter the commercial sex industry is between 12-14, few shelters in the nation work with a juvenile population. Street Ransom was founded to fill this need.

Throughout the training process our goal is to raise $2,000 for victims and survivors of human trafficking. In addition to fundraising, as we train we will write the names of trafficking survivors on our arms, as motivation and a reminder of who we are running for. The funds we raise will go towards Freedom 4/24 and their international partners working on the frontlines with victims and survivors of human trafficking in India, Uganda, and Thailand. The funds will also support Street Ransom, a non-profit providing direct services to trafficking and sexual exploitation victims in Roanoke. Join us as we run for freedom in Blacksburg, Virginia and give a voice to the voiceless.