EVENING OUT
April 29, 2008 - Evening Out Athens
INnocence ATLANTA partnered with the best of Athens restaurants to create the April 29th Event "Evening Out Athens". Students and members of the Athens community alike chose to support the work of INnocence ATLANTA by dining at local restaurants such as Chic-Fil-A, Bretts, Uncle Ottos, Speakeasy and Transmetropolitan. Restaurants agreed for 10% of their proceeds to be donated to INnocence ATLANTA's awareness raising campaigns.
After dinner, supporters were encouraged to attend INnocence ATLANTA's first annual Athens benefit concert in downtown Starbucks. During the event, Luke Crown, Jason Smith, Paul Smith, Jason Corringan and other musicians entertained the packed crowd with cover songs, pieces created specifically for the trafficked victims, and a humorous encore impromptu song by Crown, much to the audiences' delight. Crown also wrote the song "Broken" specifically for trafficked victims, with the lyrics reading like a beautiful redemption poem set to music.
"I know its hard when you can't see
you fall apart and it seems
your worlds a giant shade of gray
And you don't believe in brighter days
But don't give up on your dreams
When you're...
Displayed up on a shelf
And all can see and you can tell
A story painting a picture of a full life
And no you aren't just cast aside
Those scars inside don't have to hide
Don't wear the shame of crying slightly used
To all who pass by
Cause you aren't broken, you aren't broken
you're beautiful"
-Luke Crown, "Broken"
The volunteer coordinator, University of Georgia student Joshua Garner says that he was horrified when he heard about child sex trafficking. "I have so many cousins," Garner says, "and the idea of them, or anyone, being forced into sex slavery just breaks my heart". He gathered local UGA students Caroline Campbell, Robert Coletti, Bill Bush, Ciera Loftin, Celia Jenkins and Daniel Frances, and they effectively planned and implemented the event, along with the Innocence Atlanta staff. "I'm hoping that through events like this and the awareness work of Innocence Atlanta we can help the victims, but also the pimps that are blinded to what they are really doing, and all the guys struggling with pornography who are trapped in a life they dont want to live," says Garner.
Although he acknowledges that child sex trafficking is a hard issue to address, Garner believes that moving from awareness to action is the next step for all modern day abolitionists fighting sexual trafficking and slavery. "It's hard because I can't literally go and save a kid from this," he comments, "but I will help those who can. "
*The Evening Out campaign is a quarterly event, and the next Evening Out will be located in Atlanta, GA. Details for that event will be posted soon.