To Register (if a student) please select "Comments" and comment with your name and email

To Register as an non-student Individual or Donate (without registering), please select "Perks"

Everybody check out perks for a chance to get a T-shirt! (image in the slide show)

When? Friday, October 24th @ 7pm

Where? Commons Quad, University of Maryland, Baltimore County 

After Party? Documentary showing in the Sportszone @ 10pm. See description for more information.

What is Glow for the Girls?

Glow for the Girls is the first of it's kind, a GLOW IN THE DARK 5k devoted to raising awareness about Human Trafficking. Our mission is to unite the UMBC's campus community to stand against the exploitation and enslavement of over 29 million people in the world today.

• Free for UMBC students, $20 to register otherwise (But that's not the limit!!)
• ~92% of proceeds are given to organizations focused domestically and internationally
• Register individually or as a team to raise monies!

There will also be a documentary: viewing of  “A Single Seed, The Story of the Samaritan Women” will be shown after the 5k in the Sportszone, starting at 10pm. Fun fact: this was made by 2 UMBC students last Spring.

Here is a link to the trailer: http://vimeo.com/79870394

Why are we doing this?

As you may know, Human Trafficking is a social justice issue gaining traction in the country and the world. To understand why we are doing this please read this short article taken from CBS Baltimore:

Last year inside a Silver Spring hotel room, a 15-year-old girl was forced to have sex with numerous men after she was lured from New York to Montgomery County for a fake modeling job. She ended up a victim of human sex trafficking, a crime that’s growing in Baltimore and throughout the state.

“Everywhere we’re looking, we’re finding it,” said Melissa Snow. “We are finding cases in Montgomery County, AA County, Prince George’s County, on the Eastern Shore.”

Melissa Snow is the director of the anti-trafficking program at Turnaround. The nonprofit recently partnered with the Abell Foundation to investigate human trafficking in Maryland.

Snow says within just a year and a half, Turnaround has helped more than 120 women.

“We know that for every young girl we find, for every young boy, there are potentially another hundred,” said Snow.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/01/15/sex-trafficking-is-a-growing-problem-in-baltimore/

Our Hope

We want to challenge the community to stand up to this monstrosty of a reality that too many people and children live in everyday. Our goal reflects the heart of this issue for everyone involved. This is a crime against humanity in which the victims have little to no voice. We hope to raise $5,000 for our target organizations. We understand that this is a reach goal, but, it is also very reachable. Help us help the organizations who are making a real difference in the community and world. We challange you to petition your family, friends, co-workers and strangers for monetary support and in doing so you give an otherwise silenced person a voice.

Where is my Money Going?

~92% of the funds donated will go to these three organizations. ~8% will go towards paying for t-shirts. They all focus their efforts to the local Baltimore community. Some of whom also work internationally to combat human trafficking.

The Samaritan Women (http://thesamaritanwomen.org/)

is making a difference locally and nationally:

• GOLD STAR rating for financial transparency by GUIDESTAR
• Top-Rated Nonprofit for 2014  by GREAT Nonprofits.org
• Served nearly 50 residents since 2011
• Presented to over 30,000 people on anti-trafficking since 2007, and about 7,000 last year alone (2013)

The Safe House of Hope (http://safehouseofhope.org/)

is making a difference state wide and Baltimore local:

• This year helped changed a law from Misdemeanor to Felony
  • The abduction of a minor (under 16) for the purposes of prostitution
• Opened emergency housing
  • If a client (victim of sex trafficking) comes to the organization at any time, without prior call or appointment, SHO Hope will provide housing and essentials like food and water.

Mission 14 (http://mission14.org/)

• The goal will be to summit 6 of the world’s highest mountains in a single year
  • Mission 14™ will harness its arsenal of media platforms to bring awareness to the plight of children caught in trafficking across the globe.
• Partnered with the Araminta Freedom Initiative, whose mission is to dismantle human trafficking in Baltimore City.
  • Internationally, we are currently partnered with ORPHANetwork in Nicaragua.
• In early 2011 began putting a small sewing facility together with a local pastor and his wife on the edge of La Chureca dump in Managua where some 400 families lived.
  • Together with the help of local factories who donated sewing machines, training and left over fabrics the little facility today manufactures t-shirts, purses and a variety of jewelry items for sale to locals and tourists

Please contact rober3@umbc.edu with any questions!

Without your support this movement would not be possible, thank YOU!