Gala held to raise donations and awareness for the cause

Liberty University’s Students Against Trafficking (SAT) club hosted a gala on Dec. 3 in order to raise awareness for those who have been impacted by human trafficking. SAT partnered with multiple organizations like Mosaic Collective and Freedom 4/24 to allow students to have a chance to be a part of change.  

This free event held in the LaHaye Event Space not only provided students with a formal night out but also offered a way for students to give back to a worthy cause. The event featured live Christmas music and vendor booths for attendees to shop.  

President Abby Andrews had a straightforward vision for this year’s gala.  

“I wanted the gala to be more about SAT itself and as a collaborative event between multiple different organizations, all under the same event with the common goal to fight human trafficking,” Andrews said. “It’s a free event, but donations will be appreciated and all proceeds go back towards fighting against human trafficking.”  

Decorated with Christmas lights, balloon arches and an endless charcuterie buffet, students poured into the event space dressed in their formal attire. Senior Anna Eck expressed her gratitude towards SAT for hosting this event.  

“I think it’s important for anyone to throw an event like this,” Eck said. “I think that human trafficking isn’t something that is always talked about very publicly because it can make people uncomfortable, but it’s something that we need to bring our awareness to.” 

Students who attended this event got to hear from many speakers throughout the night. One of the main speakers was Joy Cover, the president of the nonprofit organization Freedom 4/24.  

“We want to be able to give a voice to the voiceless,” Cover said. “Not only do we want to be able to help those victims in their recovery process, but we want to be on the forefront and prevent those events from even happening in the first place.” 

While many non-profit organizations mainly focus on the recovery process and making sure that the victims of sexual exploitation have the resources they need, both Freedom 4/24 and SAT want to focus on the education and awareness aspect.  

“We seek to educate and empower Liberty students on the realities of human trafficking,” Andrews said. “We want to create awareness on the topic among college students as well as prevention education because SAT believes that young people have the power to be the change.”  

Cover also spoke on the ways that Freedom 4/24 intended to educate and bring awareness to human trafficking in hopes of stopping it from even taking place.  

“Human trafficking is a relational crime,” Cover said. “It’s not just the white van that has no windows, and we need to know what red flags to look for. That’s what we teach.”  

With human trafficking being an issue that affects not only local communities but even global communities, SAT believes that hosting fundraisers that bring awareness to students make a huge difference in the long-term goal of abolishing such exploitation.  

Teel is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion