The International Justice Mission club’s Coffee House on Wednesday, Feb. 25 raised $212 for anti-human trafficking justice work. This event took place from from 8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. and provided a platform for Covenant musicians to share their talent.
About 150 people came to watch Morgan Barney, Laura Radar, Andy Soto, Caylin Walsingham, Annie DeLuca, Mark Erickson, Ann Marie Granberry, Alex Cullen, Nikki Ellis and David Vilches perform. Melanie White talked about her experience working with Rahab’s Rope, an anti-human trafficking organization, in Bangalore, India.
“More people showed up and more money was raised than I expected,” Mollie Dreisbach, leader of Covenant’s chapter of IJM, commented after the close of the coffee house. “The musicians were fantastic and it was awesome to hear about the work Rahab’s Rope is doing. God was faithful in every part of the event,”
Victoria Yang, co-leader of Covenant’s IJM club, and Mollie Dreisbach spent about a month planning for the event. They spent over two hours transforming Mills 270/280 into a coffee shop complete with white lights creating a cozy ambiance, a free hot chocolate bar, and homemade baked goods sold two-for-$1. Despite the snow, Dreisbach and Yang had all the help they needed.
“When it looked like the event wouldn’t happen due to snow, God provided volunteers and work study students,” Dreisbach said. “When Starbucks couldn't make the coffee we had planned to have, we were able to get down the mountain and get hot chocolate before it started snowing hard. It was incredible to see all the work people put into the night that was so above and beyond!”
Covenant’s chapter of IJM started about five years ago and was led by Joy Schmidt and Kenneth Burke. This is Dreisbach’s third semester leading the club and she is currently planning an event called Stand for Freedom, a nationwide college campus event where students stand for 24 hours praying and signing petitions to raise awareness about modern day slavery. This event will take place sometime after Spring Break.
Covenant’s IJM club meets every Thursday at 8:00 p.m. in Brock 114. Dreisbach said, “On Covenant’s campus we want to raise awareness about justice issues, specifically human trafficking. We want our campus to be part of the movement to end slavery worldwide. It is exciting that our campus club will be playing a little part of this early wave of the movement.”
The International Justice Mission is “a global organization that protects the poor from violence in the developing world.” Its global team includes hundreds of lawyers, investigators, social workers, community activists and other professionals at work in nearly 20 communities. The International Justice Mission specifically fights against slavery, sex trafficking, sexual violence, police brutality, property grabbing, and citizens’ rights abuse. So far, IJM has rescued more than 18,000 people from violence and oppression and has helped to protect 21 million people globally from violence. “We hope that the Covenant IJM club will help the global organization through prayer and fundraising,” Dreisbach said.