As if dancing to the Creek Big Band, watching a local artist spontaneously create a new painting, and digging into some tasty desserts weren’t enough, the upcoming family-friendly evening at the Christian Life Assembly in Gibsons features another good reason to attend: It’s a fundraiser to help free people from slavery and exploitation.
“This fundraising project is helping support one of the International Justice Mission rescue operations,” pastor Jaz Ghag told Coast Reporter of the Saturday, Nov. 23 event.
The International Justice Mission (IJM) is a Canadian, non-denominational Christian organization whose goal is to help end the slavery of an estimated 40 million people worldwide, many of whom are child victims of human sex trafficking.
“The IJM is made up of lawyers and law enforcement people who work with other people in-country, in the Philippines, in India, wherever, to physically go in and rescue people in these situations,” Ghag said. “In many cases they then bring them into a care environment to help rehabilitate them. They don’t just get people out, they help them reintegrate into society.”
The Christian Life Assembly also played a key role in bringing Syrian refugee families to the Sunshine Coast, and that inspired Ghag to find a new humanitarian cause to support. “IJM is an organization I’ve personally been interested in partnering with for a long time, especially after seeing the success we had with the Syrian refugee project a few years ago, which was sponsored through the whole Sunshine Coast being incredibly generous.”
Ghag said the goal for 2019 is to raise $60,000 from across Canada, which could finance as many as ten IJM rescue missions. “It’s specifically targeted to fight Internet sexual exploitation. Children are being exploited online and a lot of the Internet service providers that are being used in that are Canadian. Our laws are lax, and IJM is helping work on that,” he said.
At the fundraising party, a variety of specially made desserts will be free with the price of admission, and what better way to dance off a sugar rush for those of all ages than to big band, swing and Latin tunes belted out by the 18-piece Creek Big Band.
“Also, Lori Morris is quite a talented artist and is going to be doing a live painting through the evening on the theme of freedom,” said Ghag. He added that the painting will be auctioned off as part of the fundraiser, but the timing of the auction was yet to be determined.
Organizers would like to sell as many tickets as possible in advance to help determine how many sweet treats to order for the no-alcohol event, but the $25 tickets (children 13 and under are free) also can be purchased at the door. It will run from 7 to 10 p.m. at 730 School Rd. Tickets are available at Christian Life Assembly, at Christ the King Church on Gower Point Road, at Enchanted Toys and Games in Gibsons Park Plaza and at Strait Music in Sechelt.
