IJM

IJM stands for International Justice Mission, and on April 5th the organization had their first big meeting on App's campus. It was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen as a group that fights slavery by freeing slaves using the law. They have freed hundreds of slaves around the world, and this meeting was an informative presentation of the organization and their partners.

The meeting was held in the Turchin Center, in one of the lower rooms. At first I thought this was a bad choice because of the amount of people that showed up to the meeting, but even though people had to sit in the aisles it gave the meeting a feeling of unity and closeness, a group of people tied together to fight injustice. The room was otherwise easy to get to, accessibility wise. it was downstairs and there was a ramp to the door, perfect for anyone.

The impact of the meeting was much more than I would have ever expected. They introduced their Freedom Project, mission, founder, and partners from other organizations. Gary told personal stories of slaves IJM has rescued, and it gave us students plenty of opportunities to get involved. I was even able to talk to some of the leaders afterwords to get a sense of where this chapter of IJM is going. As an international organization, it is only improving, growing, and changing lives.

"Ignorance is not an excuse, indifference is not an option."

(Individual, Club)