During my sophomore year at VCS, one of my classes involved community service. While participating in this community service, I was introduced to an organization called Love 146. Love 146 is an organization that deals with Child Sex Trafficking and Exploitation. Child sex trafficking and exploitation is the capturing of children and young adults for the purposes of prostitution. These captured children are abused and beaten into submission. They have even the dignity of a name stripped from them; instead they are identified with a number. It is estimated that two children are sold into sex slavery every minute, which means that by the time you finish reading this article up to four-eight children will have been sold into prostitution against their will. It is also estimated that the sexual exploitation industry is the second largest money making industry on the Black Market today, second only to the illegal drug industry. You might be wondering, “Wow that’s really depressing, what can I do about it though?” That was the question that I asked myself, “What can I, a sixteen year old sophomore at a small private school in Central Maine, do about such a global issue?” I decided to hold a fundraiser for Love 146. So in January ’08 I held a movie night and raised over $1,100 which was enough to change the lives and alter the futures of two children.

Now, I have become more and more involved with the issue and the organization. On Thursday, October 30, 2008, VCS is holding a Love 146 Day where students can tell other students about what it is Love 146 does and how to make a difference themselves. On November 14, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Lewiston will host The Art and Action tour benefit concert with bands Ten Shekel Shirt and The Wrecking. For more information on Love 146, what you can do to become a modern day abolitionist and the Art and Action Tour, visit www.love146.org and www.vineyardlewistion.com or call the VCS school office at 784-9500.