• Twenty-seven million people are in slavery in the world.
•A Ball State group, International Justice Mission, is dedicated to raising awareness through events like November’s canned food drive.
The U.S. State Department estimates that 27 million people around the world are in slavery today.
At Ball State, International Justice Mission tried to raise awareness for this little known statistic, said vice president Stephanie Metzger, because many people assume slavery stopped after the Civil War. The group is a Christian human rights organization that focuses on human trafficking.
“We are really trying to raise awareness on Ball State’s campus because awareness itself is not change, it’s the first step toward change,” Metzger said. “If people don’t know, then they can’t choose to make a difference and fight this slavery.”
Throughout November, the group hosted a canned food drive and donated the proceeds to Second Harvest Food Bank, a local food bank that helps provide food to families.
Metzger said the group had trouble getting awareness for the food drive, but felt the event did well for its first year.
“One thing we did is we let Bible studies and campus organizations know we were doing it, so we got a lot of contributions through that,” she said. “Next year, we want to be able to make it a bigger thing.”
Bringing awareness to Muncie is important to the group and Metzger said they are doing their part to help.
“One of the leading causes for trafficking is poverty, so if we can make a difference in the Muncie community, then we can actually be preventing people here from entering into trafficking,” she said.
Graduate architecture student Nick Dodge put together an installation on human trafficking for one of his classes, which was on display in the Architecture Building. Dodge said many of his classmates chose topics like education or helping out people with a disability for their project on social justice and human rights.
“We haven’t seen a lot of things done with architecture and human trafficking,” Dodge said. “Since there isn’t a lot on this, we thought, ‘Why don’t we actually do this?’ and began to research it.”
The installation was a pathway in the building that had information throughout it, trying to raise awareness about the topic.
“It was beginning to bring information to people who maybe didn’t know so much about human trafficking, and it kind of made it more personal,” Dodge said. “It scaled down the 27 million people that are speculated to be in trafficking, and it put it on a Ball State scale as well as getting people definitions and how to actually begin to realize what it is through people’s personal stories as well.”
Read More
Forging a Future: Known locally as Frank’s Foundry, the former industrial site is looking to evolve.
By Trinity Rea / 1 hours agoKnown locally as Frank’s Foundry, the former industrial site is looking to evolve.
Rags to Riches: Muncie thrift stores work to give used items a second chance.
By Lilly Arnholt / YesterdayMuncie thrift stores work to give used items a second chance.
The Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Honors House will have an expanded look in Fall 2025
By Shelby Anderson / YesterdayDuring the upcoming Fall semester, the Honors House will have a different look that will benefit students and faculty.
