By AARON CHARLES
For Word News

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WordNews.org) May 30, 2012 — The global market of child trafficking is over $12 billion a year with more than 1.2 million child victims, according to UNICEF.

Ninety-five percent of the victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking. Statistics such as these are shocking, and they drove one youth group in Northern Indiana to act.

On Saturday, May 19, the youth group of  in South Bend, Indiana, held a spaghetti dinner to raise money for Tiny Hands International – a Christian organization which fights human trafficking in Nepal. During the evening, the teens prepared and served the meal to attendees as well as giving three separate presentations to raise awareness for the plight of human trafficking. Shirts and bracelets were available for sale and attendees were encouraged to give donations as well. All proceeds from the event went to Tiny Hands, and in total, the group of 15 teenagers raised over $800 at the event – enough to save 21 girls out of slavery.

But the story does not begin there.

It begins back in January as the group was sitting in the church’s youth room listening to a presentation from Jon Andrews, director of Midwest Development at Tiny Hands International. His testimony of actually going to Nepal and seeing the devastation caused by human trafficking really caught the teens’ attention.

“I hadn’t heard about human trafficking before Jon Andrews came,” said 14-year old Alexis Snyder, a member of the youth group and one of the presenters at the event.

In fact, Andrews made such an impact that the teens invited him back to share his story at the dinner as well. However, he considered the teens’ drive to make a difference to be more impactful.

“This isn’t about me,” said Andrews. “These kids are the future and I’m just excited about what they’ve done.”

From there, the teens (as well as their adult leaders) went through months of planning and preparation. It was hard work and at times it proved stressful, but the teens were determined to make a difference.

“[Human trafficking] is terrible and someone needs to do something about it,” said 15-year old Blake Marshall.

“Even if we only save one person, it matters,” said Aaron Burdin, the youth pastor at Hillside Missionary Church.

So what fueled this determination? The gravity of the situation really hit home for the teens when they realized that these statistics and stories represented real people.

“I have two younger sisters and I just kept thinking about them going into slavery,” said sophomore Ryan Arick.

“My passion is little kids,” said 17-year old Tiffaney Soule, “I just realized that these are real people.”

All the hard work culminated in a successful evening by all accounts. Not just because they had raised money, but because they had made a difference.

“I’m really impressed by the willingness of our group to jump in,” said Burdin, “It may not be a big thing, but they made a difference.”

And the message didn’t end there. The teens want to continue to make a difference by inspiring others to get involved.

“Try your best to do anything,” encouraged Snyder.

You can find information about human trafficking and efforts to stop it at www.tinyhandsinternational.org.