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   "New User Registration" to register. If you were shopping prior to logging in, you may access your items in the shopping cart upon login. Thank you! ||||| We are a team of students, staff, professors, and alumni from Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) on a mission to bring a college education to survivors of human trafficking. 
   
   
   
   Our campaign, to seed The Beauty for Ashes Fund at PLNU with $40,000, is about hope. Sex and labor trafficking has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and around the world. PLNU's Center for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR) is engaged in the issue of human trafficking locally, nationally and internationally providing leadership in research and community organizing. As the CJR works with direct service providers, law enforcement and other movement leaders - and when we talk to survivors, we keep hearing the same message - survivors dream of a college education! Our campaign, to seed The Beauty for Ashes Fund at PLNU with $40,000, is about hope. Sex and labor trafficking has reached epidemic proportions in the United States and around the world. PLNU's Center for Justice and Reconciliation (CJR) is engaged in the issue of human trafficking locally, nationally and internationally providing leadership in research and community organizing. As the CJR works with direct service providers, law enforcement and other movement leaders - and when we talk to survivors, we keep hearing the same message - survivors dream of a college education! Securing the resources to fund a college education can seem impossible to a survivor. We don't think it should be. We believe one of the most critical components to the long-term rehabilitation of a survivor is a university education. And you can play a part. The money raised from this campaign will go to support the education of survivors of human trafficking. We look at it this way - an education in the loving, academically challenging and carefully mentored environment of a Christian university can take someone from Victim to Survivor to Thriver. 
   
   
   
   Our Goal and Your Part 
   
   Here's the plan: The funds raised during our campaign will predominantly go toward the tuition, room and board of survivors who are accepted as students at PLNU. A small portion will go for student vocational discernment and an even smaller proportion for the administrative support of these students. 
   
   It's our plan to fund more than one student. With other financial aid, $40,000 can go along way. But remember that this is only seed money! 
   
   We will fund someone as early as September 2015 and already have survivors in the process of applying 
   
   Your donation is tax deductible! 
   
   Perks or No Perks? 
   
   Crowdfund campaigns often focus on "perks". We have a different approach. We believe that you want the money to go to survivors, too, so we're banking on the fact that it's not the perks that will get you to participate - it's making the dream a reality that matters. The perks we have are donated by campaign supporters. 
   
   If we don't reach our goal of $40,000 PLNU will still receive all of the funds raised and all of the money raised will still go to the Beauty for Ashes Fund at PLNU. 
   
   
   
   If we don't reach our goal of $40,000 PLNU will still receive all of the funds raised and all of the money raised will still go to the Beauty for Ashes Fund at PLNU. 
   
   
   
   Because it Matters 
   
   Did you know? Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing or obtaining a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud or coercion. 
   
   Many don't know that it happens in our own neighborhoods, but it does. Possibly as close to you as the nearest high school or hotel. 
   
   
   
   It's not just an immigrant issue, but involves scores of our own teens. It’s organized, seductive and at times extremely violent, with traffickers representing every social and racial group, working independently and in nationwide rings. 
   
   
   
   Using force, drugs, emotional tactics and financial methods to control their victims, the perpetrators abuse, coerce and control adults, youth and children as young as 12-14 years old. Facing the epidemic proportion of the problem of sex and labor trafficking is daunting. But from the highest levels of government to “on the street” direct service providers there is a movement sweeping our nation to end modern day slavery in America. More victims are being rescued. More perpetrators are being prosecuted. More organizations are stepping up to provide rescue, rehabilitation and a future for survivors. 
   
   Why it Matters to Us 
   
   Point Loma Nazarene University, in San Diego, California, is a nationally prominent Christian university. The university exists to provide higher education in a vital Christian community where minds are engaged and challenged, character is modeled and formed, and service becomes an expression of faith. It is precisely because of this mission that human trafficking matters to us. PLNU is an institution of the Church of the Nazarene. If you've looked into the roots of the Church of the Nazarene you'll know that the church was founded on the principles of reaching the marginalized. It's who we are at our core - always have been and always will be. 
   
   With this Fund we are standing behind our mission statement, not just for the privileged youth of our culture, but also for the most vulnerable. We are a university for those who were once captives, as well as for those who want to set the captives free. 
   
   
   
   Other Ways You Can Help We understand that some people just can't contribute, but that doesn't mean you can't help: Help us get the word out about our campaign. Tell your friends. Share it on social media. Every voice matters. 
   
   Like our Facebook page and share, comment and like our posts 
   
   
   
   Use the Share tools on Indigogo! Talk about it on your blog. Tweet it. Facebook it. Spread the word. 
   
   Want to get involved in our work at PLNU or find out how you can plug in to the movement in your community? Contact us at BeautyforAshes@pointloma.edu. 
   
   
   
   Our Campaign in the Press 
   
   
   
   KPBS San Diego TV interview with Dr. Jamie Gates and Charisma De Los Reyes 
   
   
   
   Fox San Diego TV: Interview with Dr. Jamie Gates 
   
   
   
   Fox News: Christian College to offer free education 
   
   The Examiner: PLNU offers first of its kind scholarship 
   
   USA TODAY College edition: Human Trafficking Survivors offered scholarship 
   
   
   
   Thank you for being a part of this story. Because it matters. 
   
   More Scoop on the Perks - and some NEW Perks 
   
   
   
   New Perk Added! 
   
   A PLNU alum has designed and donated a beautiful Rising Lotus Soap for the Beauty for Ashes Fund. 
   
   
   
   Designed for and donated to the Beauty for Ashes Fund by The Moontree. The Moontree specializes in handmaking quality items from fair trade and organic materials.The Rising Lotus soap bar was created by a PLNU alum. The symbol of the lotus represents resilience and beauty, a balance of grace and strength - rising above the surface to spread beauty.All proceeds from sales of the Rising Lotus soap will be donated to the Beauty for Ashes Fund by The Moontree. www.ShopTheMoontree.com We're excited to provide a variety of perks for this campaign, all of which have been donated by campaign supporters. 
   
   Newest perk - featuring Micah who brought it at our Just Saying! event and Fund launch last week: 
   
   One of a kind Perk - artist Ellen Maley generously donated her work to our Fund. Ellen painted this work during our Just Saying! event last week: 
   
   You can claim your perk or not. If you claim the perk, the value of the perk is deducted from your donation for tax deduction purposes. Your receipt will indicate the full amount of your donation. It is your responsibility to claim the fair market value of the perk. 
   
  
target: – A comatose woman who roused to deliver her baby and a Holocaust survivor who gets a special night are among the week's most uplifting stories: Woman Emerges From Coma, Delivers Baby: Jenny Quiles was 33 weeks pregnant when she was hit by a truck as she crossed the street. Two weeks later, the Florida woman emerged from a coma, and on Wednesday, she began having contractions. Four hours later, she gave birth to a "miracle" baby girl. Her daughter is fine, while Quiles is in critical condition but "improving every day," says her doctor. Holocaust Survivor to Play Lincoln Center: A musician makes her solo debut in a Lincoln Center concert next week, but it's a safe bet you've never heard of her. Emily Kessler, a 97-year-old Holocaust survivor who now lives in New York City, will strum her mandolin and sing folk songs to help raise money for other survivors. She was picked for her amazing story of bravery as a teen evading the Nazis. Widower's Dinner Date: Photo of Late Wife: Determined not to forget his true love after her death five years ago, an elderly man has been bringing along a photo of her during his outings to a California burger joint. Patrons have noticed, and photos of the loving husband have gone viral. Off-Duty Cop Finds $120K, Returns It to Owner: It could have been easy money. But when an off-duty sergeant with the California Highway Patrol found two bags on the road stuffed with $120,000 in cash, she reported the find instead of helping herself. Turns out, it was apparently someone's life savings. University's Plan: Help Sex Slavery Survivors: A Christian university in California has launched what it says is a first-of-its-kind scholarship to help survivors of sex trafficking start new lives. Point Loma Nazarene University has started a crowdfunding campaign and a longer-term donation page. Click for more uplifting stories.