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The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Lions Against Trafficking hosts clothing drive

    Human trafficking is a horrific crime involving trading humans, most commonly for sex. Human trafficking also includes a trafficker coercing victims into forced marriages or even extracting their organs and tissues for profit. 

    Lions Against Trafficking is an organization on campus that aims to inform the student body about the horrors of human trafficking and assisting in the rehabilitation of former trafficking victims.

    Lions Against Trafficking hosted a clothing drive to benefit former victims of human trafficking from October 19 to October 25. Clothes collected included dresses, pants, jackets, coats, sweaters, skirts, blouses, belts, shawls, scarves, shirts and cardigans. 

    Lions Against Trafficking President Jonathan Jee was excited about holding a clothing drive for the first time.

    “The clothing drive was something that we have been talking about for a while, but we were never able to actually do it until now,” said Jee. “This is the first time we have ever had a clothes drive, but we would like to do it again next semester.”

    The drop off location was Maurices in Hammond Square at 321 Palace Drive. Maurices gave a 20 percent off of one item coupon to anyone that donated an article of clothing.

    “Maurices was chosen because it is a very well-known location that is fairly easy to access,” said Jee. “It is a female clothing store, so it is in line with the clothing that we need.”

    Jee thought the clothing drive was a successful event. 

    “The event was a major success. We had around 10 large boxes of clothes donated. Some of the clothes were even brand new. We spread awareness about our organization and human trafficking, but more importantly, we helped in the restoration of girls who escaped sex slavery.”

    Jee believes that students should care about human trafficking because if they fail to do so, slavery will continue to occur in the world.

    “Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable,” said Jee. “It completely disregards human dignity and freedom because it treats people as sub-humans. The very nature of slavery is disgusting. Victims of sex slavery are repeatedly raped and beaten. There are stories of girls who had over a dozen men rape them in one day. They are held captive against their will. They are emotionally abused and physically abused. Edmund Burke said that ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’, and I firmly believe this. If we do not do anything about this, it will continue.”

    Jee is glad he joined Lions Against Trafficking because the organization informed him about the prevalence of human trafficking in society.

    “When I started college as a freshman, I knew that I wanted to be a part of a student organization,” said Jee. “I wanted to make a difference, but I didn’t know where I should go. One of my friends was part of Lions Against Trafficking, and I was invited to go to a meeting. After the first few meetings, I started to become more and more involved. I learned about human trafficking, and how disgustingly bad it is right now. As I became more aware of the horrors of human trafficking, I realized that this is something that I want to be a part of, and with 30 million slaves world-wide, there is still a lot of work to be done.”

    For more information, email [email protected]

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