See It: The Community being helped
Loose Change to Loosen Chains is a student led effort to raise awareness and funds to end modern day slavery. I founded this campaign when I was 12 years old with the goal of raising up a new generation of abolitionists who would fight to free the 27 million people in slavery today. I believe our generation can end the sale of humans once and for all. The problem today is many times greater than it was 200 years ago when most people thought slavery ended.Today, children are sometimes sold by their parents when they face desperate situations or are deeply impoverished. Women and girls are sometimes tricked thinking they will get a good job and find they have been trafficked into the sex trade where they'll serve as slaves. Sometimes entire families are in slavery together in rock quarries, brick kilns and on plantations. They are threatened, beaten, starved and abused -- and they are owned by someone else. In a "civilized" world, this must stop!LC2LC is intended to be exported -- for students to take up the effort, expand upon it and implement it in their own communities without the active involvement of adults. I have created all of the tools for schools, community groups and churches to launche their own LC2LC effort.
Believe it: Describe your project/org
Build it: Steps taken to create the project/org and the kind of impact made
Vital Stats
| Started On: | Spring 2003 | Ended On: | Still going on |
| People Involved: | I have been told that more than 100 student groups have launched LC2LC. More than 100,000 young leaders have signed the Petition to Abolish Modern Day Slavery which I delivered at a White House event. | People Impacted: | Spoken live to more than half a million people, appeared by video and TV to tens of millions |
| Money Raised: | Initially $9k, then more than $20k, students around the world are doing the campaign and the money doesn't come to me but instead to groups freeing slaves, so I don't know the count, but it has to be more than 6 figures. |
Project Updates:
I have just recently spoken at a White House Roundtable on Human Trafficking. I also learned that groups of students in Australia are launching LC2LC. My book Be the Change - Your Guide to Freeing Slaves and Changing the World is now available in Spanish. I'm excited about this because human trafficking is a significant problem in the Spanish speaking world.

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