Life Saver Info Sheet

Thoughts...

27 Million slaves worldwide.

Want to help save a life?

freetheslavesbsu.blogspot.com

freetheslavesbsu@gmail.com

Other ideas?

Lifesaver Handout Sign-up

The idea of making fact sheets and attaching Lifesavers sounds like one that we should put into effect ASAP. So here's the deal: This blog is a sign-up, thus the title :) The big event will take place on April 7th and 8th at the scramble light. This way we can take advantage of the Mon. idea, but we can also offer Tues. for those with tight Mon. schedules. Ideally, it would be nice to have at least 2 people there at all times. Taking into account busy schedules, shifts will last one hour. We will be there from 12PM until 3PM as that seems to be the busiest time of the day. Please sign-up via comment for a shift whenever you're available. Also, if you can show up to your shift 10 min early to relieve someone who may have a class on the hour, it would be greatly appreciated. At the shift you choose, report to our set-up at the scramble light (we'll be on the same corner as North Quad). Also, if you are available to design the handout/ help with attaching lifesavers prior to this event, please shoot an email to freetheslavesbsu@gmail. Thanks guys!!

Possible Future Grant Money

This evening, I attended an EIL workshop, and the speaker was a representative of Indiana Campus Compact, a statewide organization that Ball State is a member of. They give out grant money every month to student organizations for any community projects. This may be a great way to fund any endeavors we make in the future that are aimed off campus.

Up to $1000 can be awarded per project, and an organization can request money multiple times, although priority is given for those who are applying for the first time. The representative I talked to also said that most organizations apply during the months of February, March, and September, so we would have more luck in other months, especially during the summer months. The deadline is the 15th of every month, and fifteen days later the organization will know whether they have received the money.

Their website is indianacampuscompact.org, and I also have two extra packets that give information about the grant and how to apply for it if anyone wants a copy.

The representative also gave me the names of two other organization that he said awards grant money: the Muncie Community Foundation and Youth in Philanthropic Endeavors. I'm going to look into them, and I'll post information about them if they look promising.

-Sarah D.

Newsweek Article - Slavery in Our Times

Newsweek had an article "Slavery in Our Times" published Monday this week. The following is a link to the article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/120054

The article mentions slavery in London, but also tells of a traveling exhibit called "Journey," which tells stories of women who have been enslaved through human trafficking. This exhibit is scheduled to come to the U.S. soon, and we as a group should try to go to it.

This article shows that other people, and organizations, are focused on the same problem; if the message is already out there, we should be able to help bring the word to more people and show them how real slavery still is.

From: Cara

Letter Writing Campaign

BSU Advocates is the name of the group that's sponsoring the letter writing campaign.  Essentially, on April 12 from 10am to 2pm in AR 217, students are going to be writing letters about issues that impassion them to government leaders.  The students running BSU Advocates want representatives from various campus organizations to inform the students who attend about the issues and help them write letters.  I'm going to be busy from 12 until late on that Saturday.  Would anyone be available or interested in helping out with this project?  If so, shoot me an email.  BSU Advocates is going to provide some training before the big day, so don't worry about that.  It'll be a good time.  

Books and Movies for the Library

Here are the names of products from the Free the Slaves Website (http://freetheslaves.madebysurvivors.com/category-s/2.htm)

Books:

    -Ending Slavery: How We Can Free Today's Slaves

    -Understanding Global Slavery: A Reader

    -Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy

Videos:

     - The Silent Revolution

     - Freedom and Beyond

     - Dreams Die Hard

Other books:

    - A Crime So Monstrous (acrimesomonstrous.com)

any other ideas?

Another resource idea!

Going off of the "lifesaver" idea (the candy), perhaps we could sort-of take the same idea the previous blog mentioned but make copies of facts or statistics on slavery in the U.S. and attach them to the lifesavers with ribbon or something. This way, if or when we pass out lifesavers at the corner of the scramble light or whatever, people will flock to us and walk away with a little bit more information than they had before. If this plan goes through, who knows maybe this could bring more people to join the organization and help our cause! 

-wg

Resource Idea: Change Machine

This thing would be a cardboard box that looks like a change machine.  People would put bills (or coins) in it, but instead of receiving an equivalent value of money in return, they would receive a card telling them what difference their money will make.  The "receipt" would tell how much they helped us buy a book, dvd, or sponsor a speaker.  If relevant, it could even tell how much the money will directly impact slavery (e.g., "It costs, on average, ___ to free a slave; your money helped to free ____ slaves/of a slave.").  The receipt could also contain contact information for us or for the original Free the Slaves.  The machine itself could have information on it that tells about the state of slavery around the world.