Demolishing a car on campus may seem like a violent crime, but students armed with sledgehammers and baseball bats were within perfect legal rights as they pummeled one in the name of human rights.
MVMNT, the college ministry of the Mission Church in Hammond, hosted a car bashing fundraiser Thursday, Oct. 31 in the Student Union Park.
“The money raised from this event will go directly to Hope House which will be used to fund the recovery of women rescued from sex trafficking,” said Israel Ripley, assistant to the College Pastor of MVMNT and co-organizer of the fundraiser. “We wanted to raise money for this cause in order to bring more awareness, shed light on the reality of what is happening to helpless women, not only around the world but often times in our own cities, and help provide a way for people to get involved in doing their part to end this atrocity.”
Hope House is located in Baton Rouge, LA and serves as a refuge for women who have been rescued from sex trafficking. The Hope House community consists of seven cottages, each meant to accommodate two women.
The Hope House mission statement, available on the program’s website, states, “The mission of the Hope House is to provide specialized safe housing, designed specifically for young women over 18 years of age who are victims of sex trafficking. We offer a faith-based, free-of-charge, voluntary program that holistically focuses on the medical, emotional and social needs of each woman. Through this 12-18 month program, the women who live at the Hope House will be given medical services, emotional counseling and long-term social and vocational training.”
According to Ripley, the car was donated to MVMNT by Phil’s Wrecker Service of Hammond, and many other contributions were made by Helping Hands Ministry in Ponchatoula, LA. With these combined efforts, the car bashing fundraiser was a smashing success, according to Logan Torrance, a MVMNT affiliate who assisted in organizing the fundraiser.
“We didn’t know it was going to be this big of a hit,” said Torrance. “We were kind of nervous when we got it out here this morning. We didn’t know if that many people would come out or if they were just kind of going to be weirded out, but as soon as we started funneling people over here, people started showing up.”
In the spirit of Halloween, many students were in costume as they hammered away at the car. Participants were not limited to students, however. Nine-year-old Ashur Boney, son of the MVMNT pastor, had fun wrecking the car.
“I love it,” said Boney. “It’s the first time I get to break stuff without getting into trouble.”
Students who would like to donate or learn more about sex trafficking may visit Hope House’s website at hopehousela.com.