Ten Thousand Villages in Old Town, Alexandria is joining the fight against modern slavery in the DC region with a shopping fundraiser from 5-9 pm on Thursday, August 26.
The fair trade retailer will donate 20% of the evening sales to the community organization, DC Stop Modern Slavery, in support of their efforts to put a halt to human trafficking in the Washington metropolitan area.
Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world, with the U.S. State Department estimating that between 14,500 and 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States every year. Other analysts estimate that as many as 300,000 children are at high risk every year for sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation in the United States alone.
“When we hear the word ‘slavery’ we tend to think of it as an evil from the past, or at least relegated to small pockets of the Third World,” said store manager Kate McMahon. “But it exists, even thrives, in the shadow of our nation’s capital, Washington, DC. It’s an intolerable situation in the year 2010.
“One of our volunteers here at the store suggested the fundraiser, and our entire staff and corps of volunteers are really enthusiastic about raising a lot of money on the 26th!”
Volunteers from DC Stop Modern Slavery will be on hand that evening to answer questions and to promote their 2010 Stop Modern Slavery Walk on October 23 on the National Mall.
Ten Thousand Villages in Old Town is one of nearly 100 Ten Thousand Villages stores across the United States. Visit www.alexandria.tenthousandvillages.com for more information. DC Stop Modern Slavery was founded in 2004 dedicated to raising awareness about and putting an end to human trafficking. For more information go to: www.stopmodernslavery.org.