Run 4 Their Lives - Lynchburg

Run 4 Their Lives is a Freedom 4/24 event that raises awareness and funds to bring sexually exploited women and children into freedom. 

Freedom isn’t free. Here’s proof: It costs $116 a month for each of the 20 girls who now call Christine’s House “home.” As our Freedom 4/24’s partner in Gulu, Uganda, Christine’s House provides to these victims of human trafficking housing, food, medical care, trauma counseling, vocational training, social interaction, faith and life skills training, all for $116 a month. You can help them provide this place of hope and freedom! These monthly numbers per girl prove that YOUR simple act of fundraising can make a huge difference in the life of one.

HOUSING: $75

EDUCATION: $50

FOOD: $20

VOCATIONAL SUPPLIES: $12

MEDICAL: $8

In 2017, Freedom 4/24 will be highlighting the efforts of its parnter, Christine's House, in Uganda at each of its Run 4 Their Lives events.

Advocate and run for FREE

Become a fundraiser! Share information about human trafficking with your friends and family and ask them to support your efforts to run for freedom and fight injustice! Click the Fundraiser tab to set up a personalized R4TL fundraising web page that you can easily email or post on social media - raise $50 and you run free!

Get a Refund By Referring Friends

Refer 1 or more participants and get a refund of up to $20.00. Share your referral code with family and friends and for each of the first FOUR people who register using your referral code, you will receive a $2 refund. For the FIFTH registrant using your code, you are refunded up to $20! So share your referral code and encourage people to come out and run!

Raise Your Arm!

During the R4TL Lynchburg 2017 run, Harriet and Stella, survivors of sexual exploitation who are living at Christine's House in Uganda, will be highlighted and their names will be written on each participant's arm as a significant act of advocacy and awareness to run for their freedom and the many others with similar stories! If you want to have an even greater impact, begin sharing their stories now through the Raise Your Arm Challenge. Read Harriet and Stella's stories and then select one of the following tiers within the Raise Your Arm Challenge to help share their stories and fight for freedom!

Harriet’s Story: All of her young life, Harriet’s father and birth mother have had a bad relationship. Harriet lives with her stepmother who does not care about her. Her stepmother did not care when she dropped out of school and she did not care when Harriet was home alone and four boys came over to her house and sexually violated her.

Now Harriet wakes up every day in a severe amount of pain. Each morning, her back aches to the point where she simply cannot sit upright, quite possibly because of her rape.

 A broken family life is one of the leading causes of rape in the world. Harriet is in need of prayer and restoration between her and her family. But Harriet is not alone. Her story is one of millions all across the world. Harriet is only 15 years old and a resident at Christine’s House, Freedom 4/24’s safe home for exploited girls in Gulu, Uganda. There she receives food, housing, education, counseling, and the medical care that she desperately needs. 

Stella's Story: Stella has experienced more trauma in her 12 years on earth than many people will in a lifetime. Her mother has a mental illness and is not able to properly take care of her and her five siblings, and their father is often absent, leaving them vulnerable to many kinds of danger.

For about a month while Stella was traveling to and from school, one of her classmates would find her and rape her. After that month, Stella found out that she was pregnant and the boy who raped her was arrested. However, police only detained him for three days and then released him.

As a result of the pregnancy and her trauma, Stella was forced to drop out of school in March 2015. She is now a resident of Christine’s House, Freedom 4/24’s safe home for exploited girls in Gulu, Uganda, founded in 2012. For $116 a month, Stella is able to call Christine’s House “home” and receive food, education, and medical care, as well as psychological and spiritual counseling. There, she is also finding a community of support for her upcoming delivery. 

CAMPAIGN DETAILS

TIER 1: For 30 days leading up to your Run 4 Their Lives event, select one of the highlighted survivors of human trafficking and write her name on your arm for each of those 30 days. For each of those 30 days, pray for that woman and others like her, for the end of human trafficking and slavery, and for continued progress in shining light on this darkness. Share your survivor’s story with your family and friends and encourage them to become involved. Share your journey on social media using the hashtags #raiseyourarmchallenge and #freedom424
TIER 2: Along with Tier 1, take the next step and invest in the life of a trafficking survivor by becoming a fundraiser.  What can you do with $24?...5 cups of Starbucks, a tank of gas, a movie and popcorn...For $24, you can provide 1 week of education, 2 weeks of counseling, 3 weeks of housing, 4 weeks of food for a trafficking survivor. Go to the Fundraise tab to become a fundraiser or to donate and again, share your journey on social media using the hashtags #raiseyourarmchallenge and #freedom424.
TIER 3: In addion to Tier 1 and 2, RUN for their lives. Running requires effort and action and may be difficult, uncomfortable, or even painful. Think about the lives of these women and children and how their experiences have been hard and run through your pain. Run for the girl whose name has been on your arm for the last 30 days. AND if you fundraise $50 or more, you can run for FREE! 

Volunteer

Our races are led and organized entirely by volunteers - people just like you! We're always looking for passionate, positive people to help with our races. We are in need of volunteers to prepare for the race as well as on race day. If you're interested in joining the volunteer team, please click on the volunteer tab at the top of the page.

Run 4 Their Lives!

Race Details

RACE LOCATION: The race will start and end on the campus of Liberty University.

EVENT TIME: The 5K will begin at 9:00am and the Fun Run will begin at 8:30am. **Please arrive by 8:15am at the latest on race day. 

PACKET PICK UP: Friday, April 29, from 5pm-8:00 pm at the Lahaye Ice Center, 1971 University Blvd, Lynchburg, VA 24502. This will be a free family ice skate night as well as an opportunity to pick up your packet or register, and learn more about Freedom 4/24!

COST: If you choose not to fundraise, the race registration fee is $24 through April 7 ($30 on April 8 until race day). The Kid's Fun Run is $10 through April 7 ($15 on April 8 until race day). 

SOCIAL MEDIA: Share your experience through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to help spread awareness of human trafficking! Make sure to use #R4TLlynchburg.