Help for Freeset

Hey, gang! Sorry we’ve been away from here since Monday. We started school and several of our extra-curricular activities last week, so we’re a little slow getting back into the swing of things. One of the things we were able to participate in this week was helping our friends at Freeset. If you are unfamiliar with Freeset, their mission is simple: to rescue women from the sex trade and give them a life of freedom…

Freeset is a fair trade business offering employment to women trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade. We make quality jute bags and organic cotton t-shirts, but our business is freedom!

If you are a follower of Ann Voskamp’s blog A Holy Experience, you might recognize Freeset as the organization for which Ann designed a bag for her 40th birthday celebration.

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She asked her readers to #BeTheGift and purchase bags from Freeset in order to free more girls from trafficking situations in India. Ann’s readers are total rock star abolitionists, and they purchased every single bag within 4 hours of Ann’s post going up on her blog. The girls and I were privileged to be able to hop over to the Freeset offices on Tuesday to help package and ship orders out to Ann’s readers.

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It was awesome to have a {very} small part in providing girls in India a job other than sex trade. We were so excited to see how God used Ann’s blog to sell so many bags so quickly. The bags, made by girls that have been rescued, are shipped to the US and sold for a profit. All profits are sent back to Freeset so that they can provide more jobs for more rescued victims. One of the channels Freeset uses to sell bags is purchasing booth space at various Christian women’s and/or blogging conferences and selling bags during the conference. Conference season is upon us, so Freeset had a HUGE shipment on the way to Birmingham, which were to arrive yesterday morning. Well…

You might have seen in the news that there was a terrible plane crash at the Birmingham Airport yesterday involving a UPS plane, in which two pilots lost their lives. We are devastated for them and their families. Another bad blow was that Freeset’s shipment of 13,000 bags were on board that plane. Now, bags are bags and people are people. Bags can be replaced, but the lives of the pilots cannot. We grieve for them and their families. To honor the lives of the two pilots, Freeset has designed a memorial t-shirt, available on their site, with all proceeds going to the pilots’ families. At the same time, the bags lost represent $150,000 in sales and three month’s of work for 200 Freeset girls in India, which translates to a whole lot of girls whose futures are uncertain because of a lack of funds. Additionally, Freeset needs the funds to be able to rescue more girls who are currently trapped in a hellish situation. Their lives are important as well.

But there is hope.

Our friends at Allume have set up a Pure Charity account for people to donate to Freeset in order to offset the lost wages. Y’all, it’s simple. Just donate whatever amount you can. They suggest $25, which is the retail price of one bag, but please feel free to give whatever amount you feel led to. Additionally, if you would like to purchase other items from Freeset, you can do so at their website. No doubt, there is a lot of money to make up to cover the material losses. However, in times of great need, the Body of Christ comes together and provides! I know that we can do it this time as well. Will you do your part to help the beautiful girls that come to Freeset?

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