Students sell bracelets for global cause

Associate professor Dr. Laura Brunell's Women in Comparative Studies class is participating in a service learning project called "Stop Trafficking" to help oppressed and trafficked women both locally and globally.

They will be in Crosby from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 16 to 19 selling bracelets for $2 and accepting donations. Having purchased the bracelets from an online company called ReminderBand.com, they have to recoup the cost of the bracelets, but are still planning on bringing in significant donations. They are estimating they will raise $1,000 from the bracelet sales and individual donors.

"Just by informally selling them to our friends and giving them out, it seems that they have been selling really well. They are popular; people seem to like that Lance Armstrong style of the bracelets," said senior Anna Friedhoff, PR liaison.

In addition to being in Crosby, there is a night event planned for Nov. 19.

"We plan on showing a trafficking movie and have passport stations which will show students the geographic distribution of women trafficking," Friedhoff said. "We will still be selling the bracelets."

The project is completely student run and it was the students themselves who came up with the idea to help the women.

"There are two parts to this project; the first is to stop trafficking by giving to women and girls who are poor and to give to families so that they don't have to sell their children. The second part is to help victims to become normal members of society," Brunell said.

Stop Trafficking is working not only on an international level but on a local level as well. Half the money raised from the bracelets will go to Somaly Mam and the other half to Global Girlfriend.

Somaly Mam gives the money directly to Asian women affected by trafficking. Global Girlfriend is a Web site that sells items that victims of trafficking make. With the other half of the money, Stop Trafficking will buy items the victims sell.

In addition, the purchased items will be given to the local organization Transitions, a women's organization in Spokane that helps displaced women. Stop Trafficking hopes that the Transitions women can use these items as Christmas or birthday presents.

 "The great thing about selling the bracelets is that the proceeds go to the victims of global women trafficking and help to economically stabilize them, so they don't fall back into that," junior Amanda Baumgartner said. "Not only are they helping people become aware of the issue, but they also contribute to helping women at the local shelter."

Since the class is only a semester long, it is unknown whether the students next semester will carry on the cause, or choose another issue. What remains vital is the message.

"It's a big project and it's in the spirit of Gonzaga, we are giving to others. What's really important is that in this class you could either learn or do something about it. And we are doing something about it, which is so much more," Friedhoff said.