Nearly $80,000 Donated To Help Poor

The 19 Genre-Defining Artists Featured on CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From
Poverty CD/DVD Provide First Wave of Funding

(Nashville, TN) December 22, 2009 – The award-winning CompassionArt charity announces its first grants to 16 charitable projects chosen by the CompassionArt songwriters. The four “headline” projects will each receive $9,944 (£6,000) and the 12 individual artist nominated projects will each receive $3,315 (£2,000) for a total of $79,556 (£48,000).
The grants come from personal gifts and proceeds being raised by the CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty CD and 50-minute DVD documentary, and its companion book, The Art of Compassion, written by the 12 world-acclaimed CompassionArt songwriters. In an unprecedented effort to engage people everywhere to help end world poverty, song and artist royalties received from these acclaimed projects will be donated to the poorest of the poor.

“It’s exciting to see the vision of CompassionArt and its songwriters coming to fruition; to see the labor of love that began with an unlikely gathering of songwriters almost two years ago now tangibly helping to ease the suffering for thousands in projects all over the world,” says CompassionArt founder Martin Smith. “The amazing thing is that this is only the beginning, as these CompassionArt songs take hold and inspire more and more people and worship leaders to get involved.”

Anyone can help support CompassionArt’s charitable efforts through purchasing the CompassionArt CD/DVD and book for themselves, family, friends or as Christmas gifts ( http://compassionart.tv/created/), as well as through personal donations ( http://compassionart.tv/donate/).

The following outlines where the initial grant money will be used:

FOUR HEADLINE PROJECTS

1) South America – Grants from CompassionArt will be used to help buy a boat to carry ministry teams, doctors, etc., to the sick and needy in places near Santa Isobella, Brazil that are only reachable by boat.

2) Worldwide – Grants will be used for “Start Freedom,” an education campaign for schools and young people, teaching them about the issues surrounding human trafficking and the power they have to make a difference. Start Freedom aims to create freedom from the oppression and poverty that is caused by human trafficking by reaching out to local communities worldwide, equipping young people to empower and act on behalf of their peers who have no voice.

3) India and Cambodia – Funds will be used to help provide food, education and more in a Phnom Penh, Cambodia rubbish dump, a sprawling 100-acre garbage dump where hundreds of children work. Toiling through the mountains of trash as early as 3 a.m., the children hope to make 50 to 75 cents a day to help feed their families. The funds will help two buses rebuilt into mobile feeding and education centers to establish a place where these children could eat a good meal, take a shower and learn basic reading and writing skills.

4) Africa – The grant will be used toward building a Creative Arts Center, helping to restore hope to orphaned children to abused mothers and those whose lives have been devastated by suffering in Uganda. The Creative Life Center will encourage artistic education and plans for a better future for all.

12 SONGWRITER – NOMINATED PROJECTS

1. Nominated by Darlene Zschech, the grant will be used in the Village of Hope (VOH) project in the Gasabo District of Kigali, Rwanda. VOH is a self-sustaining, holistic model for the complete needs of the child, widow, orphan and community, providing much needed housing, healthcare, education and community for the most vulnerable families who were victims of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

2. Nominated by Michael W. Smith, the funds will support the salaries of Life Skill Educators who work directly with 8,200 children in six urban township communities located in the Deep South Peninsula of South Africa’s Western Cape. Offering Life Skills Education and After School Children’s Clubs, these programs function to prevent HIV by equipping youth with HIV facts, empowering them with skills to make responsible decisions, helping youth identify goals for their future and increasing confidence, while teaching Biblical principles to shape values and build strong character.

3. Nominated by Martin and Anna Smith, the grant money will be used for the Community Healthcare Training project at the Tondo Rubbish Dump and Navotas Cemetery in Manila, Philippines. The project works with over 1,000 people each week in communities living on the Tondo Dump and Navotas Cemetery, providing healthcare training, education, nutrition and family enhancement programs, guided by Godly values and beliefs, to some of the poorest Filipino communities. By promoting health, it is hoped to improve attendance at school and the family’s ability to work to earn a living for themselves.

4. Nominated by Matt Redman, the grant will help the Kasese Child Survival Programme, a church-based project in the Kamaiba Village of Kasese in SW Uganda that provides critical care for 38 mothers and 39 babies from pregnancy to the age of three. Kasese provides nutrition, medical assistance, economic development, parental education, social support and spiritual care for mothers and caregivers, ensuring that some the most vulnerable babies and toddlers in the community survive and thrive during the first years of life.

5. Nominated by Paul Baloche, the grant will help create an aftercare/transition home based in East Texas for some of the estimated 300,000 children being trafficked and exploited in America. With the home groundbreaking planned for early 2010, this specialized home will help meet the urgent physical, psychological, and spiritual needs of children rescued from trafficking and exploitation. There are only five to seven such specialized transition homes in the entire US.

6. Nominated by Graham Kendrick, the grant will be used for tuition and exam fees for fatherless, motherless and boundary-less young people ages 5 to 25 to attend Restoring The Sound (RTS), an accredited London College of Music Exam Centre based in Macassar township in Cape Town, South Africa. RTS is a music based arts empowerment project aimed at youngsters who would normally fall prey to gangs and drug abuse.

7. Nominated by Tim Hughes, the funds will go to help reduce the re-offending rate in the UK by equipping local churches to help ex-offenders to successfully re-integrate and make a positive contribution to society.

8. Nominated by Stu Garrard, Beanz Meanz Livez will partner with Living India and start an animal husbandry program to help the orphanage at Chandrakal (Hyderabad, India) to become self-sustaining. The program will begin with a barn, six cows and a dozen chickens. The grant will also be used to train the children in much needed skills for work.

9. Nominated by Steven Curtis Chapman, the grant will go to Maria’s Big House of Hope, a 60,000 square foot special needs care facility in Luoyang China. The facility is staffed, operational and currently cares for 80 special needs orphans. The grant will be used to feed and house these special children, as well as to further their physical care through medical treatments, surgeries and recovery.

10. Nominated by Andy Park, the funds will support an ongoing initiative in Tin Siu Wai, Hong Kong that looks after distressed and single families in an area that is known for teenage drug addicts, suicides and mental illness. The grant will help convert an old car park into a gathering place where people can gather for youth programs that help rescue children and single parents from the drug trade, etc.

11. Nominated by Chris Tomlin, the grant will go toward the ongoing operations costs of The Bulrushes, a home for orphaned and vulnerable babies in Kampala, Uganda. Tiny premature babies to toddlers found on rubbish heaps, in trash cans or abandoned in hospitals and police stations, are brought to this new home where they find acceptance, physical and medical care and unconditional love.

12. Nominated by Israel Houghton, Lakewood Missions will use the grant to help finish a new school building, specifically the ceilings for the Mosop Orphanage (Sotik, Kenya, East Africa), which cares for 87 children from 5 to 18 years of age.

*More information on all of CompassionArt’s charitable projects can be found at http://CompassionArt.tv.

These initial grants from CompassionArt are in addition to the Family Christian Stores initiative running through January 2010 where $1 for every CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty CD/DVD sold this year through Family Christian Stores, with an additional $1 for the first 25,000 units sold, will be donated through the James Fund foundation. Earlier this year, the CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty CD/DVD was named as the first-ever Family Christian Stores Album Of The Year.

The CompassionArt CD/DVD:

The 19 genre-defining songwriters/guest vocalists featured on the 14-song charity album, CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty, include: (Songwriters) Paul Baloche, Steven Curtis Chapman, Stu G, Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes, Graham Kendrick, Andy Park, Matt Redman, Martin Smith, Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin and Darlene Zschech; and (Guest Vocalists) Kirk Franklin, Amy Grant, Joel Houston, Leeland Mooring, Christy Nockels, tobyMac and CeCe Winans. Together, they combine for at least: 101 million albums sold, 103 No. 1 songs, 36 GRAMMY Awards, 213 Dove Awards, 18 Stellar Awards, 3 American Music Awards, and 116 CCLI Top 500 songs sung by millions in churches around the world.

In addition to EMI CMG releasing the CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty CD/DVD in North America in January of this year, the project also released November 2008 in Europe and Scandinavia through Kingsway, Asia, Africa and South America through Integrity and Australia and New Zealand through Crossroads.

About CompassionArt:

CompassionArt, a charity based in Littlehampton, England, held a songwriters’ retreat in January 2008 and began recording songs from the 12 world-acclaimed CompassionArt songwriters a month later for the CompassionArt: Creating Freedom From Poverty album at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, England, with later recording sessions in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles. Recognized by Gospel Music Channel with its first “Gospel Angel Award” presented during the network’s telecast of 2008’s Dove Awards, more information on CompassionArt can be found at http://CompassionArt.tv.

CompassionArt is not associated or affiliated with, or otherwise sponsored or endorsed by, Compassion International, Inc. Compassion® is a registered trademark of Compassion International, Inc.

For more information, contact: Rick Hoganson, Hoganson Media Relations, 615-459-9870, Hoganson@comcast.net.

 A GivStory By Derri Smith | Not For Sale Tennessee

 Beyond my worst nightmares …

At 55, I am no stranger to suffering. I was regularly abused by my pastor father. I’ve walked intimately with loved ones through the trauma of rape, abuse, illness and divorce. But nothing in my past prepared me for what I encountered when I picked up a copy of  Not For Sale by David Batstone. I entered a world beyond my worst nightmares, where six year olds tout their sex trade skills to potential “customers”; thirteen year olds are sold in pairs to be raped at will and ten year old boys are made to club neighbors to death as initiation into forced “military” duty.

Only this wasn’t a nightmare, soon to be followed by a good morning. These stories are real and not just a few isolated cases of unspeakable horror; they are the plight of millions of children throughout the world. Commerce in human beings is, I learned, the second largest and fastest growing crime on the planet, affecting 27 million lives.

 In my own backyard?!

Desperation borne of such knowledge launched a quest to educate myself.  I was shocked to discover that slavery thrives right here in my own Music City (Nashville) and in surrounding small towns, suburbs and rural areas. Awareness widened , and my eyes with it, as I discovered that my purchases drive the demand for slave labor around the world. I begged God to show me no more, because the pain was intolerable, unless He would give me something to DO about it.

He did.

Ordinary people + amazing God

He took this very ordinary woman with nothing more to offer than a broken heart and willingness to take action, and started opening doors, intersecting me with people I could learn from. I sense, each step of the way, His anger and pain over weak, vulnerable people exploited, used like commodities and forced to do things against their wills; His agony over each injustice to a person lovingly formed by His own hands, and His eagerness to mobilize His people to end this travesty.

Less than a year ago, my answer to the burning question “What can I do?”, was to become the Tennessee State Director for Not for Sale Campaign. I now equip, mobilize and/or partner with dedicated activists from all walks of life to deploy innovative, effective solutions to end slavery locally, nationally and internationally.

Now Teachers - enlighten “Johns” who don’t realize that the services they buy are sometimes provided by unwilling slaves.

Students - canvas business districts, placing posters that provide a hotline to report human trafficking and tips for recognizing victims.

Homemakers and Business People - sell items made by rescued slaves.

Artists - lend their craft to raise awareness and funds to aid a survivor.

Older Women - scour the web for clues to local human trafficking activity

That’s just a snapshot of the panorama of activity in this organic enterprise.

There’s a place for everyone in the movement to end slavery. Let’s work together to find yours.

http://www.notforsaletn.org/

A few months ago we did a post about Not For Sales’s Slavery Map . If you didn’t get a chance to read it, you might want to check it out after you watch this video by Not For Sale Campaign .

Want to learn more about Human Trafficking? Not For Sale Campaign is hosting a global forum on Human Trafficking in Carlsbad, California October 8-9. They are giving a way a free audio book copy of Not For Sale, the book that began the movement if you register TODAY! Register at www.globalforumonhumantrafficking.org

The United States of America  is often referred to as  the “free world,” but not everyone here has their freedom. In fact, the U.S. is a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually.  Not For Sale, an organization formed to combat trafficking, has created an online tool that will help bring awareness to this harsh reality. Slavery still exists, and it’s happening in our own backyards. Not For Sale created an interactive map that exists to record and display instances of human trafficking not only in the U.S., but across the globe. This interactive map is helping to create awareness around an issue that many Americans believe is non-existent in their country.  Is human trafficking happening in your backyard? Go to the Slavery Map and find out.

“Every captive is a person; every survivor has a story. It’s time to show the world that slaves exist among us. Restaurants and fields, construction sites and brothels, suburbs and cities: all are home to victims of trafficking in the United States and abroad. Twenty-seven million slaves in the world, and we want to find them. Slavery Map exists to record and display instances of human trafficking across the globe. Whether you find them hidden in your hometown or covered in The New York Times, report the incidents onto this map for people everywhere to see. If you encounter a current situation of bondage, do not enter the information here. Please immediately call the US national trafficking hotline number so that the proper law enforcement and service providers can be alerted: 1-888-3737-888.”

http://www.slaverymap.org/

“No!  You don’t understand me!  You NEVER understand!  I hate you!!!” she seethes in her native tongue.

She runs up the stairs, down the hallway, her loathing apparent in her rapidly shuffling feet.

The door to her bedroom slams shut.

A few moments later, a knock on the door.  Her mother gently turns the door knob but it is locked tight.

On the other side of the door, she hears her mothers soft voice, asking her, ever so gently, to open the door.

No response.

Her mother slowly plods down the hallway, whispering to her father.

Hours later, stillness.  Quiet.  Her parents have long gone to bed.

The bedroom door creeks open.   She glides down the hallway, down the stairs, breezes through the kitchen, shoving whatever food she can into her backpack, through the den, waits, listens, hears nothing… She nervously grabs hold of the door knob, takes one glance back, breathes a breathless sigh of uncertainty and disappears into the cool night air.

“They didn’t believe me” she thought.  “They never believed me.”

She had made the seemingly idle threat to run away from home no fewer than four times.

Nervous.  Terrified.  Quietly defiant.  These emotions overlapped one another, over and over, over and over, as she plodded down the moonlight streaked sidewalk.  Night still fully encompassing, yet daylight assuredly on its way.

Night slowly turns into day.

Day envelops her, promising excitement, energy, a new beginning!

Which rapidly turns to dread.  Hours roll by.  She loses herself in questions.  In regret.  In anger.  In sadness.

Sitting, quiet, alone, night beckoning once again, she looks up and sees a cute boy approaching.

“Hi” he says.

“Hi” she replies meekly.

Time rolls by.  She pours her heart out to this caring soul, this angel.

He tells her his story.  He also ran away.  He lived in the city, in the streets.  Until he found a family.  They too understand.  They love him, care for him.  They all look out for each other.

“Do you want to meet them?  They’ll really like you.  You can come and live with us!” his enthusiasm, his charm, impossible for her to resist.  A new family.  They care.  They understand me.  They KNOW me.

They walked into a strange building.  The door locked behind them.  She peered down a hallway.  Strange men lurked about.  Girls, no older than her, filed into rooms, a thoughtless, emotionless, empty expression enveloping and overwhelming their very existence. The strange, lurking men followed them into the rooms.  One by one.  One after another.

This was her new “family”.

Her hope was immediately shattered.  She screamed.  She panicked.  She fought.

They threatened her.  They beat her.  They abused her.  They molested her.

Day after day she was forced into a sickening cycle.

She fought.  She kept her spirit.

Day after sickening day.  Night after sickening night.  They said they loved her.  They said it as they forced themselves on her.  Words mean nothing.  Actions mean everything.

She fought.  She kept her spirit.

Day after sickening day.  Night after sickening night.  They said they loved her.  They said it as they abused her aching 13 year old body in every form, every fashion…

She fought.  She kept her spirit.

Who were they?  They were rarely the same.  One after another.  After another.  After another.  Day after sickening day.  Night after sickening night.

And then…

Silence.

This is not a story of redemption.

This is not a story of hope.

There is only the silence of a broken spirit.  Numb to emotion, numb to feeling, numb to life and living.

Silence.

As many as 2.8 million children live on the streets, a third of whom are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

12 to 14 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution.

Between 100,000 and 300,000 children in the United States are at risk for sex trafficking each year.

Estimates say that 2 million children worldwide are exploited in the transnational sex trade.

Studies also indicate that each of these children may be victimized by 100 to 1,500 perpetrators per year.

This story is not unique.  It happens daily.  It is sick, it is perverse, it is reality.

We cannot sit by while this perpetually increases, day after sickening day, night after sickening night.

We cannot be silent.  We must be a voice for the voiceless.  These atrocities will not cease on their own.  Not with sex trafficking profits at an estimated $217.8 billion dollars per year. This equates to roughly $23,000 per victim.

Having this knowledge, are you able to sit and do nothing?  Are you able to shrug it off with indifference?

Kenny & Julie Rigsby heard the stories of these young girls being forced into sexual slavery and they could not ignore the injustice.  They started an organization called “for the silent” to bring advocacy and awareness to this, one of the great pandemics of our time.  They are bringing a voice to those who have none.

You can help.  Get involved.  Educate yourself.  Partner with an organization.  Partner with “for the silent”.

There are creative ways to get involved.  If you are an athlete, raise awareness through running a marathon.  If you are an artist, raise awareness through an art project or show and give the proceeds to an organization.  If you are a musician or a speaker, use your platform to tell others.

Whatever you choose to embrace, let it not be apathy.

May our voices scream out in unison.

For those who are enslaved to an existence without hope.

May the silent find their voice in us.

http://www.forthesilent.org/

This post was written by Jeremy Stanley. Jeremy resides in Nashville, Tennesse and is the U.S. Programs Director for Global Support . He lived and worked in Los Angeles for many years as an independent producer for television shows including “The Amazing Race” as well as projects for ABC, TLC, and Discovery and was on the production staff of film projects including “Transformers.” Jeremy is passionately driven to pursuing new avenues of visual and written communication with a purposeful intent.

Read more of Jeremy’s writing on his blog http://www.readthinkforgetrepeat.com/

Follow Jeremy on Twitter  http://twitter.com/jeremystanley

Did YOU Know?

Slavery is very real, very dark, and very evil, and it is ripping apart innocent lives every day. There are men, women, and children trapped in slavery right now…and their cost of freedom is high. Freedom is not free. In fact, the price can be so high that it costs your whole life. Can you imagine giving up your own gift of freedom in order to set others free????

Meet a slave hunter. His name is Aaron Cohen.

He has sacrificed his entire life to the cause of setting captives free, to put a stop to Human Trafficking worldwide, a task that deems him nothing short of a modern day hero. Aaron is a human rights activist who established a modern-day movement to forgive debts and free slaves around the world. This movement turned into the launch of a non-profit called Abolish Slavery Coalition. The organization exists to fight human trafficking and restore dignity to its victims by providing safe aftercare and rehabilitation. They organize and coordinate investigations and field operations to find, identify, and retrieve men, women, and children from slavery.

The Heart of The Matter

Meet Thuy Lai

“Thuy Lai was a young girl living in Kampochea only eight years old.
Her mixed Vietnamese and Cambodia heritage was seen as an asset to human traffickers who prey on little Vietnamese girls. As age 8, Thuy was the youngest madam we had encountered. An undercover Vietnamese field agent took this picture of Thuy. At the time she was being enrolled into Vietnamese girls schools, where she would encourage other young girls to run away with her to Cambodia for a better life. Who knows how many young children young Thuy lured into the sex trade, but the reality of her life was hearbreaking. We made efforts to find out what happened to Thuy in 2007 but were told that she “disappeared.”

For years Aaron Cohen has traveled around the world retrieving persons sold into slavery, including girls sold into the sex trade. Most of the time he travels undercover and at the risk of losing his own life to rescue another. His mission in life is to free as many slaves as possible, to provide a place where shattered hearts can be mended and rescued souls can learn how to preserve their freedom and live independently. Abolish Slavery Coalition has a network of undercover investigators and human rights activists working to free slaves in Cambodia, Mexico, Armenia, Burma, Israel, Iraq, Sudan, and yes… THE UNITED STATES….

Get In On The Action

Like A Stone In A River…Life Smoothes Out The Edges Till We Hardly Make A Ripple Anymore….

Will you join in on the fight? Will you chose to fight for those captives whose edges have worn smooth? Choose to make a ripple…. Help the Abolish Slavery Coalition continue their mission of freeing the captives.

§ Donate needed funds for victim retrievals

§ Adopt or sponsor a victim who is at a shelter in recovery

§ Provide victims and their families with survival kits

§ Advocate for the protection of the rights of victims

§ Produce an event or fund raising effort for victims of trafficking

§ Form your own group or task force of people interested to help

§ Keep watch over the people in your area

If you see something in your neighborhood, do somehting about it.

National Hot LIne to report trafficking (888) 373-7888

Did YOU Know?……

There are preteens in Thailand, who thought they were accepting an offer that would secure them a better job or higher education; tricked, they are now being raped multiple times a night for the profit of their capturer….

That there are children in Cambodia, who are victims of child sex-tourism– some as young a 5, performing oral sex….

 In Mexico, it is estimated that there are 16,000 children now involved in prostitution……

What is being done to help them?….

Did you know that there is an organization of lawyers, investigators and social workers who care so deeply for human life and rights that they have focused their lives on rescuing and mending the captives of slavery, sex exploitation, and violent oppression in our world. This heroic organization is called the International Justice Mission. It is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and other forms of violent oppression.  IJM is intervening on their behalf….finding….freeing….fighting through the justice system, for people who have never known a champion on their behalf.   IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems. 

The Heart of The Matter

Although we would like to believe slavery was abolished in the nineteenth century, it still continues to thrive around the world. Children reported to be as young as 5 years old are being sold into sexual slavery, raped, drugged, robbed of their dreams, and trapped by the perversion and greed that is the backbone of this audacity. While you are reading this, children are being taken….kidnapped….beaten and raped.  Some are being shuffled all around the world…no rules….no regulations….just terror and entrapment. Young people are crying out for help but there are very few who are listening for their voices.

World-wide there is an estimated 2 million children exploited in the global sex trade (UNICEF). The faces of these victims change, but these horrific stories continue to emerge out of countless countries; humans are being kidnapped, beaten, drugged, and sold for sex.

While we seek out the “good life” for ourselves….we must not allow the cries of the lost and dying to be drowned out by the “rush hour sounds”  of the pace we keep.   Maybe we subconsciously choose  not to be aware… because we feel like the problem is too big to do anything about …But , what if you just changed one life….if each person just changed one…..That one suddenly makes a big difference!   It is our reasoning that needs to change. 

Get In On the Action!

There are 27 million people in slavery right now! More than at any other time in the world! Many of these innocent victims are children. They desperately need our help. They need to know they are not forgotten or alone. If it weren’t for the work of organizations like the International Justice Mission, we would be losing this battle. They cannot do it on their own. They need our help! You can do something! Why you may ask? There are 27 million reasons, why not.

• Educate yourself - Public ignorance and apathy are a traffickers greatest assets. 
• Become an IJM Freedom Fighter - Become intimately involved with the world of IJM by investing in specific areas of our   abolition work.  
• Join the Call  - See Call + Response, a feature “rockumentary” that mixes music and commentary from experts and advocates uncovering modern-day slavery.
• Demand Change – Let your elected officials know that victims of human trafficking matter to you! 

www.ijm.org

Want to share with your friends??

1. CLICK ‘Get This’

2. Select the Social Network of your choice or E-mail.

3. Then, share the voting option and fun with your friends!

While Bluetree was travelling on a missions trip to Pattaya, Thailand, the poor conditions of said city became the inspiration for their hit song, God Of This City, f eatured on the band’s debut album of the same name.

In May 2009, the band will launch their charity, Stand Out International. The charity will provide direct rescue efforts for children trapped within the human trafficking industry…