Run For Courage Raises $100,000

Run For Courage is pleased to report that over $100,000 was raised on October 8th at the 2nd Annual Run For Courage 5K/10K Race in Folsom. We are so thankful to all the sponsors, participants and volunteers who helped make this day a huge success and we look forward to giving each of the Run For Courage beneficiaries a check this month.

Beneficiaries chosen to receive proceeds from this race include;

- Agape International Missions

- Courage To Be You

- A New Day For Children

- Wind Youth Services

Our sponsors, exhibitors and other support organizations were exposed to over 1,700 participants, plus their guests and hundreds of additional followers who read printed reports and articles, receive email information, website updates and Facebook posts about Run For Courage and its beneficiaries. In fact, Serrano Magazine and Sacramento Style Magazine will be publishing stories on the event and we’ll post that as soon as it comes out.

Your support is an integral part of the success and popularity of this event and we look forward to continuing our partnership as strive to further enhance the event experience.

Fundraising opportunities are available all year to support Run For Courage

-Click on the “Donate Now” link above and complete the online form with options for one-time, weekly, monthly, semi-annual or annual giving. Commit to helping us fund programs for victims.

-Also, we have partnered with multiple corporations that match donated funds. Please contact us if you would like to have your company’s partnership number to use, or if you are interested in setting up a partnership between RFC and your company contact us at: info@runforcourage.org

*All donations are tax deductible.

Beneficiary Profile- AIM

Agape International Missions has been selected to receive funding from Run For Courage in 2011. The mission of AIM is to preventchild sex trafficking in Cambodia and restore hope to its victims by providing holistic aftercare to rescued victims, by equipping and mobilizing the church to take action and by building church sponsored community centers in sex trafficking hot spots.

CAMBODIA is a country that was ravaged by the Khmer Rouge and its leader Pol Pot, from 1975 to 1979. Mass genocide of the educated, religious and influential resulted in what has become known as The Killing Fields of Cambodia . Estimates range up to 3 million people died as a direct result of this genocide or related disease and starvation, and the country still suffers from Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror today. The abject poverty in which much of the country lives and the corruption in government and police agencies fuel the child sex trafficking industry in Cambodia. In the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Reports, Cambodia is identified as a source, transit and destination country for child sex trafficking, and a country where severe forms of human trafficking occur. A UNICEF survey of females trapped in sexual slavery in Cambodia found there to be 55,000 young women and girls involved, with 35% being girls under the age of 16. These children are trapped and held as slaves to a life of exploitation, abuse and brutality, a life without hope. “Cambodian Sex Slaves”, the photograph below, was taken in a village just outside of Phnom Penh in May of 2008. The pain and despair in the faces of these young girls is an image that can be seen throughout the country.

In response to this egregious problem, in 2005 AIM began to focus their efforts on ending this travesty in Cambodia by providing transformational aftercare for victims rescued from sex trafficking and increasing prevention efforts through a network of village churches. AIM opened Agape Restoration Center (ARC) in August of 2006 providing holistic long-term aftercare for rescued girls, and in September 2007, opened a community center, Rahab’s House, in a former brothel in the heart of a village where sex slavery is the norm for every girl by the age of 10.

RFC Team Member Profile – Ashlie M Bryant, Executive Director Run For Courage, Inc.

Ashlie Bryant is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Run For Courage, Inc., She is responsible for the overall management of the organization and speaks frequently to groups on the topic of sex trafficking.

Run For Courage was born out of a tragedy that occurred in Ashlie’s hometown of El Dorado Hills. In 2008, an innocent 17-year old was taken from a local grocery store and trafficked for eight days prior to her rescue.Determined to make a difference for victims of this crime, Ashlie and three others prayed for a way to do something to help the victims of this heinous crime. Drawing on both her prior professional experience and what propelled her into running, being a 20 year cancer survivor, Run For Courage was born.

Started as a 501(c)3, RFC and its core team host large-scale events like 5k and 10k races. The money raised goes to organizations whose programs help restore victims of sex trafficking. Ashlie’s hope is that Run For Courage can launch races in multiple cities to raise funds for victim’s programs. “The organizations that are doing this precious work are amazing and the courage and trust on behalf of the victims it takes to be restored from this crime is great, so we hope to help fund this restoration.”

Prior to Run For Courage, Ashlie worked for a number of Silicon Valley companies in numerous roles from Vice President of Marketing Communications to Director of Training and Implementation. She has been instrumental in substantial revenue growth, planning and managing large scale customer events and developing and implementing organization-wide communication plans.