It’s a youth work session plan idea, no wait, it’s a fundraiser… do we post it on a Thursday or Monday?! Ah, the dilemmas of Youth Workin’ It’s team of bloggers.

Honestly, it is both and could have been posted under either category, but we’re going to offer a few ways to turn this fundraiser into one or more great youth work session plan ideas.

Faithful readers may remember our Spotlight on trafficked youth for Valentine’s Day. We highlighted a non-profit organization called Love146 which focuses on trying to end human slavery and child trafficking.

They’re now undertaking their annual fundraiser ‘Tread on Trafficking.’ From May 1 – June 30, they’re encouraging everyone to do a sponsored event in order to raise money to help end child trafficking. It can be running, walking, swimming… anything – last year’s ‘Awesome Award’ winner was on his paddle board for 24 hours!

If your youth project or group would like to fundraise for Tread2012, you can find out all the information you need here. Now here are a few session plan ideas to take this from a fundraiser to one or more youth work sessions. There are three weeks until the start of Tread2012.

Week 1 – Help youth empathize with trafficked children by learning more about it through statistics and personal stories

• An introduction to child trafficking and modern day slavery
• Identify the problem
• Discuss trafficking statistics from the US – it’s not just a problem in the developing world
• Watch case study videos from around the world provided by Unicef about child trafficking for labor, sexual exploitation or marriage
• Consider reading a book from now until June 30th and discuss its contents – please be responsible and review the book for age-appropriateness and content first

Week 2 – Identify which fundraising activity your youth are going to do and answer some questions

• How many of the youth are going to participate in the activity? Remember that all of your youth might not be able to participate in physical activities. You can still include them by finding other ways for them to get sponsorship or have them help with contacting sponsors, finding resources about trafficking, planning and/or giving talks to others about your activities and helping produce any online or print information about the activities the group is doing (press releases, blogs, social media posts, etc.)
• What activity is going to be undertaken?
• Is it going to be one large group activity with everyone working as a group at your center or individual activities that can be done at home?
• Possible large group activities include: one or more group hikes for high mileage, sponsored bike ride, sit up/push up challenges or head to the local pool for laps with different group members ‘tagging in’ when swimmers tire.
• Possible individual activities include: Surfing for a certain number of hours, skateboarding for a certain distance, walking a certain number of steps or miles or climbing a certain number of stairs.
• How will you get sponsorship? Who can be contacted and who is off limits? When is the money due? Who will keep track of the finances?
• Craft a sponsorship letter if appropriate.

Week 3 – Help youth remember the empathy they developed in week one by showing a film – use discretion and preview the film first

May 1 – June 30 Work together during sessions on the group fundraising goal or continue to learn about child trafficking, find ways to help raise awareness and check-in on individual fundraising goals and activities.

We know that child trafficking and human slavery may not be what your youth group is passionate about. If your youth already have an organization or cause they already support, use this as a basic guide for ways your youth can make a difference in that area or for that organization.

If your youth do participate in Tread2012, we’d love to hear how it goes!

You can also connect with us by:

1. Signing up to receive our posts via email
2. Following us on Twitter
3. Liking us on Facebook
4. Signing up to our RSS feed