Many of you, by now, have heard the story of how Purchased began. It originated as one prayer to ask the Lord how to help in the issue of human trafficking, and one vision from Him to bring awareness through a concert. Who could have guessed, that four short years later, we would be celebrating after a very successful first fundraising dinner?
Certainly not me. I never could have dreamed how God has taken this thing, “Purchased” and shaped it, refined it, grown and stretched it, and blessed it into what it is today. It is my prayer (and my suspicion) that He will continue in the years to come as well!
This past Friday, however, was a significant step in our organization’s growth. The Illuminate dinner was a huge success! We all came away thrilled with the turnout, and blown away by the amount of money that was raised to help educate and raise awareness about human trafficking!
We had over 20 volunteers donate their time to help cook, serve, clean, and set up and tear down whatever we needed. The dedicated Purchased team of eight spent countless hours giving of their time and energy by planning, making phone calls, assembling silent auction packages, budgeting, mailing, and praying for this event. Over 40 businesses and individuals donated items for our silent auction. Two guest speakers offered their time to help teach us about the issue. Nearly 150 guests attended our dinner and helped us raise $11,000!
We want to say THANK YOU to everyone involved with the Illuminate dinner. We sincerely appreciate your continued support. Your efforts are making a difference in the abolition movement. We look forward to another surprising year with Purchased!
