IJM Dinner 2009

On Thursday evening, we had the opportunity to go to the annual benefit dinner again for the International Justice Mission. For those of you who weren't following our blog when we went last year, IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. They are a team of lawyers, investigators, and aftercare professionals who work to ensure victim rescue and aftercare and who prosecute perpetrators and help promote functioning public justice systems. Similar to last year, the traffic getting there was crazy, but this time there was no torrential downpoar, so that helped. The facts of human injustice are always startling, and even the stories of victory and success they share are never easy to hear, but it can't help but make you come away feeling very grateful. You feel grateful that there are people really committed to simply showing up on the behalf of those who are suffering, and in a world of slavery, human trafficking, and oppression we can realize we have so much to be thankful for just to live in freedom. I can truely say that both Mark and I have such a respect for what the people at IJM are doing, and we really considered it a priviledge to be back at the event again this year.