A group of Mississippi State students is bringing awareness to slavery through a 5K run and walk called Run to Rescue held March 7 at 6 p.m. starting in the Junction.
Race directors are challenging the entire Starkville community to participate in the event and to become more aware of the issue of modern-day slavery and human trafficking which occurs all over the world, including Mississippi. 
Co-director Cody Forrest, junior insurance, risk management and financial planning major, said this event is designed not only to reach the students of MSU but also the communities surrounding the campus.
Forrest and co-director, Kenan Prentice, senior kinesiology major, said together they started this event last year after going to a Passion conference where they learned about the extent of modern-day slavery throughout the world and in the United States.
“Me and a couple of other people had never heard of it until last January. When we heard about it, we decided to not just take the statistics to heart, but to take action and stand up and do something about it,” Prentice said.
Forrest said the goal of this event is to educate people about human trafficking because knowledge is the first step to fixing this problem.
“Our goal of this race is to bring awareness to everyone we come in contact with,” said Forrest. “We want to just put that idea that 27 million people are in slavery into people’s heads in a manner where they can understand it and believe it.”
Last year, Run to Rescue had 300 participants and raised over $8,000 to donate to the International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that rescues people from slavery.
This year its goal is to raise $10,000 to give to IJM.
Jackson Donald, junior educational psychology major, said after running the race last year, he decided to use his hobby of photography to bring awareness to human trafficking.
“This race is a great way to spread the news about it because it is a huge problem,” said Donald. “If just one slave is freed from the money we raised then that is enough for me.”
Prentice said the proceeds of the race will go to IJM. Registration is $20 and all the proceeds from the registration fees and extra donations will go to IJM.
“We try to let donations that are given cover the cost of the race so that everything that people pay goes straight to IJM and their goal,” he said.
For more information about the race, human trafficking or to register for this event, visit runtorescue.org. Information booths will also be set up in the Union on March 4, 5 and 7 and on the Drill Field on March 6 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.