We are continually impressed by the various ways that our supporters find to share the Touch A Life story and raise funds to help exploited children around the world. In September, the Homeschool Dramatic Society put on a play entitled “Free At Last” about the Underground Railroad. The play was set in 1851, but Mev McCurdy, the founder and director, desired for the play to also raise awareness about modern-day slavery by giving back a portion of the proceeds to an organization working to end it.
Mev started the Homeschool Dramatic Society as a student in 1999, and has produced a play for her organization each year since then, often times writing new songs to be incorporated in the plays. It is truly a family affair, with Mev’s husband as set designer, her mother as Assistant Director, and her mother-in-law watching her young children during rehearsals. Families of cast members all lend a hand to build and paint sets, and there is plenty of help to go around with this year’s cast totaling 107 performers!
A passion for giving back collided with the awareness of modern-day slavery, leading Mev to find out about Touch A Life Foundation’s story. The topic of the Underground Railroad provided a unique opportunity to learn what was currently being done to end slavery around the world today. Mev started researching various non-profits who are making a tangible difference but was overwhelmed by the many different worthy causes. She told us, “I wondered how I was going to pick. I prayed that God would help me decide. Most of the ones I was finding involved victims of sex trafficking. And while that is a horrible reality in our world that needs to be fought against, I wanted these particular funds to go toward something that was more akin to what the nineteenth-century abolitionists fought against. I decided to go to the website of The Christian Chronicle and see if they had an archived article about such a group. That is where I learned about Touch A Life. I visited the website and was very impressed with what I saw.”
After learning about the Touch A Life story and our current work in Ghana and around the world, Mev decided that 10% of this year’s ticket sales would be donated to Touch A Life Foundation. She sent an email out to all of her cast and crew letting them know about her decision, and she received plenty of encouragement in return. One parent took time to research Touch A Life and then responded to Mev by saying, “This really makes me count my blessings even more.”
Mev also used her play to bring awareness about current child exploitation and slavery with a note from the director in all of the play programs. She hopes that these simple acts – a student play in Tennessee or a donation – will lead to a deeper truth. Mev said, “Part of the message of the play was that some people are bound by a different kind of slavery – slavery to a sin in their own lives. While the slaves longed for their physical freedom, others desperately needed freedom from those sins. It is only through Jesus that we can all be “Free at Last.”‘