Fight Through Food- Spaghetti Feed for C2BU

A beneficial amount of money was raised for Courage House from a Spaghetti Feed this past Saturday night at the Blue Goose Events Center in Loomis.

The night included a meal cooked for free by a renowned Napa Valley chef, a handful of words from Courage To Be You [C2BU] president Jenny Williamson and music by the band The Music Room, whose profits from their newest CD will be donated to C2BU.

While this event may look like just another fundraiser put on by a large organization, the reality is that it came together through the heart of an 11 year old girl. Sydney Jones is a Loomis resident whose family has become deeply involved with C2BU and Courage House- C2BU’s licensed safe house for rescued victims of sex trafficking inNorthern California.

Jones and her family began working for Courage House a year and a half prior to this event. Her parents desired to get involved with teenagers their entire life and finally went through the training required to interact with rescued girls.

Jenny Williamson and Sydney Jones at Spaghetti Feed

Growing up around this shared passion between her parents, Jones eventually adopted those feelings as well and God blessed her with a burden to raise funds to assist Courage House. “Through time God has just spoken to me about making this night happen…”, she said.

Jones, by no means, put on this event all by herself. Raley’s grocery store sponsored the event and one of her dad’s clients chipped in as well. Enough funding came through to allow every penny of profit directly benefit Courage House. Jones was quick to give all that glory to the Lord: “…He has put so many people in my life to make it happen.”

This fundraising dinner was not just a big event that spurred excitement and activity for Jones; it was a response to feelings of sympathy for sex-trafficked girls, many whom are the same age as Jones. “Just seeing these girls, I constantly want to do something just to raise money and raise awareness, just to get these girls out of the street and into a safe home”.

Sex-trafficking is a complicated concept and even Jones’ acknowledges its complexity: “It’s been a little hard for me to wrap my brain around it”. Jenny Williamson expanded on the issue in order to shed light on the shady subject that many are ignorant to.

Williamson was exposed to the issue four years ago in a discomforting manner and was not able to continue on with life knowing of the perversion happening all around her. Her testimony was spectacular and full of stories, but every word she spoke was narrowed down to one statement: “We’re inviting you to join us in changing the world one individual at a time”. Ignorance was no longer an excuse by the time Williamson finished her speech.

Many of the attendees had not arrived to the dinner ignorant of the issue. In fact, some had even experienced this perversion in their own lives. Joyce Warner, an 83 year old lady from Auburn has lived her life publicizing the issue and doing what she can to protect girls at risk. Her passion stems from the experience she had as a young child.

At 18 months old, Warner says she vividly remember being molested on a regular basis: “I can tell you where they laid me, where exactly they stood and what they did”. Warner went through the foster system through childhood, but during her middle-age years, she lived in the Bay Area where she had a safe house for rescued girls.

Eighty-one years later, Warner can still recall her pain and is battling against the perversion that caused it, while Jones, at age eleven, has just begun the fight.

The Music Room: http://www.facebook.com/entertheroom

Courage To Be You: http://www.couragetobeyou.org/