GEMS (Girls Educational & Mentoring Services) has been chosen as the New York woman’s charity in The Lilith Fair “Choose Your Charity” campaign.
GEMS, the nation’s largest organization serving commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked girls and young women ages 12-21, will be honored on-site at the July 31 New York area date by Lilith founder, Sarah McLachlan.
In addition to receiving the donation, GEMS will have a table at Lilith Fair to distribute information and materials on the issues of commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking.
Lilith Fair will be held at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ and will feature an all female line up including Indigo Girls, Sarah McLachlan, Missy Higgins and Jill Hennessy.
“Choose Your Charity” is an audience engagement campaign multi-round contest run exclusively through Facebook that allowed local citizens in each city that the touring festival visits to have a voice in the selection of the local woman’s charity supported by Lilith. As the selected charity, GEMS will receive $1 for each ticket purchases for the concert.
“For an issue like commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of American girls, awareness is key in changing public perception of victims and improving services for survivors. We are looking forward to attending the festival and personally connecting with concertgoers who want to learn more about our work,” says Jenny Park, GEMS Girls Are Not for Sale Campaign Coordinator.
“Since its inception, the Lilith founders have made it a priority to respect the cities that host the festival, and giving back to the local communities is a huge part of that,” says Lilith co-founder Terry McBride. “The fact that we can now use social media to directly involve the communities in helping us select the local charities makes the process that much more personal.”
The support of GEMS’ social media community and its Council of Daughters network were instrumental in the organization being selected in the Lilith Fair campaign.
For tickets and more information about Lilith Fair, visit: www.lilithfair.com
