Jennifer Goodenough and Rebecca Walker-Jones are two local women who have decided to stand up.
These women have organized a charity event to help raise money to aid Christian families in Syria who are trying to flee the terrorism of the Islamic State group.
It’s Time to Stand Up! will be Friday, Nov. 20, at The Bottling Plant Event Center in Opelika. The event will include live music, a silent auction and local arts and crafts for sale. Food and drink will be available for purchase as well. Doors open at 5 p.m.
Jennifer Goodenough is a local artist and Rebecca Walker-Jones is a local songwriter and founder of Opelika Unplugged. Both women have devoted hours to organize this event and to help bring awareness to the Auburn and Opelika about refugee families.
“Christians in Syria are being forced to wear the red mark of the Nazarene to identify themselves as Christians, and over 200,000 Christians have been murdered and 4 million have been forced to flee their homes,” Walker said.
All of the proceeds from the event will be going to the Nazarene Fund of Mercury One. The Nazarene Fund of Mercury One is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the evacuation of particularly vulnerable Christians from countries such as Iraq and Syria into new countries where they might rebuild their lives, according to their website.
Walker said it costs about $25,000 to bring one family to safety and the goal of It’s Time to Stand Up! is to raise enough money to save at least one family.
“The important thing we want people to know is that most of the refugees who are fleeing ISIS are Christian families who are only given three choices,” Walker said. “They can either pay an outlandish tax, convert to a certain type of Islam or watch their children be beheaded, crucified or burned alive in a cage.”
Walker said they also want to raise awareness of Christians in Syria.
“No one in America seems to be aware that these people are Christian refugees who just want to have a normal life,” Walker said. “They just want their kids to be educated and have a warm place to live. They have been watching their friends be beheaded and burned alive, it is horrific.”
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