Show Your Love This Valentine's Day

Buy a white band, available at one.org or noexcuse2015.org, and wear it on Valentine’s Day. The white band symbolizes the fight against poverty, and reads “One” (for the ONE Campaign to make poverty history), or “No Excuse 2015” (for the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty significantly by 2015). The smallest amount you can order online is ten bands, so you can hand out your extra white bands as Valentine’s Day gifts. You can also wear a (RED) or ONE shirt to emphasize your message (see “Buy What You Believe In”).

Let your love shine through Love 146, an organization devoted to stopping child sex slavery and exploitation. On their web site, Love 146 points out that every year, human trafficking and slavery makes 32 billion dollars—which is less than the amount Americans spend on three Valentine’s Days (39 billion dollars).

Love 146 started with a group of girls wearing red dresses in a brothel, absorbed in the kid cartoons displayed on the TV. The founders of Love 146 saw them when they went undercover to observe the selling of child sex slaves. On the Love 146 website, one founder describes the lifeless expressions of the children, who were raped several times a night.
But one girl, who wore the number 146 pinned on her dress, didn’t watch the cartoons. Instead, she turned around and stared at them, with a gaze that understood the cruel injustice inflicted on her life. Love 146 is dedicated to her and her spirit; you can read her story and watch the Love 146 video at Love146.org.

There are lots of ways to make a difference through Love 146 this Valentine’s Day. You can throw a Love 146 Valentine’s Day party, write a love letter to #146 and mail it to Love 146, and giving a Love 146 donation and e-card in your sweetheart’s honor. Click here for the full list of ideas on the Love 146 web site.