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THE
RIDE FOUNDATION’S SECOND ANNUAL GALA EVENT
DANCE FOR FREEDOM
TO
BENEFIT LEADING ORGANIZATIONS
COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING
CAST AND JOURNEY
OUT
Louis
Van Amstel and Anna
Trebunskaya to Headline
Live Ballroom Dance Show
Award-Winning Actress / Activist Julia Ormond is
Special Guest and Presenter
Dancing
with the Stars’ Carrie Ann Inaba to Receive Artistic
Integrity Award
Saturday, September 29, 2018 at the Broad Stage in Santa
Monica, CA
Los Angeles, CA – – RIDE
Foundation (Robyn & Italo Dance Events),
formed by Pro-Am ballroom dance partners, Robyn Shreiber and Italo
Elgueta, has announced that its 2nd annual
gala event, DANCE FOR FREEDOM, will benefit
two of Los Angeles’ leading organizations who are dedicated
to fighting human trafficking – CAST (Coalition to Abolish
Slavery and Trafficking), and Journey Out. RIDE was
established in 2016 to create one-of-a-kind dance events for
difference-making charities, encompassing humane and
ecological causes and featuring the talents of compassionate
stars of the dance world. Dance For Freedom will be
held at 6PM, at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, with
a program featuring top dance and vocal performances
produced by Tony Award-winning producer Scott Mauro.
“We are thrilled to have both CAST and
Journey Out as the beneficiaries of our 2nd annual
gala event,” say Robyn and Italo in a joint statement. “CAST
CEO Kay Buck, and Journey Out Executive Director Dr.
Stephany Powell, are two incredible women whose tireless
work and unwavering advocacy has saved the lives of many
women, children and men. We both had learned so much from
Kay and Stephany about this horrendous crime, and had the
opportunity to experience the work that both organizations
do to fight human trafficking. We are truly honored to
honor them with the RIDE Champion Award,” they add.
“Survivors of human trafficking are some of
the most resilient individuals I have ever met- resilience
that is strengthened by healing arts programs. Trafficked
from over 59 countries to Los Angeles, CAST uses dance and
music therapy modalities to bring healing and rehabilitation
to survivors, and helps them build a community among each
other. Dance is one of the unique languages that everyone
can speak at our shelter, and demonstrates the extraordinary
power of dance to support survivors in their journeys to
heal and rebuild their lives, ” says Kay Buck. “There is so
much more critical work that must be done to stop human
trafficking, and help those who have been victimized. We
are incredibly grateful to Robyn, Italo and everyone at the
RIDE Foundation for choosing CAST as a beneficiary of Dance
for Freedom,” she adds.
“Journey Out provides girls and women the
critical tools and support necessary to help them break free
from commercial sexual exploitation and to rebuild their
lives,” says Dr. Stephany Powell. “Each individual we help,
is one step forward in ending the sexual exploitation and
trafficking of girls and women. We are grateful to the RIDE
Foundation for supporting our mission and choosing Journey
Out as a beneficiary of Dance For Freedom.”
Award-winning Actress and anti-human
trafficking activist Julia Ormond will serve as
presenter at the event. Ormond, who earned accolades for her
performances in Legends of the Fall, The Curious Case of
Benjamin Buttons, Sabrina and Temple Grandin, is the
first and former UNODC Goodwill Ambassador Against
Trafficking and Slavery, and is the Founder of Alliance to
Stop Slavery and End Trafficking. Julia has traveled the
world assessing solutions and challenges of human
trafficking and has appeared as an expert witness before the
US Congress and the United Nations. For this advocacy work,
she received the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award and
Women for Women International’s Peace Award.
This year, RIDE will present Carrie Ann
Inaba with its inaugural Artistic Integrity Award. The
RIDE Artistic Integrity Award celebrates members of the
entertainment industry for their outstanding professional
accomplishments in dance and choreography, and for their
heartfelt humanity that has made a difference for a
multitude of worthy causes. Inaba, a veteran choreographer
most recognized as a judge on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning
“Dancing with the Stars,” as well as for her
work on such popular series as “American Idol” and “So You
Think You Can Dance,” is a spokesperson and advocate for
many causes, including Drea’s Dream, a national program that
raises funds for dance therapy for pediatric cancer
patients, as well as The Animal Project Foundation and Best
Friends Animal Shelter, for which she serves as a celebrity
ambassador.
In 2017, RIDE held its inaugural gala event, Dance
for Africa. The star-studded event raised funds for the
African Wildlife Foundation, whose mission is to ensure that
wildlife and wild lands thrive in a modern Africa.
Tickets to Dance For Freedom can be
purchased online at www.RIDEvents.org
About RIDE Foundation:
RIDE (Robyn & Italo Dance Events)
is a 501c3 non-profit organization created by Pro-Am
ballroom couple Robyn Shreiber and Italo Elgueta. RIDE’s
mission is to create one-of-a-kind dance events for
difference-making charities. RIDE is Robyn and Italo’s
creation and their way to give back by combining their
complementary business and dance backgrounds for a greater
cause.
For more information, please log onto www.ridevents.org
About CAST:
The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and
Trafficking (CAST) is a Los Angeles–based nonprofit
organization that is working to put an end to modern slavery
and human trafficking through comprehensive, life-changing
services to survivors and a platform to advocate for
groundbreaking policies and legislation. Over the past two
decades, CAST has supported thousands of survivors through
every phase of their journey to freedom from counseling, to
legal resources, to housing, educational and leadership
training and mentorship. Through these programs, CAST has
helped empower survivors to overcome their traumatic pasts
and become leading voices in shaping policy and public
awareness to ultimately put an end to the fastest growing
criminal enterprise of the 21st century.
By connecting survivors across the country,
through CAST’s Advisory Caucus and National Survivor
Network, the organization supports and encourages survivors
to realize their own leadership qualities and to value their
insight not just as survivors, but as experts in the human
trafficking field. The depth of CAST’s work has not only
changed the lives of those impacted by human trafficking,
but it has positioned CAST as an organization leading the
charge to help finally put an end to this epidemic.
CAST is one of the pioneers of the US
anti-trafficking movement. The organization was founded by
Dr. Kathryn McMahon, the Thai CDC and a group of community
activists, in response to the discovery of 72 Thai workers
that had been kept for seven years in slavery and debt
bondage in Los Angeles County. Led by celebrated human
rights activist Kay Buck, CAST’s immeasurable contribution
to survivors of human trafficking has been recognized by
President Obama, who honored CAST with the Presidential
Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in
Persons in 2014.
About Journey Out:
Journey Out is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit
leading the fight for the freedom and survival of all those
whose lives have been destroyed by sex trafficking or
commercial sexual exploitation.
Our mission is to help victims of commercial
sexual exploitation and sex trafficking leave a life of
abuse and violence, overcome their fears, and empower them
to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.
We provide a multi-faceted support system for
those who make the difficult journey out of an existence of
abuse and violence. We provide the critical tools and
support necessary for women to help them break free from
commercial sexual exploitation and rebuild their lives. And,
to ensure younger women and girls never enter the life, we
provide diversion programs focused on knowledge and
empowerment.
Every person Journey Out has served is not
only an individual success story, but also an illustration
of the contribution we make to the fabric of our
communities, and to the fast-growing movement to end sexual
exploitation. Journey Out Programs and Services include: Drop-In
Center Programming; Prostitution Diversion Program -
Alternative to Incarceration; Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
Prevention and Intervention Programs; Direct Street
Outreach; Community & Agency Education/Training; and First
Responder Crisis Response Team.
Journey Out is committed to meeting the
ongoing challenges of helping victims of commercial sexual
exploitation leave a life of abuse and violence, overcome
their fears and empower them to reach their potential and
achieve their goals. |