Joy in Action Steinbach to become annual event

The Joy Smith Foundation will make Joy in Action Steinbach an annual event after 94 runners and walkers took part in the July 25 event and raised more than $25,000 at the Steinbach Soccer Park.

The Joy Smith Foundation has existed since 2011 with a mandate to end human trafficking, and Joy in Action, which features a four or eight km run and walk raises money for that purpose at locations across Canada.

Joy Smith, the founder of the organization said Steinbach’s event, held for the first time this year, will definitely have to happen again.

“It was fantastic,” she said. “People were just blown away. The sun was shining and everybody had big smiles on their faces.”

Two more runs are scheduled for Manitoba with Joy in Action taking place in Brandon on Aug. 8 and Selkirk on Aug. 22.

While raising funds is important for the work the Foundation does, including the launch of the National Human Trafficking Education Centre in 2021, the education component of the event cannot be overstated.

“Everybody learns about human trafficking,” Smith said. “It’s not a dark event, it’s a fun event.”

Joy in Action was named for one simple reason.

“It brings you joy when you do something to help someone else,” she said.

While the foundation continues to grow, so does the work, with Smith calling it overwhelming at times.

“We feel as a family, we’re called by God to do this,” she said.

Smith didn’t imagine she’d be heading up a national organization dedicated to ending human trafficking. With a Master of Education, the then schoolteacher saw herself becoming a school principal.

“It took one survivor, one of the girls in my class who was trafficked and I found out about human trafficking,” she said. “I was appalled. I thought no such thing ever happened in Canada.”

There are still some misconceptions out there about human trafficking. Smith said many think it only happens to those who live on the street.

But what they’re finding is that human traffickers use the internet and AI to target middle and upper middle-class boys and girls from both rural and urban areas.

“In one case a 13-year-old girl thought she was talking to a 15-year-old boy,” Smith said. “She met them and it was three 30-year-old men who took her to a hotel and forced her to have sex with men for a long time before she was able to call our office.”

Smith said as people learn about human trafficking, they are able to fight it.

“This doesn’t have to happen,” she said. “We believe that prayer and education is the greatest weapon against this horrific crime.”

For more information go to joysmithfoundation.com.