The Wake Up event, taking place on March 6 in the University Center (UC), represents a coalition of campus organizations gathering to raise awareness and fight world slavery as well as other crimes against humanity.

BCM, along with, Alive in Christ, Alpha Delta Pi, the Chemistry Club, Kappa Delta, the Student Alumni Association and Zeta Tau Alpha are collaborating for Wake Up in order to raise awareness and provide support for a variety of different issues, both internationally and locally in South Carolina.

Sam McLellan, a semester missionary at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM), has spearheaded the planning for the event; he said that it is important for BCM, as a Christian organization, to support these social causes.

“As Christians, we began to realize that it was impossible for us to continuously talk about how much we care about people if we weren’t willing to take a stand for these millions of hurting people around the world,” McLellan said.

The basic format for the event will be to have different booths set up throughout the UC, each covering a different worldwide human problem.  Booths will have themes such as homelessness, refugees, hunger, and sex trafficking, as well as others. The purpose, according to McLellan, is to give a face to these movements and to help students understand what happens in the lives of those who don’t have a way to escape from their current situation.

“The way most of these things are reported on – unfortunately, we’re able to distance ourselves from the face of the cause. Our goal is really to give a face to these movements,” McLellan said.

Wake Up will also feature live music as well as first-hand accounts from people who have been in some of the situations detailed at the booths.  Although the focus is partially on raising awareness for these issues, Wake Up will also give students the opportunity to support projects which help these people in need.