Junior year of college. 2011. I was pursuing a biochemistry degree at Tabor College. For each student, there was a requirement to attend a certain amount of chapels each semester. Often there were opportunities for “chapel credit.” That Thursday night was one of those evenings. 
 
What I didn’t know then was that by walking into the auditorium that evening, my worldview was going to change forever. The documentary played that evening was called “Call + Response.” It highlighted acclaimed musicians speaking out against the modern-day slave trade, while giving the viewer and inside look into the lives of child sex workers, enslaved women, and child-soldiers. For that hour and a half, I was engrossed in a world I didn’t consciously know existed. Here I was—a college student (in a bubble) in a town whose population was 2,800 people—complaining about the bitter cold and lack of entertainment while women and children around the globe were chained in brothels, used and discarded like a stick of gum. 

 
Some of us are drawn and convicted to save trees, animals, the ozone layer, etc. That night I finally came to realize the value of human life. How could I walk out of the auditorium and do nothing? How could I simply go on with my life knowing that precious human life—valuable beyond measure—is being subject to the vilest of crimes. I couldn’t. That evening is now a vivid memory, but was the beginning of something great. 
 
The biggest question facing me at the time was “What can I do?” I was a poor college student so I couldn’t give funds. What about time? Not many people know this about me, but I was so burdened for these women and children that I applied to leave the United States the summer before my senior year to offer any service I could to a nonprofit organization called “A21” whose mission was to restore women and children rescued from lives of slavery. I was denied the opportunity for a simple and logical reason: I was a man. 
 
Years have passed now. 2011 is very much in the past, but the burden is very much present and has been since that eye-opening evening. With the birth of RyseOn, I knew that this would be the channel to raise awareness and funds to help survivors of sex trafficking and slavery find freedom. No administrative hoops to jump through, no elaborate proposals to present to the big boss. This is my heart for people, my desire for the company to be more than just another endurance coaching company. RyseOn will have a positive impact on the world and you can be a part of it. 
 
This is the story behind our “Sock Campaign.” RyseOn’s proposal to A21 (still up for approval) is that we combine forces to raise enough money by October 1, 2019 to allow rescued women the opportunity to experience a full year of endurance coaching totally free of charge. Not only that, but the money raised will take care of all race entry fees and equipment (running shoes, clothing, etc.) so that women will be able to express their freedom through endurance sports. So many of us have found freedom through sport even without being physically enslaved. RyseOn’s mission is to allow survivors to experience this other level of freedom. 
 
By simply buying socks, you are doing the world good. Also! If you want my unbiased opinion of the socks, here it is: best I’ve ever owned. Believe it!