Published: January 07, 2009 03:52 pm      

Two Danville students create non-profit organization

DANVILLE — The outlook on life for two senior Danville High School students was forever changed after attending a Christian youth conference this past summer.

While attending the Christ in Youth conference, Tyler Yentes and Grant Koenig viewed a documentary entitled "Baht." The film exposed the hidden atrocity of human sex trafficking in Cambodia.

“The documentary is about a 13-year-old girl from Cambodia that was sold through sex trafficking,” Yentes said.

The two boys were so disturbed by the situation that they felt a calling to do whatever they could to help the cause and mend the broken.

“I was surprised,” Yentes said after watching the documentary. “The statistics are staggering. I haven’t heard about this before and I thought that other kids probably haven’t heard of it either and thought about how I could shed some light on the subject.”

Not allowing themselves to think small, Yentes and Koenig decided to create an organization to help the innocent victims of sex trafficking. The non-profit organization called Love Can’t Be Baht (LCBB) was formed in August.

LCBB exists not only to raise money for sex trafficking victims, but also to raise awareness of the global issue. Yentes and Koenig began working diligently on the formation of the organization. Their first step was to create a MySpace page allowing them to instantly obtain a core audience. From there, Yentes and Koenig have designed and sold apparel in order to raise awareness and donations for the cause.

So far, they have raised just over $1,000 of their $3,000 goal. Once they raise the $3,000 they plan to donate the money to the Rapha House, a shelter for girls in Cambodia.

LCBB is now ready for its official launch event and welcomes the community to support and become more aware of this alarming global issue on Saturday.

The launch event will kickoff at 7 p.m. at Northview Christian Church, 623 N. SR 39, Danville, and will feature acoustic performances by the Holiday, Ironsides, and News from Verona. Also, Melissa Jackson, a representative from Rapha House will be giving a presentation, and a screening of “BAHT,” the documentary, will be shown. A coffee bar, a limited edition T-shirt, LCBB merchandise, silent auction, giveaways and more will be featured at the event.

The cover for the event is $10 and includes a drink from the coffee bar. All proceeds benefit LCBB. To get more information about the bands, visit their websites at www.myspace.com/theholidayband, www.myspace.com/ironsidesband, www.myspace.com/newsfromverona.

andrea.hirsch@flyergroup.com