A LaGrange woman is holding an event on Lafayette Square to bring attention to human trafficking after attending the annual “Passion” conference in Atlanta in January.

Troup County Stand for Freedom will be on the square beginning at 4 p.m. March 8 and ending at 7 p.m. March 9.

McKenzie Brooke Hudson, who is a sophomore at Columbus State University and member of Rosemont Baptist Church, is behind the event.

“It’s 27 hours because there have been 27 million people forced into sexual slavery and slavery via labor,” Hudson said.

Every day, around 2,880 children are sold into slavery around the world, she said.

Passion, geared toward educating college students on the issue, began in 2007 and is headquartered in Atlanta. Atlanta has been targeted as a city through which many of the transactions take place.

In response, the Georgia Baptist Convention’s women’s ministry has opened a shelter in the Atlanta area to help rescue young women who are in slavery.

“This was my fourth year going (to the conference),” Hudson said.

She and three other friends went, for two of them it was their first time attending.

“We all just came back feeling like there’s something we can do,” she said. “It wasn’t a foreign concept anymore.”

Hudson is trying to recruit other youths, as well as adults, to participate in the Stand for Freedom event. There will be live acoustic music on the square, a prayer tent and possibly a speaker as the event gets underway. Chick-fil-A will provide food.

“This is a banner anyone can get under,” Hudson said. “Anyone can see this is not right.”

Hudson’s grandmother, Barbara Hudson, the former director of the local Red Cross, contacted the Troup Baptist Association in hopes of getting the word out for more to participate.

“I find it shocking that Georgia, a state that is the buckle of the Bible Belt, has such a horrendous problem with this,” said Aaron McCollough, associational missionary with the Troup Baptist Association.

For more information on Stand for Freedom, go to the Troup County Stand for Freedom page on Facebook or email troupcountystandforfreedom@gmail.com.