By: Selah Hurd, Staff Writer
To welcome the Christmas season, members of Wheaton’s International Justice Mission (IJM) cabinet, along with undergraduate and graduate students, gathered in the Office of Ministry and Evangelism to assemble holiday gift bags for children at Naomi’s House. Naomi’s House is a faith-based, residential program that provides long-term housing and care for women rescued from commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
By the end of the evening, volunteers had packed 27 bags filled with Christmas-themed socks, small toys, coloring sheets, candy canes, hot chocolate packets and other items that Naomi’s House staff requested.
IJM is a national organization with chapters on college campuses across the country, including Wheaton. The group’s publicist, Christa Holes, a senior English major, said the cabinet aims to organize at least two projects each semester. The group also provides service opportunities that allow students to engage locally. For Holes, this kind of hands-on work is a tangible expression of faith. Although many students haven’t experienced the kind of suffering Naomi’s House clients have faced, “we can be the hands and feet of Jesus very practically,” she said.
Psychology major Rachel Smith echoed that sentiment, noting that many students care deeply about anti-trafficking efforts but aren’t sure how to act on that conviction. Smith emphasized that IJM events are intentionally accessible.
“As Christians, it’s important not just to be aware of human trafficking but to look for ways to serve locally,” she said. Because these volunteer opportunities are often a single day or evening, Smith said this helps all students, even those with packed schedules or leadership commitments, to take part.
IJM chaplain Seth Roberts, a junior studying biology and philosophy, explained that the cabinet initially planned to assemble bags for staff members and women at Naomi’s House, something they had done in the past. However, when he reached out, the staff asked if IJM could support their child therapy program instead.
The team adjusted quickly. Roberts noted that while pursuing justice at any level can feel “daunting and grand,” efforts like this event often become the most meaningful. Even small gestures, like writing Christmas cards to the children, can make a difference, he said.
Treasurer Joanna Meharg, a junior double majoring in business economics and sociology, said that, while human trafficking often feels like a distant issue, its effects are felt locally, including Cook County. She stressed that IJM’s mission is centered around caring for vulnerable people — the widow, the hungry, the overlooked — and described the organization’s work as a “practical way to live out that part of the gospel.”
