Anti-Trafficking Donor Spotlight

Eighth-Grade Class Stops 24 People from Being Trafficked

By Paula Cornell | Content Marketing & Social Media Strategist at Love Justice International November 11, 2025

Don’t underestimate the power of an eighth-grade class to change the world. Student Abby Payomo rallied her leadership class at Pine Valley Middle School in San Ramon, California, to raise over $2,600 for Love Justice—shattering the class’s goal and previous fundraising records.

Conviction worth fighting for

When Payomo first suggested the class choose Love Justice International (LJI) to support in the annual fundraiser, she faced pushback. Human trafficking is, by nature, a “touchy subject”—especially when sharing with kids. Some of her classmates raised concerns that it would be difficult to talk about the subject in a way that parents would approve of, or too heavy to engage with.

Payomo was undeterred.

“I just felt this need, like I had to. It was like an impression on my heart, and I was just like … I’m going to do everything in my power to see that we can do this,” she said.

daniel-and-abby-2 Abby Payomo learned about Love Justice from her dad, Daniel Payomo. He heard about LJI when he read Justin Donald’s book, The Lifestyle Investor, which mentions that all proceeds from book sales go to fighting human trafficking. When he looked deeper online, he saw that Donald donates to LJI, and another deeper look into our work revealed the preventative scope of our transit monitoring strategy. (Pictured: Abby and her dad, Daniel)

“Generally what I’ve seen is more restoration, saving them after unfortunately the damage has happened,” Daniel Payomo said. “But this was more of an innovative approach to preventing it, and I was really interested.”

Daniel kept researching, and eventually he and his wife decided to begin contributing to LJI financially as a family, and even had the opportunity to attend an event where LJI’s founder spoke. When he shared about it with his daughter, she was equally excited to join in supporting the cause.

Convincing her class, however, remained a challenge.

Previous classes had raised only a few hundred dollars in their fundraisers, and students also brought up concerns about the impact they could realistically make. With LJI’s cost per intercept at the time being $132, they thought they would only raise enough money to prevent two or three people from being trafficked.

“That was when I broke,” said Abby. “I was like, it doesn’t matter how many people we’re saving. If we have an opportunity to save just two kids, we’re saving them from years and years of nonstop labor. Some of these people will be worked to death. What matters is what we’re doing to stop it.”

Ultimately, the class agreed to choose LJI as the beneficiary of the fundraiser, but they decided to lower the goal from $500 to $400 out of concern that it was too sensitive of a subject.

Fundraising for freedom

The class created flyers for the fundraiser, posted them around the school to invite other students to participate, and placed canisters in each classroom to collect donations. It was a fifth-period competition, and the class that raised the most money would win a Trader Joe’s snack party.

During the two weeks that the fundraiser ran, Payomo had the opportunity to speak to various classes about LJI’s work, helping kids connect with an age-appropriate picture of what happens when someone is trafficked. She shared facts like how there are more slaves in the world today than when slavery was legal, and brought the matter home by asking, “What if it was your sibling? What if they didn’t come home one day?”

One class she visited, a sixth-grade art class, was especially moved by what she shared, and their response, in turn, moved Abby.

“I said to them, ‘In a world full of darkness, you must be the light.’ And I immediately saw a change in them—that was so cool. This is gonna sound cheesy, but like something shifted in the air when I said that,” she recalled.

One girl told her that she didn’t know what human trafficking was before the fundraiser, but now she knows she’s going to help and talk to her parents about getting involved too.

Every day, when Payomo’s leadership class collected the canisters and counted the money brought in that day, they were shocked at the large amounts their fellow middle schoolers gave.

abby-with-teacher-simone-2 The ripple effect of a school fundraiser

By the end of the fundraiser, the school had raised over $2,500 to fight human trafficking with LJI—more than the annual fundraiser had ever raised for previous causes, and more than six times their original goal of $400. After the official end date, another hundred came in online, making it a grand total of $2,687. At our current cost per intercept, that money will help stop 24 people from being trafficked. (Pictured: Abby Payomo with her teacher, Simone Yamshon)

“I’m very proud of my daughter, because that took a lot of courage. … She had so much faith, so much compassion, so much drive to make this happen,” Daniel Payomo said.

Twenty-four people will be protected from a life in slavery because of the generosity of kids who refused to tolerate the fact that other kids are trafficked and decided to do something about it.

…Because Abby boldly advocated for something she believes in.

…Because her dad read a book and took the time to look deeper and let it move him.

…Because Justin Donald wrote a book and decided to give the proceeds away.

See how the ripple spreads far and wide? Consider the other direction:

Twenty-four people protected, who can then create awareness in their own circles of family and friends, perhaps stopping others from believing a trafficker’s lie.

Twenty-four people gaining back years of freedom, who may go on to have their own children who can live in freedom.

Twenty-four people who can pursue their dreams—perhaps some who want to take a job fighting human trafficking (we have a few of those on our teams) or who want to be doctors, social workers, musicians, etc., and change the world in their own unique way.

Traffickers arrested, whose convictions can disrupt entire trafficking networks.

The impact of this class fundraiser goes much further than those 24 lives. These young students started a powerful ripple effect. Will you help carry it on?

Consider starting your own fundraiser, or give at the link below.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” —1 Tim. 4:12

*All data and statistics current at the date and time of publishing.

About The Author

Paula Cornell | Content Marketing & Social Media Strategist at Love Justice International

Paula is from Seattle and joined Love Justice shortly after graduating from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in journalism and public interest communications. Prior to college, she spent several years volunteering with Youth With A Mission, where she heard and witnessed incredible stories from around the world of healing and redemption in the face of injustice. Seeing how stories like these could inspire hope, bring understanding, and spur people into action, she began to dream of how stories could change the world. This dream eventually led her to return to college to pursue a writing degree and delivered her into the hands of Love Justice, where she is happily learning to write with an awesome team of people for a cause that she cares deeply about.