THE HISTORY OF LA LOVES
Founded in 2006, by co-founders Deborah Giarratana and Elkin Antoniou, LA LOVES was born out of a heart wrenching compassion for the children of Northern Uganda – specifically the 30,000 child soldiers – suffering under the brutal hand of Uganda’s civil war and the rebel army known as the LRA.
The best method Deborah and Elkin found to support these children was to support one of their heroes, Sam Childers. Sam is an X-Hell’s Angel turned pastor who now runs an orphanage on the border of Uganda and Sudan. He has rescued over 600 children abducted or left orphaned by the LRA.
When Deborah and Elkin met, they united as two producers determined to tell Sam’s story as a means to build support for his orphanage and his efforts to rescue and restore the children of Uganda. The best way they knew how to do that was thru the arts, so before long they had commissioned an original short documentary film, an original song, fine art, and photography slideshow story - each art form generously created and donated by compassion artists devoted to making a difference in the lives of these children. LA LOVES was born and multiple events were produced to utilize the original art to bring awareness and action to this social justice issue.
The art helped raise over $30,000 for the orphanage, which included purchasing a playground that helped restore a sense of peace and innocence that the war had stolen.
Before long LA LOVES was introduced to yet another social justice issue – modern day slavery. With 27 million slaves in the world – 50% of them children – it soon became clear that the child soldiers were under the umbrella of a much larger injustice: child sex and labor slavery.
LA LOVES embraced the issue with passion, conviction, and creatively. Partnering with such organizations as International Justice Mission, Salvation Army, Northpoint Church, and the Not For Sale Campaign – LA LOVES began creating arts and education events that brought public awareness to the child slavery issue and support to the heroes fighting to stop it.
Their latest event entitled do.justice, established a partnership with an organization called TRADE AS ONE - a business that exists as a response to the issues of poverty, bonded labor and abuse. Nathan George, the founder, introduced Deborah and Elkin to the global benefits of fair trade. With many slavery scenarios rooted in the issue of poverty, fair trade was a beautiful solution to many tragic problems.
From their initial step to help rescue and restore the child soldiers of Uganda to the recent revelations surrounding poverty, it became clear that the role and heart of LA LOVES is to embrace and bring exposure to multiple justice issues. Deborah and Elkin’s personal journeys led them to adopt a lifestyle of justice, and the goal of LA LOVES became to creatively share this transforming lifestyle with others.
LA LOVES utilizes the arts and education to bring awareness and action to multiple issues of social justice including such tragedies as poverty, AIDS/HIV, sex and labor slavery, child soldiers, genocide, CSEC, and clean water needs.
LA LOVES is humbled and heartbroken to engage in these issues and enthusiastic to partner with others who share the same heartbreak for humanity.