While many students are heading home for the summer, Tyler Yentes is planning to travel the U.S. on the Warped Tour in an effort to help stop human trafficking as part of the Love Can't Be Baht campaign.
Yentes, a freshman public relations major, said the campaign started about two years ago after he saw a documentary on human trafficking. After seeing the video at a summer conference, Yentes took the project home and began working on his vision.
"I looked at some friends who were with me at the conference, and I knew then that this was a really big problem," Yentes said.
Yentes and his fellow founders then connected the idea with music.
"We have all hung out in the music scene a lot, so it comes natural for us to use the music scene to advance and promote it," Yentes said.
Love Can't Be Baht has the support of many different local and regional bands, including punk groups Dreams of University and Same As Sunday.
"We have sold hundreds of T-shirts to raise awareness and done some of our own events," Yentes said.
This summer, the Love Can't Be Baht crew will be touring with various bands in order to raise awareness for their cause and launch their submission to be selected as a Pepsi Refresh project, which is a campaign to distribute grants to groups who want to make a positive impact. The grants range from $5,000 for individual community projects to $250,000 for business-sponsored causes. Finalists for the current cycle of the contest will be announced Saturday.
"We'll be doing some things with the Van's Warped Tour and a couple music festivals like Cornerstone and Ichthus," Yentes said. "We have a two-week tour in May called the Summer of Love Tour that will feature nine different states across the Midwest, and we are launching our Pepsi Refresh project."
If Love Can't Be Baht gets funding as a part of the Pepsi Refresh campaign, the group plans on opening a nonprofit coffee shop and music venue in Indianapolis.
"Our goal is to open a coffee shop and music venue that will provide the youth a place to come and hang out and provide the community a place to interact with arts and culture," Yentes said. "All the money raised will go back to help fight human trafficking and raise awareness about it."
As of right now, Love Can't Be Baht has raised $10,000 for the Rapha House, a nonprofit organization that provides safe homes and aftercare programs, including various safe houses in Southeast Asia, for young girls who have been rescued out of slavery and exploitative situations, according to its website.
The Rapha House teaches the children it saves how to read and write and provides counseling for those taken out of the prostitution rings.
"Their job is to rescue people, primarily girls but boys as well, from sex trafficking," Yentes said.
For more information on the Love Can't Be Baht's campaign, check out lovecantbebaht.com. For more information on the Pepsi Refresh project, check out refresheverything.com.
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