Michelle Kong isn’t your typical teenager, so it’s probably only fitting she didn’t want a typical 17th birthday party.

After a mission trip to Mexico last summer, Michelle returned to Langley feeling blessed to live in such a privileged world, and inspired to give rather than to receive.

“I decided to take my 17th birthday as an opportunity to bless others — as an occasion to give instead of to receive,” said Michelle, a Grade 12 Mountain Secondary student.

“I embarked on the greatest endeavour of my life and, through the journey, had an experience of a lifetime, encountering astounding responses from ordinary, yet outstanding people.”

Contrary to a typical teen’s summer vacation full of lounging around, suntanning and shopping, Michelle spent her time planning, organizing her party, to which she asked guests to bring a donation towards International Justice Mission Canada (IJM) instead of a birthday present for her.

But this wasn’t going to be any old party, this was going to get the whole community involved.

Soon, Michelle was knocking on the doors of every business in Langley, sharing her passion for IJM’s work and asking for donations for her birthday party.

“It truly was amazing. Soon I had Maple Discovery Gardens donating the venue.

“I had transportation for the chairs before I had chairs,” she said.

Tents, tables and food were donated as were many local retail items for silent auction items and door prizes.

“Going around to different stores, I would talk to people about what IJM does and it got to their hearts too and they wanted to help.

“I’m still in touch with a lot of business owners who helped,” she said.

Seventy of Michelle’s friends and family came out for the fun-filled birthday.

In total, $3,515.82 was raised for IJM.

“I even had people at school come up to me and say ‘I missed your birthday but I’d still like to donate.’ It was really moving.

“It only takes one drop in the water to create unending ripples. I sincerely believe that one person truly can make a difference in one other person’s life, who in turn will impact one more person’s life.

“Constantly surrounded by impeding messages that ‘bigger, faster, and newer are better,’ apathy is almost understandable,” she remarks about how some teenagers feel the challenge of making a difference is too overwhelming.

Michelle chose the International Justice Mission Canada, which is a human rights organization that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitations, slavery and oppression.

In order to reach these victims, IJM uses a multi-national team of law enforcement professionals and highly qualified legal staff to conduct criminal investigations and collect evidence in order to help the victims and bring the perpetrators to justice.

One of the head volunteers at IJM lives in Langley and spoke at her church.

Meeting him and researching more about IJM, she knew it was a cause she felt strongly about.

“Sexual exploitation gets to my heart. Freeing girls from that kind of slavery is vital.

“There are 27 million slaves in the world right now. I had no idea there were that many,” she said.

While her birthday is long over, her passion for IJM hasn’t stopped, nor has the ripple effect of her “One Life Celebration” she hosted.

She has gone on to speak about the ripple effect in front of 300 people.

So where does she go from here?

Michelle wants to study inter-cultural studies and economics at Trinity Western University. She also would like to do mission work in Uganda and loves public speaking.

For more information on IJM, visit their website at www.ijm.ca.