Srey Nang has been bought and sold many times in her life. It began when she was a young child when her father sold her to a woman that used her as a domestic servant. When she was 15 years old, she was then sold to a brothel where the cycle of prostitution and poverty began, trapped as a prisoner and forced to sell herself day after day in order to survive.

Nang found hope though.

She was able to escape the vicious cycle, with her newborn son, through a program that offered her counseling, childcare, literacy classes and work as a seamstress.

Today, her salary allows her to rent a house, send her son to school and feed her family.

Fair trade brought Nang from slavery to dignity, from shame to salvation.

Nang found freedom in Trade as One and River Hills Church in Winder is partnering with the organization to offer "HOPE" to women and children overseas that face similar circumstance as Nang, with its "Change One" initiative.

The HOPE project allows churches across the world to partner with Trade as One to encourage people to purchase Christmas presents directly from women who have come out of slavery.

"We’re challenging our community to ‘Change One’ life by Christmas shopping with us, in order to keep a person out of slavery," said Chip Wheeler, pastor of River Hills Church.

"Not only that, our ‘Change One’ initiative seeks to promote a heart of giving through Operation Christmas Child and providing toys for underprivileged children in the Winder area. River Hills has a vision to bring truth and people together and we want to be a church that ‘Changes One’ all the time, not just during Christmas," he said.

Wheeler first heard about the organization while attending a Catalyst Leadership Conference in Atlanta.

"Trade As One gets products from those who have been brought out of slavery and sells them to the public," Wheeler explained. "This allows those who make the product to receive 100 percent of the profits ... instead of splitting [the money] up between other investors or stores."

The Trade as One website offers a definition of its name:

"TRADE (verb) to exchange for mutual benefit AS ONE (adv.) United; acting for a common purpose"

The website also offers a glimpse of what the organization’s sole purpose is about.

"It uses spending power rather than donations as the means to bring jobs to the poorest of the poor by offering products that U.S. consumers need. The products are all of extremely high quality and made by innovative, socially responsible organizations in the developing world ... Trade as One’s core concern is using sustainable business to address the issue of global poverty."

The team at Trade as One says that most misfortunes such as human trafficking, AIDS, gender abuse, sexual exploitation and lack of medical care and education, stems from poverty.

That’s why the organization partners with faith communities.

"Because we believe that faith is a powerful and under-utilized motivator for ethical purchasing in America. By choosing to substitute ethically traded goods for conventional ones, people have daily opportunities to put their values and faith into action," the website explains.

Gifts can be purchased directly through the website at www.tradeasone.com and River Hills is offering an extra perk for folks in the area who are interested in becoming involved.

"When you purchase your item use the coupon code ‘changeone08’ – this will give you free shipping," Wheeler said.

"Once you’ve purchased your product it will be shipped in a bulk pallet to River Hills Church. People will be able to pick up their purchases after our Christmas service at the Winder YMCA on Dec. 21 at 6 p.m. During that service we will have space walks, a coffee shop, a Christmas service [for the] kids, childcare and a Christmas service for adults," he said.

Trade as One offers a variety of gift options such as jewelry, purses, journals, book bags, recycled grocery totes, carpets, basketballs, coffee, candles, soaps, scarves, teas and clothes.

"High quality merchandise ranging from $15 and greater depending on what you buy," Wheeler said.

River Hills Church neither handles nor receives any money from the "Change One" initiative and Wheeler said he has his sights set on the church purchasing at least 100 gifts from the website.

"One per family," he said. "That would literally ‘Change One’ [life]."

"What has touched me personally is that in this day and age there are more people in slavery than at any point in the history of the world," said Wheeler. "How can I do something about that and how can River Hills Church live up to our mission of ‘Bringing Truth and People Together’ - We can extend the mercy of Christ by using buying power to help those keep jobs who have come out of slavery – that is bringing truth and people together," he said.

People can purchase at www.tradeasone.com anytime, but after Nov. 30, at midnight, River Hills will not offer free shipping.

The church currently has a collection of products on display that have been purchased from Trade as One.

"You can visit River Hills Church at 10:45 a.m. at the Winder YMCA," Wheeler said. "We are casual dress, contemporary music and kid-friendly."

For more information on Trade as One: http://chipwheeler.churchatriverhills.com/?p=80 or www.tradeasone.com or view a video at http://tradeasone.ning.com/video/video/show?id=696634%3AVideo%3A762

For more information on River Hills: www.churchatriverhills.com or call (770) 867-0909.