St. Thomas junior Josh Wagner ran 100 miles in 30 days from Jan. 6 to Feb. 6, exceeding his $500 goal by raising $700 to combat human trafficking.

Wagner partnered with the non-profit Venture Miles, which helps people fundraise for 10 different causes. Venture provides the platform for fundraising and gets the donations to the cause.

“The whole idea is making your miles matter,” Wagner said. “If you’re going to be running, you might as well be running for a cause.”

Wagner had to run just over a 5K every day to meet his goal.

“I wanted to do something I knew I could do, but would challenge me,” Wagner said. “And 100 miles is just a good number.”

Venture estimates that $3 is enough to provide care for one human trafficking victim.

“When you hear human trafficking, that hurts the heart,” Wagner said. “It was a combination of feeling a passion for the cause, and knowing I can add to it from there.”

Wagner was inspired by Brent Silkey, a faculty leader in Chi Alpha, a St. Thomas organization that gives students the opportunity to “experience the hope of Jesus,” according to its Tommie Link page. Silkey founded 30 for Freedom, an organization that has raised $832,000 for victims of human trafficking in the past five years.

“When you hear about an urgent crisis, we have different responses,” Silkey said. “People can be paralyzed or jump right in and do something about it. Josh jumped right in.”

Wagner will also be joining Silkey on Aug. 14 for the “30 for Freedom” run.

“The idea for someone like Josh, who’s a full-time student, to sacrifice the time and energy to train to run,” Silkey said. “That takes intentionality and focus, thinking about running for the sake of people who are being taken advantage of.”

Throughout his campaign, Wagner had friends and family backing him up.

“I ran a couple times with the people at my Ninja Warrior Gym in Green Bay,” Wagner said. “We would do a one or two mile warm-up beforehand, and they would be a part of it.”

Though Wagner’s campaign is now closed, he encourages others to become active for causes they care about.

“Sometimes it seems that what I did was big,” Wagner said. “And it is, but it wasn’t super hard to do. It’s easier than you think to make a difference in the world.”

Sam Larson can be reached at lars4378@stthomas.edu.