Commissioner Harry Read, 94, skydives for anti-trafficking and modern-slavery work
Commissioner Harry Read, 94, skydives for anti-trafficking and modern-slavery work
20 September 2018
Commissioner Harry Read, 94, on his tandem skydive last week, to raise funds for The Salvation Army's anti-trafficking and modern slavery work in the United Kingdom.
The last time Commissioner Harry Read jumped out of an aircraft was over France on D-Day, 6 June 1944. This time the scenario was a little different, but he was no less determined during his tandem skydive at the Old Sarum Airfield in Salisbury, England, last Friday 14 September.
Commissioner Harry Read with his family at the Old Sarum Airfield.
Commissioner Read used the experience to fundraise for The Salvation Army’s Anti Trafficking and Modern Slavery work in the United Kingdom. Two of his granddaughters and a great-grandson joined him on the dive.
“While I was a little nervous I have always enjoyed the thrill of parachuting,” Commissioner Read said. “It was amazing to experience the freefall and then cruising down was simply beautiful. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience this at my age.”
Commissioner Read’s jump started out as a “very modest desire for a low-level, unremarkable parachute jump”. He says, though, that “every aspect of this proposal [to jump] has been bathed in prayer”.
He says he was focused on bringing glory to God through raising funds for The Salvation Army UK Modern-Slavery and Anti-Trafficking programs – what he describes as a “crucial, heart-breaking, worldwide problem”.
Commissioner Read has already raised well over £3,000 (AU$6000). The money will go to support the work of The Salvation Army’s Anti Trafficking and Modern Slavery Unit, in particular the international projects aiming at preventing trafficking and slavery at the source.
This includes The Salvation Army innovative community awareness and recovery (CAR) project, which is funded by the Modern Slavery Innovation Fund (administered by the Home Office).
The CAR project, which is one of a range of in-country programs around the world supported by a specialist international team from The Salvation Army in the UK, runs across four states in Nigeria and the island of
The Salvation Army in the UK also financially supports a pilot program in Poland – the Verification of Job Offers and Employment Support program – aimed at reducing the number of Poles becoming victims of human trafficking and slavery in the UK and beyond.
Commissioner Read has previously served as The Salvation Army’s Territorial Leader in Australia Eastern, and as Chief Secretary of The Salvation Army in Canada.
If you would like to support Commissioner Read’s skydive, please click visit his JustGiving page.
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