Photo: Women's Wisdom Initiative
It's hard to keep up with the many ways to spend money this week, what with the all the various commercial tags attached to the post-Thanksgiving holiday shopping rush, but the one that I'm glad to give space to is Giving Tuesday.
You may not be reading this on the precise date allocated to Giving Tuesday, for this year — Tues, Nov 28th, but that doesn't mean you can't give this holiday season to causes that are important to you.
Petaluma resident Caroline Lovell is the Founder and Executive Director of Women's Wisdom Initiative, a non-profit organization. She created a program within the initiative named Traveling Postcards in 2009. This art and social change project empowers women to share their unique wisdom across borders with small hand made pieces of art, bringing awareness to humanitarian inequities facing women worldwide.
Traveling Postcards has collected over 2500 handmade cards carrying voices around the world.
In 2013 she developed Shelter to Shelter; an opportunity to take the Traveling Postcards workshop on the road to safe houses and shelters across the US and to women in rural and isolated pockets of the country to raise awareness about the pervasive consequences of domestic violence in the US.
In 2014 the Traveling Heart bag program was created to provide beautiful hand made hospital or recovery bags for survivors of sexual assault. Each bag contains a Traveling Postcard and an opportunity for love, support and connection for a survivor right from the start.
In 2015 Traveling Postcards workshops were held on a US military base and on college campuses, highlighting the urgent need to raise awareness of the high rate of sexual assault.
A second Shelter to Shelter trip was launched, focusing on the international refugee community of Northern California and the Western States.
WWI has worked with over 50 organizations, traveled over 8000 miles to 15 states, has held workshops in 10 countries and created over 2500 handmade Traveling Postcards, connecting women from around the world in solidarity and survivorship.
The Traveling Heart Initiative is designed for every survivor of sexual assault to know that there is connection and support waiting for her and that she is not alone.
At the same time Caroline and her non-profit team never wants these bags to become a stigma of rape. They encourage everyone who supports gender equality to carry a bag in solidarity.
With your $120 tax deductible Giving Tuesday (or any day) donation they will deliver one beautiful handmade Traveling Heart Bag to you, and one Traveling Heart Bag to a survivor. Give yourself a treat and make a difference too! Click here to donate.
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