A group of female indie rockers will join forces on December 17th in Brooklyn, NY for a holiday concert to benefit our organization!  The Sirens of Brooklyn feature Marit Bergman, Courtney Kaiser, Cat Martino, Julia Frodahl, Rachelle Garniez, Lauren Balthrop, Liz Tormes, Katie Eastburn, Greta Gertler, Erin Flannery and Joy Askew. 

The group is putting together a special show featuring music that spans from traditional holiday songs sung in a unique way to classics like excerpts from Benjamin Brittain’s “Ceremony of Carols” to Yoko Ono.

Tickets are $15 if purchased in advance, or $20 at the door.  For more information or to purchase tickets, please click here: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=744475.

Women for Women International offers some wonderful opportunities for you to give back this holiday season in a fun and creative way!

1) Give Unique and Special Gifts While You Help to Support Women Survivors of War!

Looking for a fun and creative gift to give to someone? This year, you can give a gift to a woman survivor of war on behalf of a loved one through Women for Women International. Women for Women International is giving you the opportunity to give symbolic gifts like okra seeds, a wheelbarrow, a sewing machine, or even a beekeeping suit to your loved one while supporting a woman survivor of war.

Giving your gift is simple. First, you choose a gift to give on behalf of a loved one. Second, your loved one receives a card in the mail letting them know about the gift you have given them. Last, your donation goes to work immediately to help women survivors of war rebuild their lives.

For more information or to give someone a unique and special gift this holiday season, visit our website at http://www.womenforwomen.org/help-women/gift-that-gives-back-catalog-2009.php.

2) Buy Delicious Baked Goods from Baking for Good!

Sweets and treats are a popular commodity during the holiday season. This season, you can purchase all of your favorite desserts and at the same time give to a woman in need!

Baking for Good sells all-natural, made-to-order, gourmet bake sale favorites like brownies, cookies, and whoopie pies, and 15% of every purchase goes to a cause of your choice.  We hope you’ll visit the Baking for Good website and choose Women for Women International to receive your donation.

We hope you’ll think of supporting Women for Women International through Baking for Good when you are sending a gift to someone or buying treats for this year’s special holiday party!

For more information or to start shopping at the online bakery, visit bakingforgood.com.  You can also view our page directly by following this link: http://bakingforgood.com/causes/nonprofit/women-for-women-international.  Enjoy!

3) Purchase Women for Women International Greeting Cards!

The Scene East Card Store is currently putting a 10% discount code on Women for Women International cards for orders over $25 through year-end. When a Women for Women International card is purchased, Scene East donates a portion of the proceeds go directly to Women for Women International. They also have a few selected items on 20% discount on their web page: www.SceneEast.com.  The code is WFWI09 and it is transferable to anyone. Get beautiful and unique greeting cards and at the same time support Women for Women International today!

4. Give a Green Gift! 

Olive Smart donates to Women for Women International 20% of sales on their reusable, compact bags.  This is a great gift idea for your environmentally conscious loved ones.  Just make your purchase through this link (www.olivesmart.com?partner=WFWI) and you’ll be supporting Women for Women International at the same time!

In author Tami Briggs’ newest release, Women as Healers: Voices of Vibrancy, 31 women from around the world share their insightful stories to help the world heal.

From Nebraska to the Netherlands, India to Iran, and Serbia to South Carolina (and many other U.S. states), the 31 women featured in Women as Healers: Voices of Vibrancy are all gifted healers. As they share their stories, they give us many insights on how to help heal the world. Some work for corporations and institutions; many of them are self-employed. They are from all walks of life, doing extraordinary things to help make our world a better place. In this book you will read about life-changing experiences from authors, artists, consultants, nurses, educators, leaders, and therapists – creators all.

You will find these 31 vibrant women remarkable – truly inspirational, motivational, and encouraging. Both men and women have much to learn from them! They epitomize community and a strong support network, as they teach us about connecting – to our own hearts and to each other. They hold nothing back as they leave their beautiful legacies and exemplify this for you. The women in this book have found their voices of vibrancy and they invite you to do the same … it is time!

The author of Women as Healers: Voices of Vibrancy, Tami Briggs, has graciously chosen to donate 5% of the proceeds from her book to Women for Women International! Thank you, Tami, for your thoughtfulness and generosity!

If you are interested in purchasing this book, please go to www.WomenAsHealers.com.

As you may know, Lisa Shannon, the founder of Run For Congo Women, was recently on Oprah promoting Women for Women International and Run for Congo Women. The response to the show was huge and now Oprah is interested in doing a follow up show based on A Thousand Sisters, a novel Lisa has written based upon her experiences in the Congo.

The show would also like to feature stories of Women for Women International sponsors and their sisters. Oprah wants to hear how you have been impacted by the sponsorship experience. We need you to tell your stories! We encourage you to click on this link (https://www.oprah.com/plugform.jsp?plugId=3031371&referer=http://www.oprah.com/pluglist.jsp?teamTypeName=TOWS) and share the story of both you and your sister with Oprah!

On Sunday, November 8th, Lorraine Dusky and Anthony Brandt hosted their third event for Women for Women International at their home in Sag Harbor, New York. They gathered some of their friends and together indulged in an extravagant brunch.

Lorraine currently sponsors three sisters in Afghanistan. As a way of representing the culture of her sisters, she wore an Afghani wedding dress decorated with an Afghan silver pin. She then spoke to her friends about why Women for Women International means so much to her. She read to the group letters from her sisters that have deeply affected her. She also showed our Women for Women International event promotional DVD and spoke more about the mission of Women for Women International.

Altogether, this event raised $1,460! This money was a donation from sixteen different donors. They are intending to use this money to sponsor 3 or 4 new women!

Thank you so much for your support Lorraine, Anthony, and all others who participated in this event! Your support is greatly appreciated and admired!

To find out how you can host an event like Lorraine and Anthony, please feel free to visit our events page on the Women for Women International website (http://www.womenforwomen.org/help-women/host-event-supporting-women-of-world.php) or contact me at jmorabito@womenforwomen.org.

Women for Women International invites you to come out for a night of seventeenth and eighteenth century music. The composers of this music are Isabella Leonarda,  Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre and Anna Amalia Von Preussen.  There will be four musicians for this concert — violin, recorder, viola de gamba and harpsichord.   The concert is an hour in length.

All of the proceedes from this concert will go to Women for Women International!

The concert will be held twice. The first will be on November 6 at 8 pm at the Church of the Good Shepherd  95 Woburn St,  Reading, Massachusetts. The second will be on November 7 at 3 pm in the Steinert Building 3rd floor,  at 162 Boylston St, Boston,  Massachusetts.

We encourage you to invite your friends and family to come out and enjoy an evening of beautiful music while supporting Women for Women International!

On Sunday, October 18^th, a group of women gathered at The Canvas in Juneau, Alaska for an afternoon of conversation about the strength and perseverance of women around the world.This event was sponsored by Gather the Women.

Barbara Belknap, the Gather the Women Regional Coordinator in Juneau, and Darcy Lockhart brought together a number of women from around their community to spend the afternoon making cards for our Women for Women International sisters and having conversations about ways in which we can make the world a safer place for women and girls.

Women for Women International is very encouraged that conversations like these ones are being had. The more people talk about the issues that are occurring in our world, the greater the chances that real change will occur!

Many of those who attended this event also made donations to Women for Women International. Thank you so much for your support, women of Juneau! Your efforts are greatly appreciated and admired!

On Monday, October 26th, join Zainab Salbi and hundreds of other Women for Women International supporters from around the globe for a webchat. The converstation will be called “Our Blueprint for Peace: Safe Havens for Women”.

Through our Women’s Opportunity Centers (WOCs), for the first time in their lives, women survivors of war will have a place to call their own. The WOCs will be more than just buildings. They will be at the very heart of the community filled with women who are learning, growing, gaining new skills, and taking control of their lives.

We want to hear from you, so please feel free to enter in any of your thoughts, ideas, or questions.

Join us October 26th, 3:00pm ET/12:00pm PT. Talk to you then!

Women for Women International encourages you to come out and support the women of Congo by attending the “One Love” Artist open house on Saturday, October 24th.

Kadan & In the Flow Studies and Women for Women International invite you to join us in celebrating LOVE through ART. Our goal is to raise funds to help educate and train women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We hope to raise much more than money through this artistic collaboration, we hope to raise their spirits. We have a wide spectrum of artists with different styles and backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common – a belief that through their art they can reach out and touch the lives of those thousands of miles away. They believe in the resillience and the strength of their sisters in the Congo.

Show Features:
- Poetry, Musical and Dance Performances, Including Harp, Hip-Hop Dance, Acoustic Guitar, Atzec Dance, and Tahitian Drumming
- Paintings, Photography, Video, and Visual Art by Local Artists
- Martial Arts and Eskrima Demonstrations

100% of the ticket sales from this event will be donated to Women for Women International.

Doors Open at 1:00pm. We can’t wait to see you there!

For More Information:
- Call: (562) 556-4994
- E-mail: manakeeper@gmail.com or katheen.araneta@gmail.com
- Or Check Out the Web: http://web.me.com/auroraferrer/Arts_Open_House_Congo_Fundraiser/Welcome.html

We are pleased to report that the Run for Congo Women in New York has so far raised a total of $35,316: $2,570 from donations received at the run, $19,369 from online donations, and the rest is in fundraising money! We had a total of 351 participants: 46 runners who registered the day-of and 305 who pre-registered. We also gained 13 new Congolese sister sponsors. Great job everyone!

Just because the run is over, though, does not mean people have to stop donating! The fundraising pages are still active. We encourage all of you to keep fundraising for Women for Women International. We are always in need of more donations!

The New York Run for Congo Women had the privilege of being promoted on the TODAY Show. The New York Run for Congo Women organizers and Zainab Salbi represented Run for Congo Women and Women for Women International on the TODAY Show on Friday the 25th, the day before the run.

To view Zainab’s interview, go to the following link: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/18424824#33019224

Thanks again to the 351 participants who came out for the Run for Congo Women in New York, to those who raised and gave funds to this initiative, and to all the other people who made this event possible!