I was pleasantly surprised and immediately wanted to know more about Verizon’s HopeLine® program.  In visiting their website I learned that the program began in 2001 and since that time they have collected 8 million phones.  They have distributed 106,000 phones with 319 million minutes of free wireless service to victims of domestic violence.  Other phones have been refurbished and sold for reuse generating income for the program.  They provide domestic violence organizations and local government and law enforcement agencies donated phones for use with domestic violence clients.

I also found it interesting to know that if donated phones are not useable they are recycled in an environmentally sound way.  They are clearly fulfilling their mission of “turning no-longer used cell phones into support for domestic violence victims and survivors.”

I’ll be sending in my old cell phone and encourage others to donate their old cell phones to Verizon.

The mission of The Crisis Center is “to educate people to make positive choices that help build and sustain healthy families and a violence free environment.”  They offer a variety of programs: an emergency shelter that operates 24/7; individual and group therapy; and educational programs.  Executive Director. Carol Merriweather suggested we meet with Ramon Garcia, their outreach coordinator.

We were very impressed with Ramon’s enthusiasm and dedication to his work.  In particular he described how The Crisis Center has partnered with the Espanola School District distributing DVD’s advocating for a violence free home.  We look forward to keeping in touch with Ramon and his work with The Crisis Center.

Our goal, particularly in this first project, is to provide motivation through film for domestic violence victims to move to healthier productive lives.

Filmmaker David Lindbolm who teaches in the Film/Digital Media Arts Department of Northern New Mexico College in Espanola will be directing the film working closing with Healing Voices – Personal Stories Board of Directors.  The first interview will be filmed in January and ready for airing by the end of February.

We are most grateful to the LANL Foundation and individual contributors who have helped to make this project possible.  If you would like to donate please click here!

I saw the Film at a screening in Santa Fe and was very moved by it and cannot recommend it enough.  The film tells the story of two pro bono attorneys who wage an epic legal battle to free Deborah Peagler from prison, 20 years after she was sentenced for the murder of the man who abused her.

It has been shown at a number of film festivals and regularly wins prizes.  Please visit Crime After Crime’s website  for a list of festivals and prizes.

Please help spread the word and encourage others to watch it.  In fact you could even host a viewing party and the filmmaker has developed a Home Viewing and Community Action Guide which you can also download at the website.

The film is extremely well-made telling a moving story and is not to be missed!!

SHARE THE FILM with those who weren’t able to see it or if you haven’t seen it here it where to buy it:  

http://www.SinBySilence.com/Buy

JOIN THEIR OUR FACEBOOK PAGE to stay connected and join the discussion:  

http://www.Facebook.com/SinBySilence

WRITE TO THE WOMEN OF CWAA:  

http://www.sinbysilence.com/blog/articles/ways-to-help-a-friend/write-to-the-women-of-cwaa/

SIGN THE PETITION TO FREE THE WOMEN OF CWAA and let legislators know that these women deserve to be free: 

http://www.change.org/petitions/the-governor-of-ca-free-the-convicted-women-against-abuse

JOIN LITTLE BLACK DRESS SOCIETY and continue awareness activities:
http://www.LBDsociety.com  (enter “SIINBYSILENCE” as the promo code to receive a free DVD)

Her first story was a traditional Grimm’s Fairy Tale featuring a Princess and Old Rinkrank.  When the Princess falls down into a cave and becomes a servant to Rinkrank she forgets who she is and even her own name.  The story ends with her learning to say “no” and finding her voice.   Next she shared a portion of an epic from Borneo featuring a mother crocodile who couldn’t lay her eggs and her husband who asks for help from a tribe’s woman.  Crocodiles are very dangerous animals and yet the woman helped by listening and birthing the new.  The story illustrated choices made when your worst enemy is at your door and that sometimes to get unstuck one needs someone to listen.

A Haitian folk tale featuring the character of Tapingi engaged the audience in learning and chanting several lines and demonstrated how important the community can be in helping save a young girl.  Regina concluded with a short Norwegian story about a woman seeking light in her house and how “to have light you have to be open to it.”

Thank you Regina for a thoughtful program.

Her Story, Your Story, Our Story: Making Connections

Featuring Award Winning Storyteller Regina Ress.

September 1 from 5 to 7

Call 505-982-3451 for details.

While it was time consuming it wasn’t hard. I carefully filled in Form 1023 and followed their checklist. There was lots of help on line from the IRS and from various other websites.  I did not spend full time on it so it took me about a week from start to finish. I mailed it off to the IRS in mid-December. I knew it would take a minimum of three months.

A letter dated May 6th asked for more information. It had a number for me to call an agent if I had questions. I did and the agent was very helpful. Board members helped proof answers to the questions.  I found responding to the questions helped us refine our mission and purpose more clearly. We mailed the requested information back the beginning of June and a letter signed June 23rd gave us our formal statement.

Having this on file gives us momentum as we prepare for our first event September 1 and begin the grant writing process for our first project.

Now I can say confidently ask for contributions assuring our donors that we are a tax deductible organization. Please be among the first to help support us as we great media for women striving to overcome abuse. Visit our website and make a TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution. Help support and be recognized in our first film project with the working title “You are Not Alone.”

On June 7th, I spent time with a group of women in a “resettlement” program in Hartford, Connecticut. I brought fresh strawberries from my friend’s spring garden, an old European “fairy tale,” and some questions. The women, all former prison inmates, are part of a support group that meets once a week in Hartford at the Community Partners in Action Resettlement Program.

The story I chose to tell them, one of the Grimm’s Tales, describes the trials of a Princess who falls through the crack in a glass mountain and is forced to be the house drudge of the long-bearded Old Rink Rank. She loses all sense of herself, even forgetting her own name. This young woman is eventually rescued, not by a prince, but by her own efforts. When she hits rock bottom, something shifts in her psyche and she finds her own way back up to the light.

The women in our group listened with great attention, nodding at times, often uttering a chorus of
“uh-huhs” at recognizable moments in this story of abuse and redemption.
After the telling, in response to my questions, as well as their own, they fleshed out their understanding…and mine as well…of this classic tale. We looked at how easy it is to fall thought the cracks, losing ourselves to the “trolls” ever waiting to use us for their own purposes. The story does not tell us how and why the Princess turns her situation around. But these women knew:
“All that hard work gave her strength.” “When you hit rock bottom, when you are fed up, that’s when you make the changes.”

We also discussed two possible endings. The Princess, having trapped the old man by his long beard, sets him free once she has returned to the world. In the Grimm version, her father, the King, has him killed. We looked at the justice of this. Then we looked at a more forgiving model, the possibility of not taking revenge. A different kind of justice.

Our discussion was lively, filled with recognition and gritty wisdom. While we never got in to our own personal stories, it was clear that all of us, group members, case workers, and I, recognized aspects of our own lives in this timeless tale. And working with it in this way helped us all clarify and enlarge our understanding of our lives.

Two of the women commented to me that they never understood that “those old stories actually meant something.” Ah! This storyteller quoted a favorite adage in the storytelling world:
The stories are not good because they are old; they are old because they are good.

I look forward to telling this story and others for the benefit in September. If you are in the Santa Fe area, please join us.

Board member Lynette Montoya and I were pleased to see this notice in our monthly newsletter from New Mexico Women in Film.  Please note that you need to be between the ages of 18 and 34 to participate.  Thumbs up to Mary® Kay for sponsoring this and to New Mexico Women in Film for posting it.

NATIONAL SEARCH FOR WOMEN PARTICIPANTS

Mary® Kay Inspiring Stories

Make an impact through film! Help shine the light on the issue of Domestic Violence.  Get involved with Mary Kay® Inspiring Stories – inspire, educate, and create a conversation on the issue of Domestic Violence through the creation of three documentaries. Use your passion for the cause and APPLY NOW to create the documentaries.

• Work with inspiring female celebrities to narrate the documentaries.
• Your documentary will premiere at a Hollywood event and be promoted throughout Domestic Violence month this October.
• No experience necessary – you’ll learn everything you need to know on set.
• Women ages 18-34 can apply to participate.

June 1 – 30: Call for Women Participants

August 14 – 20: Production Week

September: Purple Party Premiere

October 1 – 31: Online Viewing and Voting

APPLY NOW at MaryKayInspiringStories.com