Dining For Women

“The capacity to suffer is, clearly, a part of being human. But not all suffering is equivalent…. What suffering needs to be taken care of first and with what resources? It is possible to speak of extreme human suffering, and an inordinate share of this sort of pain is currently endured by those living in poverty…. Today, the world’s poor are the chief victims of structural violence–a violence that has thus far defied the analysis of many who seek to understand the nature and distribution of extreme suffering. Why might this be so? One answer is that the poor are not only more likely to suffer; they are also less likely to have their suffering noticed.”  Paul Farmer

“The poor are less likely to have their suffering noticed.” …. what a profound statement! 75% of the world’s extreme poor are women and children; it is not a coincidence that women are the most marginalized, least noticed group of any in the world, and yes, their suffering has been invisible- for millennia, until now.

The educational component of Dining for Women’s mission seeks to bring the suffering of the world’s women to light in hopes that when it is seen, we cannot turn away. I hope that  recognition of suffering leads to compassion, and compassionate action is what Dining for Women is all about.  

We must speak out for and take action to support organizations that are our hands and feet “on the ground” in the places we cannot be, providing resources and attention and hope to the least equipped of the world’s citizens, our sisters.

All Dining for Women supporters have a role to play as ambassadors for the world’s poor, particularly women and girls, by introducing to DFW others!  The education that DFW provides each month brings the suffering of women into the light- no longer unnoticed! Armed with awareness we empower our featured programs with funding.

The synergy created by the mixture of education and collective giving is powerful! Each of us can help relieve suffering caused by extreme poverty without having to make huge sacrifices ourselves! We can all share the load! Many hands make light work is another familiar saying that is so true! Let’s share our experience of DFW with others and broaden the circle of people who are moved to compassionate action.

Post a Comment »

I was looking around online and found an amazing website  containing photos, videos and women’s stories- in their own words. It provides a glimpse into the lives of women impacted by the violence in Darfur and the realities of life in a camp for IDP. (Internally Displaced Persons)

“There is no food. I am suffering. They only give us a little bit of sorghum. How can I be happy?  I think a lot about my country. I don’t think I’m sick, but I think a lot about what happened. The sadness has entered into my heart.”

Words of a Darfuri woman…..

Even if you’ve already had your meetings, you should check this out.

Post a Comment »

I need to share a fabulous article written by Katherine Daniels titled Half the Sky: Why You Must Join the Global Movement to Emancipate Women.  Ms. Daniels interviewed Nicholas Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn about their revolutionary new book, Half the Sky:Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.

The article appears in The WIP, Women’s International Perspective, a website dedicated to news from women’s perspectives! I met Katherine Daniels, Executive Director of The WIP,  at the Women Leaders for the World leadership program I attended in December.

Please do yourself a favor. Read both the article and the book; understand why empowering women is the moral challenge of our time.  Dining for Women provides an innovative way to contribute to women’s empowerment by harnessing the power of collective giving. Join us, won’t you?

Post a Comment »

The third chapter of DFW has launched in Santa Cruz, Ca.  Cari Class started the first Santa Cruz chapter in 2007. Due to Cari’s passionate promotion of DFW, the third article about DFW has just been published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel announcing the launch of the new chapter!

Cari has written several press releases resulting in local news coverage with great articles inlcuding big, color photos!  She fielded over 50 inquiries abot DFW after the last article came out; producing a steady stream of new people over the last several months.

Debi McNeil, Boise, ID chapter leader had a similar response to her press release. After the article was published in her local paper, twenty new women came to the next DFW meeting! Since then the Boise chapter has split into two groups also. One of them meets during lunchtime and the other meets in the evening.

The moral of this story is that if you want your chapter to grow, try writing a press release and send it to your local paper! Follow up with a phone call is key. Cari and Debi aren’t the only leaders to have success with this approach, so give it a try! We have a copy of a press release on the website in the Chapter Leader Resource Kit. Send us your success stories and a copy of the article!!

If we are to reach our goal of 1500 chapters by 2012, we need LOTS of press releases to help stimulate growth!  

Post a Comment »

When my 13 year old daughter and I were watching the heartbreaking images of the vicitms in Haiti on TV, we began to talk about what she could do to help. She decided to ask the principal at her school if she could collect donations from the students and give them to Dining for Women. Then she decided that she wants to use our family’s charity box to collect the money. I think I will give the box to the school and buy another for our home.

The crisis in Haiti can be a wonderful opportunity to engender compassion in our children and talk with them about giving back and the power of extending yourself in love to others. They will feel good about their contributions and then as they grow up, they will hopefully have internalized the good feelings that result from helping others.

You can order a charity box by emailing mirbisk2@twcny.rr.com

Post a Comment »

Miriam and Donna decided to wrap books at a bookstore in Ithaca to raise funds for our operational expenses!  Miriam says it gave them an opportunity to “tell the DFW tale” They sold 3 charity boxes too! Way to go!!!  

The dedication and creativity that you all have shown in finding fun ways to raise money for our operational expenses is inspiring! THANK YOU!

Post a Comment »

Most recent blog post from Lisa Hamrick:

I think it’s fair to say that in terms of my knowledge of the workings of the United States government and really, current events in general, I am in the 1st grade and most of my friends, certainly a lot of the DFW membership, are say, in high school. It’s not that I am not bright enough to understand the issues. Rather, it overwhelms me and I take the ostrich approach and only surface when I think I can grasp the issues.

Take voting for instance. When I was in my twenties and up to my early thirties, I simply did not vote. I felt there was no way I could grasp all the local issues enough to make an intelligent decision with my vote. It did not help that during this period I moved a lot and did not have a real sense of community anywhere. If that sounds like an excuse, it was at that time. Today, I do vote, but really could still benefit from paying closer attention to local issues, but at least I am trying.

As I take baby steps in broadening my awareness, I went to my search engine to look for a topic for this blog. I typed in “current women’s issues US” and was given a link to “Office of Global Women’s Issues”. This is a bureau within the State Department and reports directly to the Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton! Who knew… Okay, most likely, a lot of you did, but work with me here. I also learned that in June, Secretary of State Clinton appointed the Honorable Melanie Verveer as the first ambassador-at-large of The Office of Global Women’s Issues.

From this website, I was able to read the full text of the speech that Secretary of State Clinton gave at her recent roundtable meeting in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo and discovered that the United States has pledged $17 million in aid to “prevent and respond to gender and sexual violence in the DRC.” I thought her speech was remarkable, moving and I am not sure if the issue could have been as pointedly addressed with a male secretary of state.

So for those of you that are in high school, I apologize and ask your indulgence. For those of you that are right here with me, I will do my best to move us gently along the learning curve and help us progress to the same level as our more educated sisters.War and Peace dvdrip

Post a Comment »

By Marsha Wallace 

My recent experience at the Women Leaders for the World leadership training experience was life changing! Whole Woman, Whole Leader, Whole World was our mantra. All of the participants left the week long experince with a crisper, clearer vision, with confidence in our ability to bring our visions to reality and with a network of supportive women to help us move forward-  sisters all over the world!

Meeting the other participants was inspiring and exciting. I have never been with so many women as passionate about changing the world for women as I am! WOW! The first day, as we went around the room and introduced ourselves and spoke our visions I was moved to tears. These women brought the issues we learn about in our DFW meetings to life, personified in the lives of the WLW attendees who are working to change women’s lives. The women I met are working to eradicate domestic violence, promote women subsistence farmers into commercial farmers and to make sure that all African children can learn to read, for example.  I now have friends in Istanbul, Nairobi, Pune, and Zambia! I’ll be introducing to some of these women to you over the course of several blogs posts.

The first of these is Hellen. Hellen is from Kenya. She is one of the Masai tribe living near the Tanzania border. Hellen rescues young girls running away from early marriages and/or from FGM (female genital mutilation.)   Hellen personifies everything DFW is working for. She is the only woman in her village who has any education. She fights for the health and security of women and girls in her village, standing up to the enmity of her family and friends who fear that she is changing their culture. Knowing Hellen makes me feel even more connected to the women all over the world who are fighting for the health and safety of women and girls. She is smart, courageous and has a fantastic sense of humor!

Meet Hellen   http://www.youtube.com/user/Diningforwomen2003#p/a/u/1/wv5jdBd9b9g

I’ll introduce you to other amazing women in the coming days and weeks as well as give you a glimpse into the learning experience that hsa has changed my life- the WLW training.

Post a Comment »

WOW! I am in Santa Clara, California at the Jesuit Retreat Center attending the Women Leaders for the World a program of the Global Women’s Leadership Network.  There are 20 women here from all over the world, each with a program or project or organization that they are seeking to move ahead.

We have been asked to imagine that there are no barriers or obatacles in attaining our vision. What would we visualize for our organizations? I’m thinking about that. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know.

Post a Comment »

I was thrilled to go to Atlanta and meet my new hero, Nicholas Kristof, co-author of Half the Sky Mr. Kristof, and his wife Sheryl Wu Dunn, wrote what could be the DFW manifesto beautifully expaining that the empowerment of women is the way to economic development and peace world wide! 

I got my book signed and while I was there I gave Kristof one of our DFW packets. Later that day, he posted a Tweet, (a message on Twitter) !  How cool is THAT??? We’ve gotten at least 3 new chapters, Twitter followers and inquiries from as far away as Japan!
If you haven’t gotten the book, run and get it now! If you ever wondered why DFW is a perfect organization for these times you’ll totally get it after you read this book! We need you, all of your friends and anyone else you know who would be interested in the mission of empowering women to bring peace and security to the world. Our collective donations make a difference! Spread the word!!  

Women aren’t the problem, they’re the solution!! AMEN!

Post a Comment »