What would I like for people to know about Daughters? That is an exciting question.
The Daughters Project in some ways defines the Center for Global Impact.
When we began this organization our intention was to find a way to connect people (mostly in the West) with people (the global poor) through unique and creative projects that capitalize on their gifts, skills, interests, and natural networks. When Andraea Reed met with me the first time she basically said "I want to use my store (Sophia's Bridal Tux and Prom Store) to make an impact on human trafficking BUT I want to do more than just give money. Then Nicole Krajewski said that she wanted to be involved too and use her childhood dream to design dresses in the same way. We then set out on a path to create a project that would allow them to signficantly impact the world. And honestly that is what they have done and are continuing to do. They are involved. They go. They give. They think. They plan, They advocate. They recruit. They care and they are operating in their strengths and the are making a difference.
The young women of the project - our Daughters - are beautiful, intelligent, fun-loving, and have all the potential you can imagine. But they are also in a precarious position in life - caught between a poverty and hope. There are dangers even though they are in our program because they live in the midst of an environment where one family crisis can create a scenario that takes them away from our influence and places them right back in a situation where they have no choices. These girls are still at risk and they need both your prayers and your financial support.
About half of the Daughters have program sponsors. We are still looking for sponsors for the others. Sponsorship is expensive. It costs $300 a month to keep each girl in this program. With those funds we provide food, housing, security, transportation, and training. $50 is also given to the students parents as a "Family Care" component because taking these girls into our program means that we have removed them as a source of income for the family and while that is a good thing it also places every younger sister at greater risk.
Maybe you could challenge your group to sponsor one of these girls for the month of February - or even for the year! I know, wishful thinking. Anyway - thanks for using your influence in a positive way.
Do send your ladies to www.byTavi.com. The byTavi program helps to cover the shortages in some of the other programs. We need a market for byTavi products in New York! It would be huge if we could send you some of the totes that the women make or the scarves that we purchase to see if you could help challenge women within your network to host a party, tell their story, and sell some things that they are making. Trust me in this - the quality of their work is truly exceptional. You will not be disappointed in the product.
Again - thanks for helping to tell His story, their story and our story as well.
This was a great post! Thanks so much for the information and inspiration.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, I have two of the purses and have bought one other as a gift and they are really lovely and amazingly well made.