On Linking Arms in Solidarity
We take great satisfaction in growing our circle of giving and receiving with women and organizations both near and far.
Sisters © Wendy Page 2001
Here are Some of the Ways we are Giving Back to Our Community:
We are proud to be an environmentally and socially responsible company, and thought you would like to know a bit more about what we do behind the scenes to help support our communities, both locally and globally.
We Have a Robust Women-in-Prison Program
Every year we receive hundreds of letters from women behind bars, requesting we send them a We'Moon datebook. After the selling season has slowed down for us in February or March, we are able to fulfill those requests, as remaining stock of the paperback version of the datebook allows (no metal spiral binding is allowed into the prison system). It's inspiring to hear the stories from our sisters on the "inside" about how We'Moon has been a source of hope and healing. You can learn more about the program and help support the program by going to our Women in Prison page.
Bridges © Kate Langlois 2018
Every Edition of We'Moon is Dedicated to a Special Organization
We choose a different organization to dedicate each edition of We'Moon. We use the theme for that edition to help inform us about which organization to choose. In addition to donating a modest amount of money, we also publish a short write-up about the work that they do, and encourage others to connect with and support them, too.
Some Examples:
Our One-Time Dedication of We'Moon 2017 to SSAAP Grew Into an Ongoing Relationship
When we first started communicating with Heather Cumming, the networking mover and shaker behind SSAAP, she suggested that we show our support for artisan women around Africa. She shared with us stories about some of these artists. Many are the sole breadwinners of multigenerational families, barely able to sustain themselves, let alone afford to send their school aged children to class.
We Schemed Together a Plan
to Get a Small Shipment of Art Pieces
Brought Back to the States
Volunteers sometimes travel to help Heather with other projects (like drilling water wells, agriculture development, etc) One of those volunteers brought back to the US an extra suitcase filled with sculptures, jewelry, cloth handbags, scarves...100 beautiful, traditional pieces of art hand crafted by women in Zambia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan. Once in the US, that volunteer mailed those lovelies to us, here in Oregon.
We Created Special Limited Edition
Gift Packages for the Holiday Season
Here in the We'Moon office, we created tags for each piece, introducing the artist, and sharing a bit about SSAAP. We then gift wrapped them and put them into our surprise gift package specials! They are a surprise, because the gift that goes into each package is randomly chosen. The gift packages were such a hit, that we continue this tradition, today.
Here, in this Photo on the Left,
You Can See a Sampling
Every year we look forward to receiving our shipment of goodies from Africa. Many of the cloth pieces, like the purse and the doll, made of traditional chitenge cloth, still hold the smokey aroma from the fires they were created around. There is always a holy moment, upon opening up the shipment, holding the pieces, knowing that women from so far away lovingly created these gifts for us.
This is Sunday Tut Puk. She is from Nyinenyang Village, Ethiopia – 20 minutes from the border of Ethiopia. She's crocheting a doily that will be included in our 2020 shipment of art. These are traditionally used as bug screens to cover pots of food, bowls of fruit, etc.
We Offer Free Cases of We'Moon
Calendars and Planners to Organizations
That Serve Women in Need
At the end of every selling season, if we have remaining stock of our planners and calendars left unsold, we look for good homes for them. We have regular organizations that we reach out to, like women's shelters, organizations that assist LGBTQI folx, planned parenthood, and we get cases into their hands to share with the people they serve. We made a connection with a contact along the border wall, this year, and got 80 Spanish datebooks into the hands of women waiting to be allowed through.
Occasionally, an Organization will Reach Out in Hopes of a Donation of We'Moons
Horticulture For Healing is one such group, and we are so happy to be partnering with them! Joanna reached out to us to tell us about the work that her organization is doing:
"Our horticultural and EcoFeminist workshops establish the significance of caring for plants in early [substance abuse] recovery while lightly introducing Ecofeminism to women who otherwise may not have the opportunity to experience and conjure the inherent connection to nature we all possess."
Joanna is Putting Together Kits to Give to Women Who Participate in Their Workshops
"Our Plant Care Is Self Care Kits will be distributed at Women’s non profit residential treatment centers, the virtual Horticultural and ecofeminism workshops will follow."
Included in the kits:
Plants Help Teach Us Self Care
"Having plants in a living space and tending to them can quickly become a hobby and help establish a healthy routine that includes self care. No matter who we are or where we come from, from the smallest apartment to a huge sunroom, a plant makes a difference. Our Plant Care Is Self Care Kits will bring the healing benefits of plants and self love and care to women who are in an unfamiliar extremely uncomfortable time in their lives and haven’t practiced self care in a long time, if not ever."
Learn more about Plant Care Is Self Care and about this work that we are so happy to be a part of.
"...I have found working with plants contributes to my self discovery and awareness, conjures inspiration, gives me a sense of accomplishment and belonging, and brightens a day of confusion and negative thinking which for me, happens often as a recovering sober individual. Nurturing plants and working with others moves me towards decisive substantial thinking while connecting to the outside world..."
Mist playing Amongst the Trees © Barbara Manzi-Fe
Every year, we donate a portion of our proceeds to an organization doing good work that resonates with our theme. This year, with The World as our guide, we dedicate We'Moon 2021 to TreeSisters.
TreeSisters is a UK Registered Charity Whose Mission is to Fund Tropical Reforestation and Restore our World to Thriving
They focus on mobilizing and empowering women, “through the gateway of their femininity and their desire to restore Nature.” TreeSisters donates 80% of funds raised to existing reforestation organizations, and the remaining 20% funds education, behavior change and women's leadership work "in support of humanity's identity shift from a consumer species to a restorer species.”
TreeSisters' Goal is to Plant 1 Billion Trees Annually
As of September 2020, TreeSisters has funded over 12 million trees across their projects in Kenya, Madagascar, Brazil, Cameroon, Nepal, Mozambique, West Papua and India.
Join TreeSisters in Re-Robing our World Under a Green Canopy
Increase biodiversity, mitigate climate change, and empower women in global conservation leadership roles.
We Welcome You to Explore the Many Organizations a Projects That We Support
Thank you for supporting us, so we can support the many organizations and projects that support our communities around the world, many women around the world, who in turn circle round to support us, in their turn. This is a virtuous circle, that we are grateful and humbled to be a part of. Let's keep the abundance flowing. Blessed Be!
