A Happy Thanksgiving from Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation

The month of November comes with the theme of gratitude, giving thanks, appreciation, sharing and giving.  Everyone thinks of Christmas as the time for giving and exchanging gifts but Thanksgiving sets the theme long before Christmas.

This Thursday, November 23rd, Americans will celebrate a day of thanksgiving.  The first Thanksgiving is known to have taken place in the year 1621.  It was a feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Tribesmen at Plymouth Colony.  According to Wikipedia, that first Thanksgiving meal consisted of waterfowl, venison, fish, lobster, clams, berries, fruit, pumpkin, and squash.  The most popular item in today’s Thanksgiving meal is turkey.  According to the National Turkey Foundation, approximately forty-six million turkeys will be consumed on Thanksgiving Day.  The average turkey costs between $17.63 and $19.09.  However certain turkeys have been known to cost as much as $35.00.  But is Thanksgiving only about a meal?

What sets this holiday apart from others is that it is non-religious and is not restricted to any one ethnicity.  It is the one holiday in America that all religions and all ethnicities come together to celebrate.  American history shows that the 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest that year. Pilgrims and Puritans who began emigrating from England in the 1620s and 1630s brought the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to the United States.

According to travel agents and airlines throughout the country, Thanksgiving is the heaviest traveled holiday in the United States.  It is when everyone finds his/her way to families or friends to sit down to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, regardless of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or no religion at all.  There is even a Thanksgiving tradition where the U.S.  President pardons a turkey from being slaughtered each year.

The day is usually referred to as ‘Turkey Day’, but it extends far beyond the consumption of baked, roasted or deep fried turkey and pumpkin pie.  It is traditional for some families to have everyone around the table take turns in stating why he or she is thankful.  The reasons for being thankful vary from each member of the family.  With that in mind, Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation wants to share with you why we at the organization are thankful this Thanksgiving.  We are thankful for all of the survivors of FGM who are willing to stand with us in our campaign to end the practice.  We are thankful this year for the success of the fourth annual Walk To End FGM.  We are thankful for our many supporters, partners, donors and sponsors; we are also thankful for each person who stops and takes the time to listen to us as we explain what FGM is.  We are thankful for the universities and conferences that hosted us this year to share with them our work against FGM.  We are thankful for you.

As families gather around their dinner tables this Thursday, there will be many variables of why they are thankful.  What will you be grateful for this Thanksgiving?  Has it been a fruitful year for you?  Has it been a year of drought for you and your family?  Or perhaps you overcame a terrible illness, and you’re thankful.  Whatever your reason for being thankful, stop to think about those with less than what you have.  Let’s think about the injustices around the world that women and girls suffer every day.  Let’s think about the little girls that will be hauled off into the remote bushes on that very day and parts or all of their external genitals will be cut.  Please let’s think about the more than 200 million women and girls in the world that have been violated through female genital mutilation.

If you wonder how you can help, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is #GivingTuesday.  #GivingTuesday is special, especially to nonprofit organizations.  #GivingTuesday is the day when charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world come together for one common purpose.  They celebrate giving and generosity.  What is the origin of #GivingTuesday?  A cultural center in New York City called 92nd Y in 1874 started bringing people together and showing them the values of service and giving back.  Six years ago, the same cultural center created #GivingTuesday.  The day is intended to connect diverse groups of individuals, communities and organizations in the spirit of giving.  #GivingTuesday is a global movement, which unites countries around the world by sharing their capacity to care for and empower one another.

In the spirit of giving on this #GivingTuesday, Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation asks that you join us in that spirit by supporting us.  When you shop today on Amazon, please choose Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. as your charity choice.

  #StartWithaSmile at  and Amazon will donate to Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation.  We appreciate your donations and wish you happy shopping!  We wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Send all comments and questions about the preceding article to info@globalwomanpeacefoundation.org or call (703) 818-3787.       

Make Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation Your Favorite Charity in 2017

When you shop during the year at Amazon, please select Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation as your charity of choice. When you #StartWithaSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to Global Woman Peace Foundation. Bookmark the link below and support us every time you shop.

In your charitable contributions and donations in 2017, please consider Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation by either through the DONATE BUTTON below or by sending a check to Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation, 14001A Grumble Jones Court, Centreville, Virginia 20121.  Your generous donations are tax deductible.  Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit organization.

Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation’s 2017 Calendar

Save-these-Dates

We will update this calendar as the year progresses.  Please mark your calendars, as we work together for a prosperous 2017.

This section is for special announcements.  If you have an announcement you would like to run in this section, please follow these guidelines.

The guidelines to submit an announcement are to appear in this newsletter:

  • The length of announcement must be no more than a paragraph of 6 lines.
  • Your announcement is free of any charges.
  • Your announcement should be something that pertains to women, girls or students, such as events, walk-a-thons, conferences, etc.
  • If there is an accompanying image, it must be no less than 72 dpi, preferably in jpeg.
  • Your announcement must be received no later than the Thursday 5:00pm prior to the following Tuesday publication.
  • Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation reserves the right to deny a submission if it is not within our guidelines.

Weekly Word-Scramble

Do you enjoy playing with words?  This is a fun way to see how well you can unscramble the following words.  We will reveal the unscrambled words in next week’s edition of the newsletter.  If you enjoyed this, write and give us your feedback to info@globalwomanpeacefoundation.org.

Can you unscramble the following five words?

This Week’s Scrambled Words

KSNAHTIGIVNG

PAWMAPANOG

GRIMSLIP

KEYTUR

ROSITYENEG

 

Last Week’s Scrambled Words                                  Last Week’s Unscrambled Words

AVENEG                                                                                  GENEVA

SIRAP                                                                                       PARIS

TUTITSNI                                                                                INSTITUT

AIBAL                                                                                       LABIA

YREGRUS                                                                                SURGERY

We give you five scrambled words each week.  We hope you enjoy playing.

How You Can Help & Support Us

Here are some of the ways you can help and support our programs in 2017:

  • Donations (including in-kind donations) globalwomanpeacefoundation.org
  • Partnering (collaborating in one of our programs and/or events)
  • Joining our Internship or Student-Ambassadorship Program
  • Volunteering
  • Donate through employer payroll deduction (through Your Cause, United Way or the government employee giving program)

Important Contacts in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area to Keep Handy

Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation               703-818-3787

National Child Abuse Hotline                              800-422-4453

Fairfax County Office for Women                       703-324-5730

Virginia Crime Victim Assistance                        888-887-3418

Montgomery County Abused Persons Program   240-777-4673 (24 hours)

Prince Georges County Sexual Assault                301-618-3154

Prince Georges County Child Advocacy Center  301-909-2089

Baltimore City Child Abuse Center                     410-396-6147

Frederick County Child Advocacy Center           301-600-1758

Howard County Listening Place                           410-313-2630

Washington County Child Advocacy Center       240-420-4308

District of Columbia Metropolitan Police            202-727-9099

Alexandria Victim/Witness Program                    703-746-4100

Arlington County Victim/Witness Program         703-228-7273

Loudon County Victim Witness Program             703-777-0417

Prince William County Victim/Witness               703-392-7083

Attention: The U.S. government opposes FGM/C, no matter the type, degree, or severity, and no matter what the motivation for performing it. The U.S. government considers FGM/C to be a serious human rights abuse, gender-based violence, and, when done to children, a form of child abuse. It is against the law to perform FGM/C in the United States on a girl under the age of 18 or to send or attempt to send her outside the United States so FGM/C can be performed. People who violate this law can face prison time and significant immigration consequences. Additionally, anyone who performs FGM/C on a woman 18 years old or older without her consent may be charged with a crime under other laws.  If someone performed FGM/C on you, you have not violated any U.S. laws and are not at fault, call 1-800-994-9662.