The nominations are in for the 12 Days of Charitable Giving 2010. Our first of twelve charities to be featured this year is Hardy Girls, Healthy Women, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the health and well being of girls and women.
Here’s what our nominee had to say:
While our attentions are often directed to health and specialized cultural charities, with some impressing fund raising capacities, I would like to direct you and potentially your broad-based blog following to a small Maine organization that is both a local and national impact with a focus on girls’ self-esteem and anti-bullying and countering the negative cultural influences that impede girls from reaching their potential. The organization is Hardy Girls, Healthy Women and they are based in Waterville, Maine (FEIN 010538121).
I first became involved with HGHW over five years ago when I was able to assist them in producing an educational video with training materials, which is still in national circulation, called Ugly Ducklings. Since then, HGHW has gradually expanded its messages to a national platform.
While I am the fifth generation woman lawyer in my family and we also have multi-generation female doctors and engineers, I realized that once I went away to college that there are many girls and women who have very low horizons with regards to both self-esteem as well as perceived opportunities. Fast forward almost 40 years and there remain too many barriers some internal and many cultural.
Actually HGHW well describes its objects, you need to raise hardy girls if they are to grow in to being healthy women. This organization both supports girls in helping them to grow up to be healthy women but it also works to change the culture that too often impedes such positive growth. 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the organization.
In addition to serving an expanding community in Maine, HGHW has provided a model for like-minded groups to create similar organizations nationwide. This is an organization that could use a national shot in the arm campaign through your blog to not only raise funds to maintain and expand its impact but also to get others thinking about need to support positive role models. After all we need more women tax lawyers and this can be the first step of the rest of some bright girl’s life.
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(Flattery will, of course, get you everywhere.)
