Transitions · Throw a house-warming party and collect items from our needs list. Encourage your...
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Cont. on page three Help Create Growth and Wholeness Growing through Community Engagement Rights are something valued in U.S. society. Whatever side of the issues you may fall on, news headlines locally and across the naon feature phrases like “right to bear arms”, “women’s right to choose”, “exercise your rights”, and the “right to free speech.” We shout from the rooſtops when we believe someone is taking away our rights – with good reason. Human rights are not inherent everywhere in the world, or to every cizen, and should be treated as precious. Greater Spokane Progress is cur- rently helping cizens celebrate, and more importantly, exercise their right to vote. Greater Spokane Progress’ Civic Engagement Project is partnering with local non-profits to target groups oſten under-represented in voter populaons including women, people living in poverty, people with felony records, and people of color. Tran- sions, serving as one of those partners, has been hosng voter registraon drives and civics clas- ses for parcipants. What makes this partnership unique and effecve? Alumnae from Miryam’s House are acng as the recruiters. The responses of the women we serve vary: “I’m from Alaska, up there nobody votes. It just isn’t something you do. But now that I know my vote is important I’m going to do it.” “Registering to vote, it makes me feel like a grown-up. It makes me feel like I’m someone who can contribute.” “I’m happy I can vote, it makes me feel like a part of something.” “To hear other women commit to vote, that makes me want to do it to.” Emily Kobe-Smith, the Civic Engagement Coordinator for Greater Spokane Progress, shares what she’s discovered through these partnerships “People want to know more about their rights and vong. The women have been asking great quesons. They are so thoughul and en- gaged. I couldn’t have imagined the response.” Vicky Dalton, Spokane County Auditor, was a guest speaker at the Women’s Hearth and will be with us at the Transional Living Center in October. She gave a brief civics lesson to the women and spent me answering their quesons. Many of the women were surprised to know that in Washington State a person with a felony automacally has their September 2014 Transitions Staying Connected... We are on Facebook, Twitter and In- stagram! So like, follow and love us on-line. You can also sign-up for our once a month e-news by visiting our website. www.help4women.org Table Captains You can make the People Who Care Event a success and we are in desperate need of new Table Captains. All you need to do is bring 7 of your friends to PWC on Oct. 9th and submit an RSVP form from our website by Oct. 1st. Providing: Safety Support and Skills to more than 1,400 women each year through THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Linda Purnell, Miryam’s House alum with Emily Kobe-Smith, Greater Spokane Progress
Transcript of Transitions · Throw a house-warming party and collect items from our needs list. Encourage your...
Miryam’s House Transitional Living Center EduCare Women’s Hearth New Leaf Bakery Cafe
Cont. on page three
Help Create Growth and Wholeness
Growing through Community Engagement Rights are something valued in U.S.
society. Whatever side of the issues you may fall on, news headlines locally and across the nation feature phrases like “right to bear arms”, “women’s right to choose”, “exercise your rights”, and the “right to free speech.” We shout from the rooftops when we believe someone is taking away our rights – with good reason. Human rights are not inherent everywhere in the world, or to every citizen, and should be treated as precious.
Greater Spokane Progress is cur-rently helping citizens celebrate, and more importantly, exercise their right to vote. Greater Spokane Progress’ Civic Engagement Project is partnering with local non-profits to target groups often under-represented in voter populations including women, people living in poverty, people with felony records, and people of color. Tran-sitions, serving as one of those partners, has been hosting voter registration drives and civics clas-ses for participants. What makes this partnership unique and effective? Alumnae from Miryam’s House are acting as the recruiters.
The responses of the women we serve vary: “I’m from Alaska, up there nobody votes. It just isn’t something you do. But now that I know my vote is important I’m going to do it.” “Registering to vote, it makes me feel like a grown-up. It makes me feel like I’m someone who can contribute.” “I’m happy I can vote, it makes me feel like a part of something.” “To hear other women commit to vote, that makes me want to do it to.”
Emily Kobe-Smith, the Civic Engagement Coordinator for Greater Spokane Progress, shares what she’s discovered through these partnerships “People want to know more about their rights and voting. The women have been asking great questions. They are so thoughtful and en-gaged. I couldn’t have imagined the response.”
Vicky Dalton, Spokane County Auditor, was a guest speaker at the Women’s Hearth and
will be with us at the Transitional Living Center in October. She gave a brief civics lesson to the
women and spent time answering their questions. Many of the women were surprised to know
that in Washington State a person with a felony automatically has their
September 2014
Transitions
Staying Connected... We are on Facebook, Twitter and In-stagram! So like, follow and love us
on-line. You can also sign-up for our once a month e-news by visiting
our website. www.help4women.org
Table Captains You can make the People Who
Care Event a success and we are in desperate need of new Table
Captains. All you need to do is bring 7 of your friends to PWC on
Oct. 9th and submit an RSVP form from our website by Oct. 1st.
Providing:
Safety
Support
and
Skills
to more than
1,400 women
each year
through
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Linda Purnell, Miryam’s House alum with Emily Kobe-Smith, Greater Spokane Progress
Miryam’s House Transitional Living Center EduCare Women’s Hearth New Leaf Bakery Cafe
Transitions
A Message from Transitions’
Board Chair Sarah McKenna
What makes a person feel whole? It’s about more than just food and shelter–
though getting those needs met sure is a good start. Real wholeness only becomes pos-
sible when the full and complex needs of a person start to be met. Needs like physical
safety, connection to others, financial stability, and spiritual peace. It’s about healing,
nurturing and nourishing the soul, being shown and showing compassion, and being
open to one’s own worth and place in the world as part of their community.
That is the wholeness you invest in when you invest in Transitions. I recently
stopped by the Women’s Hearth, our daytime drop-in center, which was hosting an
afternoon of designing t-shirts. The energy, excitement and creativity in the room
were amazing. While admiring the inspired and beautiful designs that the women were
making, I clearly saw that this was about more than decorating
shirts. It provided each woman with an opportunity for artistic
expression while building connections with other women.
On my way out of the Women’s Hearth, I saw a flier for
the twice-monthly Responsible Renter Program, which helps
women who enroll get and keep permanent housing by provid-
ing financial and housing education. Seeing these activities
made me realize that by providing services as varied as t-shirt
designing classes to renter rights education Transitions address-
es the needs of not just one part of the women and children we
serve but instead the whole person. We recognize that we are
all made up of intimately interconnected parts that are crucial
for the wholeness of the person.
That’s a pretty tall order for any non-profit, but one that
is absolutely possible, thanks to your support. It’s easy
for us to know how to meet a person’s basic necessities,
but we do a whole lot more than the basics. We work to help women on their journey
to grow and find true wholeness. We’re finding new and creative ways to serve the
whole person. So instead of just offering housing, we’re fostering community in our
housing programs. Instead of just offering a safe place, which is no small feat in it-
self, we’re giving the women and children there the opportunity to fully express them-
selves, making real connections at the same time.
Thank you for being a part of helping those we serve
feel whole. Join us as we celebrate their growth and wholeness
at the 2014 People Who Care Event, October 9th at the Red
Lion Hotel at the Park.
YOU CAN
CREATE AN
IMPACT!
Here are some easy
ways you can help
end poverty and
homelessness for
women and children:
Get a group
together and
volunteer in the
garden!
Thank you
BDO!
Share a skill
(like packing
healthy
school
lunches) with
the women.
Provide lunch
at the Hearth
once a month.
Thank you St.
Clare’s ECC!
Throw
a house
-warming party
and collect items
from our needs
list.
Encourage your
family to select
charities to donate
to during holidays
instead of buying
gifts.
Attend our
Annual People
Who Care Event October 9th.
Even better,
become a Table
Captain!
For information on any
of these opportunities
call Mary at
328-6702 or email
Leaving a Legacy….
When you consider the legacy you are creating with your life does it include the impact
you’re making at Transitions? We wouldn’t be able to keep the doors open without you.
A legacy gift to Transitions can help you manage your personal financial plan and extend
your ability to help women and children for generations. You can make the world a better
place for your children and grand-children when you continue the work of Transitions by
leaving a bequest in your will, acquiring an annuity, or making a gift of appreciated stock,
real estate or other assets.
If you believe, like we do, that no woman or child deserves to be homeless please
consider a legacy gift today.
Contact Transitions to learn more: [email protected] or (509) 328-6702.
A woman at the Hearth selling crafts she made.
Miryam’s House Transitional Living Center EduCare Women’s Hearth New Leaf Bakery Cafe
Continued from front page
Seeing Growth through Words
“I’m never going to make it.” “Nothing ever changes.” “This will always
be my life.”
Too often when women
and children come through our
doors they are experiencing the
lowest point of their life.
Entrenched in despair and
isolation often they share that all
they can do is walk through the
doors and ask for help. The
depression that accompanies the
trauma and loss they have
experienced to bring them to that
moment is crushing. Yet somehow
they walk through the door, pick up the phone or send an email; starting a chain
reaction that leads to major life changes.
“I knew I needed to do something big to get my life back.” “My family
made me feel ashamed of my mental illness, now I know I have nothing to be
ashamed of.” “Just because I made bad choices I’m not a bad person.”
As women and children get a sense of safety and stability we start to see
them open up. They start to believe that something else can happen in their lives,
that their past is not their future. This is the moment where it becomes possible to
step in beside them and begin to set goals and help them change their lives. These
conversations are difficult and personal.
A speaker at this year’s People Who Care Event, explains it best “Linda had
to tell me hard truths so I could see them in my life. It was hard to hear but it helped
me see those truths in my life. Other people weren’t treating me right, they were
unhealthy and I never would have stopped letting them negatively affect my life
without that help. Now I set good boundaries and tell them ‘You don’t get to call me
names, you can’t treat me like that.’ It’s hard but I do it, because I’m worth it.”
“I can set goals and achieve them.” “Life is always changing and I know
how to cope with those changes.” “I have the skills needed to make good choices.”
September 2014
Caption describing pic-
ture or graphic.
Amazing Golf
Outing!
Thank you to those who
participated as golfers,
sponsors and volunteers
at our annual Golf
Outing.
You raised $36,923 to
end poverty and
homelessness for
women and children in
Spokane!
Special Thank
You To:
AmericanWest
Bank
Bill and Mary
Murphy
And
Itron
Silver Sponsors:
Automated Accounts
Amy and Joe
Galloway
Gus Johnson Ford
and
Travis Pattern and
Foundry
The planning committee
for this event is seeking
members. Contact us at
to join us!
voting rights restored when they complete supervision. Those with federal offenses, or offenses that happened in other states, can have their rights restored as soon as they leave jail. This news impacted the women we serve more than you might imagine.
Being homeless and living in poverty can create a strong sense of hopelessness and isola-
tion. Many of the women we serve feel persecuted or completely uninvolved in the systems that
surround us. For these women, regaining the ability to vote, to affect that system in a real and
clear way, is a complete reversal of those feelings. They have personal knowledge of the issues
affecting the low-income and homeless populations in the community – and they plan to share
that knowledge with their votes. Spokane is bound to change for the better!
To learn more about this project visit : www.spokaneprogress.org
Miryam’s House Transitional Living Center EduCare Women’s Hearth New Leaf Bakery Cafe
New Leaf Bakery Cafe 3104 W. Ft. Geo. Wright Dr.
Spokane, WA 99224 New Leaf: 509-496-0396
Women’s Hearth
920 West 2nd Ave Spokane, WA 99201 WH: 509-455-4249
Miryam’s House
1805 West 9th Ave Spokane, WA 99204 MH: 509-747-9222
EduCare
Transitional Living Center Administration
3128 North Hemlock Spokane, WA 99205
Admin: 509-328-6702 EDC: 509-325-8632 TLC: 509-325-2959
www.help4women.org
