What is Global Women’s Project?

Rooted in the Church of the Brethren, GWP seeks to educate about wealth, power and oppression, encouraging one another to live more simply, being mindful of our luxuries, and join in empowerment with women around the world, sharing resources with women’s initiatives. Read more about GWP and our founding in 1978.

Announcing 35th Anniversary Celebration!

Thank You!!! 

Global Women’s Project thanks you once again for your participation in our 2013 Mother’s Day Gratitude Project. Since our update last month, you have honored even more women and helped us to raise additional funds to support our Partner Projects around the globe. The final tally shows donations from 45 individuals contributing $3,932 – one of our best years yet!

Celebrate with GWP in Charlotte, NC, June 29th to July 3rd, 2013

In just 3 weeks, GWP will travel to Charlotte, NC, to share about our work and to celebrate our 35th anniversary with those attending the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference. If you plan to be in Charlotte, please stop by our booth in the exhibit hall (it will be beautifully adorned with cloth from various countries from around the world as well as a colorful handmade silk backdrop created especially for the booth). In addition to information about GWP and our Partner Projects, we will have tidbits of information from our history dispersed throughout as well as have an opportunity for visitors (you), to write about and display your memories and experiences with GWP over the years.

The first of 3 dolls to be auctioned off at our tea, made by GWP steering committee member Anke Pietsch

We are excited to have Fiber Artist Anke Pietsch, who is a member of the GWP Steering Committee, felting 3 beautiful dolls for the booth to match the 3 women on our logo. Anke has graciously offered to have these dolls be given to conference goers and to people on-line through a silent auction that will take place throughout the conference. Anke says, “Each of them is needle felted out of sheep wool roving with the help of a special felting needle. They are one of a kind and a wonderful art piece for yourself or a loved one. All proceeds from the silent auction will go to GWP to support self-help projects that are led by, empower, and benefit women and their communities.” A sneak peak of one doll is attached. Each week leading up to the conference, you will get a preview of another one of the dolls. Stay tuned! For those of you who would like to bid on-line, simply send the amount of your bid along with your name and mailing address to our email address at info@globalwomensproject.org. The winner of the silent auction will be announced at our GWP Tea Time (to be held at the booth) in Charlotte on Tuesday, July 2nd, at 4:45 p.m.

We look forward to seeing you in Charlotte!

Tea Time Celebrating GWP’s 35th Anniversary

Join us for tea Tuesday afternoon, July 2^nd at Annual Conference, Asheville, NC.  (Stay tuned for more information in our June e-Links)  Come celebrate our 35^th birthday with us, and celebrate, too, the changes that these 35 years of projects have meant for women.

Gratitude for Mother’s Day Gratitude Project

Thank you for your generous contributions to Global Women’s Project, honoring the special women in your lives for Mother’s Day!  So far, 39 donors have given more than $3,300 to support women’s empowerment projects.  Nan Erbaugh, contact person for the Mother’s Day Project and our correspondent for each honoree, commented: “I pray for each individual as I put the card into the envelope.  It is such a blessing to feel connected to so many women and men through this fantastic project.”  Thanks, Nan, for your ministry!

GWP May eLinks

Global Women’s Project celebrates 35 years!

In July of 1978, Church of the Brethren women gathered at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana, to share our stories and our concerns as women to live and serve responsibly in the church and in the world.  I was there.  It was a time when as a nation we had just lived through the the Vietnam War and the tensions of the civil rights movement and now it seemed we were moving precariously closer to a nuclear holocaust.  Clouds of change were everywhere.

At such gatherings I always expect to be nourished, reassured, inspired and sent home with a seed of an idea or challenge.  Rarely, however, does that seed take root as firmly as it did then.  In the culminating worship service, Ruthann Knechel Johansen, in Giving Birth to a New World,  reminded us that “neither a great social program nor a sophisticated theology are prerequisites to live in harmony with life. We need only the simple stuff of life – a commitment to the essential goodness by transcending the old order and creating new relationships and structures that nurture justice.”  She challenged the gathered women “to refuse to purchase luxury (non-essential) items, or to tax our luxuries and redirect the “luxury” monies toward meeting the needs of people who are victims of our consumption.”  I felt the current of excitement that pulsed around Cordier Auditorium as women nodded and clapped and cried  “Yes, here is something we can do.”  The suggestion was not made to exonerate us, but to help create a greater awareness in each of us the consequences of and the extent of our privilege. From that inspiring speech, Global Women’s Project was born.

That is what we attempt to do in Global Women’s Project: 1) Encourage honest reflection on how we use our resources, 2) contribute our “tax collections” or other donations to GWP Fund, and at the same time,  3) establish relationships that nurture justice for women around the globe.  Presently GWP funds women’s projects in Nepal, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, and the US.

Today we still need this reminder, considering the recent tragedies in Bangladesh, the continuing pleas for education for girls in Pakistan and on much of the African continent, the proliferation of gender-based crimes, the reality of economic disparity for women in the U.S.  At a time in our national life when “tax” is an uncomfortable word, consider how your “tax” and the self-awareness it brings, might give birth to an opportunity for another woman somewhere in the world.

—Pearl Miller, GWP Steering Committee

(If you have memories to share from that 1978 North Manchester Women’s Gathering, please share them on our Facebook page. )

GWP April eLinks

Global Women’s Project would like to say a big thank you to everyone who used our Lenten Calendar this season, either in its paper form or through email. We hope that it was a meaningful experience for you and that the reflections have impacted your daily thinking and living. While our main goal with this project is education, it also functions as a fundraiser, as you have been taxing yourselves little by little throughout Lent. Please consider sending in a donation to GWP! We would also love to hear your feedback if you used the calendar this year or in the past, as we are in the process of remaking the calendar for next year.

Mother’s Day is coming up, and we encourage you to participate in our annual Mother’s Day Gratitude Project! Rather than buying more material gifts for your loved one, express your gratitude with a gift that

A mother and child in Nepal, photo taken by Karen Hodges

supports women around the world. Your donation to GWP benefits projects that aid women’s health, education, and employment opportunities, and in return your loved one receives a hand-written card indicating that a gift was made in her honor. Participation is extremely easy, just follow these 3 steps:

1) Brainstorm who it is you’d like to honor. Your mother? A grandmother? A mentor? A dear friend?

2) Send a donation to:

Global Women’s Project

c/o Nan Erbaugh

47 S. Main Street

West Alexandria, OH 45381-1243

3) Remember to include your name and also the name and address of the recipient!

See how easy that is? And remember that we also accept memorial donations, and we honor those women by listing their names on our website. If you send us your donation by May 6th, your card will be mailed in time for Mother’s Day. After that time, cards will be sent out as soon as we receive your request. Attached to this email is a bulletin insert with more information on the project that we encourage you to share with your congregations or local women’s groups.

We hope to be hearing from you soon!

Sharing with Common Spirit

The Global Women’s Project steering committee shared with Common Spirit Fellowship in their Sunday evening worship yesterday in Saint Paul, Minnesota, drawing from the wealth of resources available on our website.

In honor of International Women’s Day – and any other day of honoring the power and presence of women – GWP gathers a wide variety of worship worship resources. Check out prayers, litanies, sermon ideas, stories and even a full worship service here.

Contact us to find a GWP steering committee member near you to come speak at your church or community!

GWP Spring Meeting in Minneapolis!

GWP Steering Committee, Spring 2013

The GWP Steering Committee met together this weekend in snowy Minneapolis to discuss our projects,  resources, and responsibilities for the 2013 year. We are so happy to welcome two new members to the committee, Anke Pietsch (from Lebanon, OH) and Pearl Miller (from Warrensburg, MO)! With some new energy in the group, we are excited for the work ahead of us. Expect to see more creative posts in our Facebook group, a revitalized Lenten Calendar for 2014, and a wealth of worship and educational resources for International Women’s Day or globally minded services.

With you on the journey,

Kim, Anna Lisa, Emily, Tina, Pearl, and Anke