Dear WILPF friends,

 

Recently we mailed out our Annual Appeal.  Frankly it was a little late, because we’ve been working on so many important issues! 

 

But we are still reminding everyone to donate, hopefully early in the New Year!  Be sure to mark your check or online donation as “Annual Appeal”.

 

WILPF means so much to so many of us.

WILPF has occupied a special place in our lives.  

So many of us have given hours and days, even years of our lives to WILPF and to the passions that keep our issues immediate and urgent.

 

We’ve experienced the empowerment of standing with other like-minded women on issues of peace, justice, the environment, ending wars, eliminating the whole nuclear power chain from reactors to weapons, opposition to fracking, safe food and GMO Labeling campaigns, and promoting a real participatory democracy that works for ALL of us.    We are effective because we stand together.

 

Stand with us today by donating to WILPF, the organization so close to your heart. 

 

Personally I can tell you that WILPF women have make up much of my social and support network.

I recently moved from Iowa, a fairly progressive state, to Florida, where the politics are extreme and far right.  Shifting from having a branch behind me to being on my own has been difficult.  In Iowa WILPF women provided the majority of my social world.  When my husband was ill they brought food.  When our daughter graduated from high school they sent cards and gifts.  When we planned events and actions, they rallied to stand with us so we could amplify our voices and accomplish more.  WILPF matters to me.  I am contributing myself to our Growing WILPF! Campaign, and I am seriously thinking about trying to start a new branch here in Florida.  I want to be sure that WILPF will remain vital and active well into the 21st Century… so that the women and girls who come after us will also be mentored and empowered to stand up for peace.  

 

With a new Board, a unified WILPF is emerging and moving forward on administrative and organizational issues that have been important to members and branches for a long time.  It’s encouraging to see.  But we won’t get very far if we don’t have the cash flow to keep us moving into the future. 

 

Please take a moment to dig deep and send a check to WILPF today.  Or click here to go to the donation page.  It’s very easy and safe to make an online donation through WILPF.  Many worthwhile organizations are asking for your donations.  Please put your treasure where your heart is.  Give now to WILPF to keep us on track in 2015.

 

We’ve accomplished a lot and we are working on more!

The Cuba and Bolivian Alliance Committee are celebrating their big win on re-establishing US-Cuba relations.  They are planning a trip together with Code Pink to Cuba in late 2015 or early 2016 so we can learn from Cuban women how best to help them move forward. 

 

The Program Committee is excited to be working on an OnLine Calendar where branches can post their events and track meeting times and dates.  Committee calls will be on the calendar, along with WILPF Board Meetings/Calls.  It will offer us a way to connect between branches, share information and expertise, so we aren’t all having to reinvent the wheel.  We can borrow ideas and strategies from one another, making our small resources go further than ever before! 

 

The Earth Democracy and Corporations v Democracy Issue Committees have been working on a new 1-year long URGENT CAMPAIGN and are asking branches and at-large members to engage with it.  The Human Right To Health & Safe Food Campaign is working to educate our members and their communities about the health threats of glyphosate (in Roundup, Enlist DUO and other weed killers).  We are advocating for a more sustainable method of farming and weed control in residential and municipal settings.   It’s a matter of urgency for the health of our children and grandchildren!  Please say you will get involved with this project in your own community!   Email Mbgardam@gmail.com or Nancytprice39@gmail.com.

 

The Disarm Committee has been working hard on issues like drones, eliminating nuclear, building support for converting massive amounts of dollars from weapons manufacturers and military contractors to projects that give us more energy options and more sustainable projects that actually feed the WHOLE economy. 

 

The Middle East Committee has been finishing their Hamas Booklet and issuing strong statements on behalf of Palestine.   There is so much more work to be done on this issue. 

 

And the Advancing Human Rights Committee has been working in several states on anti-sex-trafficking initiatives and legislation. 

 

These are really important issues, and the world still needs WILPF’s voice on all of them.  Please contribute TODAY by clicking here.

 

Thanks very much for your gift, if you’ve already responded to our mailed letters.   If you haven’t done so yet, please take a moment to do so right now.

 

In solidarity,

 

 

 

Marybeth Gardam

Co-Chair, Development Committee

 

Mail checks marked “Annual Appeal” payable to WILPF

or to “Peace Development Fund” (for tax deductible contributions)

to 11 Arlington St., Boston, MA 02116 today!

Consider gifts of appreciated stocks.