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July 22nd, 2016 | Deeds Digest No. 9
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Hello #ChangeMakers!
I would imagine that you are feeling as I am right now – worried about the path we are on and wondering how we’ll move things in a better direction. With last week's loss of Baton Rouge Police Officers Montrell Jackson and Matthew Gerald and East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Brad Garafola, and with the message of anger and intolerance coming from the Republican National Convention, our ability to heal and bridge current divides can feel overwhelmingly daunting. In the face of that, I drew comfort from this story featured in Cosmo about one of the victims in the Baton Rouge shootings. In the days before his death, Montrell Jackson, who’d been on the force for 10 years and who left behind a baby son and a wife, posted a poignant message on Facebook about his struggles as someone who straddled both sides of a line, understanding what it felt like to be both a black man and a police officer. The wisdom imparted in that brief post is something we all should read and absorb, particularly these words: “These are trying times. Please don’t let hate infect your heart.”
Let’s all decide that we will actively pay tribute to his life by living those words and giving meaning to them. We are bigger and better than a political party’s rhetoric of hatred and divisiveness. We are capable of addressing the root causes of existing strife. And it is through our actions of love, respect and tolerance that we will begin the healing. Each one of us. One by one by one…
xo,
- Wendy
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This week's #ChangeMaker is a young woman I met this summer with a truly inspiring story: Nadya Okamoto is an 18-year-old from Portland, OR, who founded the youth-run global nonprofit Camions of Care (COC) after she witnessed first-hand the need for poor and homeless women to address menstrual hygiene after her family became homeless in 2012.
Through the global distribution of feminine hygiene products, and the engagement of youth leadership through a nationwide network of campus chapters, COC strives to manage and celebrate menstrual hygiene through advocacy, education, and service. In the last two years, COC has grown to over 2000 volunteers has addressed over 20,000 periods via a network of 38 nonprofit partners – in 12 U.S. states and 9 different countries! Go to www.camionsofcare.org to see how you can get involved!
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Royce Mann, a 14-year-old from Atlanta, GA challenges Caucasians to support minorities; men to respect women; and adults to pay attention to teenagers as he reaches across gender, racial, and social barriers with his school competition poetry slam entitled “White Boy Privilege."
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This SLATE ad shows women supporting (trans)women – also known as common decency.
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A major stride forward has been made in women’s health – when used correctly, a silicone vaginal ring infused with the antiviral drug dapirivine can protect 75 percent or more of women from the AIDS virus, researchers reported Monday. NBC News
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Learn more about this weeks’ featured #ChangeMaker Nadya Okamoto (pictured second from the left with her sisters and mother) and how she overcame her struggles of abuse and homelessness to found a nonprofit organization that is helping women around our country and in other parts of the world. The Huffington Post
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While women make up nearly half of the U.S. work force, and they are majority owners in 36% of small businesses, only 9% of VC funded technology startups are led by women. However, new research indicates that gender gap success dissolves when women fund women in technology startups. Harvard Business Review
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While at L.A. Fitness, Dani Mathers, Playboy’s 2015 Playmate of the Year, took to the Internet to body shame this unsuspecting woman who was changing in the gym locker room. If women don’t respect other women, how can we expect men to? The Washington Post
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According to the United Nations, slavery or human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing criminal industries in the world and generates more than $150 billion in profits each year. In fact, approximately 100,000 children become victims of trafficking in U.S. every year. takepart
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