Wise Women Give

Dec 17, 2011 by Gretchen Seefried

Last Tuesday evening I discovered a fabulous little shop, met some cool new friends, and supported  Judi’s House, a Denver-based nonprofit whose mission is to help children and their families who are grieving the death of a loved one to find hope and healing within themselves.  Judi’s House opened its doors in 2002 and since then has served more than 2600 children and adult  caregivers.   

I have a weakness for organizations that help children.  This one especially resonates as it was conceived by a man who experienced the grief of losing his own mom as a child, remembers how it felt to suffer such a loss, and cared enough to create a support system for other grieving children.  My youngest son is 12, and though he rolls his eyes when I remind him to brush his teeth, prides himself on being able to stay up later than us, and has given up on even the ghost of a belief in Santa, he still smiles when my car pulls up, cries in my arms over sad news, and requests hugs daily.  I can’t imagine how traumatic it would be for him to lose me at his age, the same as Bronco quarterback Brian Griese when his mother died.

Now you’d think  I would’ve known about this organization with my nonprofit work over the years…but for some reason I didn’t. Thanks to the happy circumstance of joining a local group called Wise Women Give, it’s just one of several charitable organizations that I’ve come to know this year.  

It was serendipity that led to me meeting Faye Ganley last spring. Like so many of us, Faye is a busy working mom who barely has time to check her email, much less listen to her heart, spy a need, and come up with a big idea to create a giving group that supports both local businesses and nonprofits.  But that’s what she did two years ago.  Wise Women Give, is much like the idea that inspired my Womenade of the Rockies back in 2005.  While my parties were generally “Girls’ Nights In“,  Wise Women events are cleverly organized to be “Girls’ Nights Out“.  They engage the community by inviting local businesses to host, and for a $35 donation to the charitable cause of the month, any  woman can attend.

Clearly Faye and I were meant to meet.  It took just one coffee for us to see our organizations as soul mates that together have the potential to touch, teach, and transform thousands of women’s lives. I’m tickled  to share with the gals of both MidChix & MadHens and Wise Women Give, the joyful news of our partnership, created with an intention to advance the work of both organizations and to expand the amount of charitable resources generated for our community.

We invite local women to attend the monthly gatherings and to support our work by taking 30 seconds to like our Facebook  Pages: MidChix & MadHens, Wise Women Give, and Seed2Sky (our social media solutions business that funds MidChix & Madhens).  As we begin 2012, we will be merging our mailing lists  to keep everyone posted on updates, events, and opportunities that we think will interest you.  If you’d rather not receive one or more of our communications it is easy to unsubscribe. At the bottom of our e-mails you’ll find an easy link that says: Click here to safely unsubscribe. 

In the spirit of collaboration we also are excited to share this  Call for women artists by another unique women’s organization, Pomegranate Place.  Having participated  in their October First Friday, I highly recommend taking this opportunity to share your artwork and contribute to the many conversations that this show will inspire.  This is a warm, welcoming and serene historical home turned sanctuary for women of all ages and walks of life…

 

Sending warm wishes for the week to to our loyal MidChix & MadHens, and our new friends,Wise Women who Give!

~ Gretchen