As some of you know, one of my long-time yoga students passed away suddenly this past July of a brain aneurysm. Janice was an inspiration to me and to other students of The Yoga Room. (To read more about this adventurous woman, please click on the blog post I wrote about her here:https://yogaroom.wpengine.com/?p=1488.) One day in class not long before she passed away we were discussing the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, which our yoga book club read earlier this year. Janice agreed with me that everyone should read this book to learn about the plight of women in many of the world’s poorest countries and, upon doing so herself, decided to make some monetary donations and micro-loans to help support such women around the world. I mentioned that our yoga book club had talked about doing the same thing as a group, and Janice said that if we did she would like to contribute. We never got around to making a donation before Janice passed away but ever since then I have been thinking about some way to honor her memory. I felt that the best way to do this would be to make a donation to one of the charities involved with the Half the Sky Movement — The New Light Campaign in India.
From New Light Campaign’s website (http://www.crowdrise.com/Teamnewlight):
- Since 2000, New Light has been providing safe shelter, education, and recreational facilities for the children of local sex workers, particularly the daughters. What your donation can help support:
- $40 buys school uniforms and shoes for a child for one year.
- $60 funds food for one month for one child.
- $250 supports a child’s education for one year.
- $500 provides vocational training to an at-risk young adolescent for one year.
How I am donating, and how you can too:
I will be donating Janice’s payment from her last session of classes and, through October, I will donate 100% of the profits of all Yoga Room t-shirts purchased. So during the next 2 months please consider purchasing one of these organic, locally-printed t-shirts to support this good cause and help me honor this inspirational woman.
