NWA Gives

NWA Gives is April 4th!


It’s the greatest day in NWA! You’re invited to join the epic 12 hours of giving on Thursday, April 4th from 8 am to 8 pm. This is a day in which the amazing Northwest Arkansas community comes together to raise much-needed funds for local nonprofits. We are participating this year and there will be many ways you can help us reach our fundraising goal of $10,000, which will help support families with 2 months of safe shelter!

Would you consider joining our Matching Donors on April 4 to support programming at NWAWS and help us reach this goal? 

You can also get your friends and family involved by creating your own fundraiser for NWAWS. Learn how by clicking here.

We’re incredibly grateful for your ongoing support and couldn’t do what we do without you. Thank you for being such a vital part of our mission.

arkansas-gives-logo

On April 7th from 8am-8pm, any donations you make to NWA Women’s Shelter through the ArkansasGives website will also qualify us for additional bonus dollars from the Arkansas Community Foundation. Will you consider joining Arkansans from across the state to make a donation to help grow our community?

There is strength and power in numbers. We hope you will join us as we work to stop violence one family at a time.

one-day-to-give-april-7

 

 

 

We have been partnering with a team through John Brown University’s Enactus club since last fall. The Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter team is full of energy and great ideas about how to help the shelter succeed and create sustainable sources of funding to carry us into the future including a new fundraising concept–Swift Thrift.

Watch this video where they explain our project and what we will see in the future: 

 

FEATURED PROJECT: NWA WOMEN’S SHELTER – UNILEVERToday, we’d like to introduce you to one of our local projects. These students have worked countless of hours with the Women’s Shelter here in Northwest Arkansas to help them build a sustainable future. Take a look and learn more about this awesome project. Enjoy!#FeaturedProject #NWAWS #EnactusJBU Enactus USA John Brown University Northwest Arkansas Women’s ShelterSeeing Opportunities – Taking Action – Enabling ProgressMany thanks to everyone who contributed to the making of this video!

Posted by Enactus JBU on Sunday, January 24, 2016

 

vagina-monologues-university-of-arkansas-fundraiser

Join us on Valentine’s weekend for three showings of The Vagina Monologues hosted by the University of Arkansas Gender Studies’ Department. All ticket sales will benefit NWAWS and we will have staff and volunteers at each showing with more information on our services and ways to get involved.

 

For more information on the play, visit Eve Ensler’s website.

Will you be going? Let us know—RSVP on Facebook.

 

idea-bulb-vectors_MkVaS4ud_L

A lemonade stand during BFF    High School Clubs    Mystery bartenders  •  Mustang car show

Baby Product Drive    A golf tournament    Wine and hors d’oeuvres with friends and neighbors    Movie theatre  •  Birthday Parties

Casual day at work    Trick or Suite    Toy drive    Scary-Oke  •  Off-road vehicle weekend

What is the common thread of all of these?

They are all third-party fundraisers or drives. 

Caring, creative members of our NWA community organized events or drives to raise additional funds or to ask for donations of products or other goods for the Shelter or for our Thrift Store (which provides $1 out of $4 in gross revenue for our services). 

In 2015, friends of the Shelter generated over $20,000 in new revenue by organizing events or drives on their own, with limited involvement (or no involvement) of Shelter staff, with proceeds benefiting the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter.

Creative ideas and opportunities are endless.

If you, your team at work, a professional association or civic group, or your friends and family want to help victims of domestic violence break the cycle of abuse but you don’t know where to start, think about organizing a fundraising event or drive. 

If you want to know when and where events or drives are taking place, go to our Current Community Activities page.

To get started with a Third-Party fundraising event or drive, go to our webpage to learn more: Third-Party Fundraisers.  

Highlights of Third-Party Fundraisers in 2015:

 

 

 

Wine & Women_October 2015

While nearly half of the people we shelter are children (more about kids we serve in a future post), a majority of the individuals who seek our services are adults. And while we do serve men who qualify for our services (read more about male victims here), the majority of our adult clients are women.

So it brings our staff and supporters great joy when we have groups of women band together in support of our clients. Don’t get us wrong—we love all of our supporters. The families, co-ed student groups, school-age children, and people of all genders, races, backgrounds, and ages who support us each deserve an award in our eyes. Still, there is something special that happens when strong, empowered women get together to help others who are in the middle of the battle.

Some of the ladies in these groups are survivors themselves. Some have a friend or family member who has been abused. Some are successful business women. Some are just starting to figure out their dreams and aspirations. But all see a need and opportunity when they think about the women who seek our services.

There have been so many different groups of women that came together in 2015 to help us. Space would not suffice to recognize everyone but we do want to take this moment to introduce you to a few of these groups and also give you some ideas in case you have a group of women (or men, or kids) who might like a creative way to get involved with us:

junior league nwa_logo  Junior League of Northwest Arkansas Junior League of NWA is a fantastic group of women who has been committed to serving victims of domestic abuse for years. Our local chapter considers abuse awareness and prevention to be their focus in the NWA community. They provide our shelter with woman-power throughout the year (deep cleans of the kitchens, anyone?) in addition to providing our moms with child care so they can enjoy special events we arrange, and so much more.

 

 

All Coiled Up NWA–International Natural Hair Meetup Day all-coiled-up-inhmdinhmd logoNWAWS was fortunate to be selected as the beneficiary at our local meetup for INHMD sponsored by All Coiled Up NWA. Staff had the opportunity to share what we do, network, and collect donations for clients from some of the fabulous ladies at the event. We had fun and appreciated the love from All Coiled Up and the ladies who attended the event.

 

 

Wine & Women This fall, some socially-conscious friends approached us with an idea: throw a party, invite everyone’s friends, bring wine and snacks to share, and encourage everyone to clean out their closets and collect some needed items to benefit NWAWS and another local women’s charity. Thus, Wine and Women was born, resulting in some great donations for both our Shelter and Thrift Store. The other charity they selected was Dress for Success NWA, which also serves our clients on a referral basis—a double win for the ladies who come to our door for services!

Wine & Women_October 2015

Mary Kay We are so thankful for our partnership with a local group of Mary Kay consultants this year as well. In lieu of having their normal Christmas Party, Mary Kay_Gift of Confidence_2015these ladies decided to move their party to the shelter this year and host Dinner and a Makeover for our clients. In addition, this group (and their customers) provide each of our new clients with a special gift when they arrive in shelter—“Gift’s of Confidence” bags—to help remind them someone cares and encourage them to believe in themselves.mary-kay-rogers

Last year, the Mary Kay Foundation provided $3M in grants to domestic violence shelters in the United States. Our local group is committed to helping NWAWS receive some of that funding in 2016. We think they are more than kind of awesome. ♥

 

 

(Above: Kay Harvey & Regina Gower look on as Julie Robins of White Wing Loft releases a dove at the Silent Witness Closing Ceremony)

Since 2013, we have recognized Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October) in a special way by holding the Silent Witness Project. Our campaign is a local display of the movement created by the Silent Witness National Initiative which began as a way to bring awareness to communities about the toll domestic abuse plays in families’ lives.

Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter uses this project to speak out against the recent domestic homicides that occurred in the state of Arkansas for the previous year. We do this by using life-sized red silhouettes to represent each victim (whether man, woman, or child) as we march and speak out on their behalf. We also place these silhouettes along with the story of the person that they represent in area businesses during the month of October so that others will learn more about the victim who is no longer with us.

Last fall, we honored the 11 lives that our state lost in 2014 due to domestic violence. Ten were women and one was the unborn child of one of the victims.

We marched with silhouettes representing them.

We read their stories and learned about the struggles they and other victims faced.

And we released doves for them as a symbolic way to release them from this earth.

Perhaps the most terrible result of domestic homicides is that while these 11 individuals do not get the opportunity to live their lives, in most cases their abusers do. We combat this cruel reality by recognizing and honoring the victims who are no longer able to share their stories with us. By speaking up for them and allowing their silhouettes to silently speak on their behalf, they are not forgotten and we hope their deaths are not in vain.

As advocates for our clients as well as all victims and survivors, we want to make sure their stories are heard and their struggles are shared. Domestic abuse is a community problem and it will take all of us working together to correct it.

silent-witness-opening

Booth at the Silent Witness Opening Ceremony

silent-witness-opening

Marchers at the March to End Violence in Downtown Rogers

silent-witness-opening

Marchers at the March to End Violence

silent-witness-opening

Detective Glynn Bertrand of Bentonville Police Department speaks about how domestic abuse affects us

silent-witness-opening

John McGee and Leslie Folsom hold the March Banner

silent-witness-opening

Kay Harvey shares her story and the story of her daughter who was killed two years ago.

silent-witness-opening

Booth at the Silent Witness Opening Ceremony

silent-witness-closing

Dr. Todd Kitchens shares NWACC’s role in reducing domestic violence

silent-witness-closing

John McGee, Executive Director of NWAWS, explains how domestic violence effects NWA

Closing Ceremony (9)

silent-witness-closing

Regina Gower shares her sister’s story

silent-witness-march-opening-closing-ceremony-domestic-abuse

Kay Harvey and Regina Gower look on as Julie Robins releases a dove

silent-witness-dove-domestic-abuse

Kay Harvey and Regina Gower look on as Julie Robins releases a dove

Special thanks to the committee members and partners who helped make this year a success! We appreciate you!

For more photos of our 2015 Silent Witness events, check out our Facebook page. To learn more about Silent Witness, click here. Interested in getting involved? Send Amber an email at alacewell@nwaws.org.

Beginning today and continuing for the next 15 days, we will highlight some of the great things that happened with NWAWS during 2015. We hope you enjoy reminiscing with us and we look forward to getting you engaged again this year.

Top 15-BFF

Top 15 of 2015

Highlight #1-BFF

Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) was a fun time for all of Northwest Arkansas, but especially for clients and staff at NWAWS. Thanks to one of our corporate sponsors, Mars, Inc., several of our clients were able to take a day to relax, enjoy the Festival’s offerings, and spend some quality time with other successful women who could give them encouragement and hope in a unique setting.

During BFF, we even had a special group of kids from Elkins Design run a lemonade stand that raised $259 for NWAWS!

elkins-design-bentonville-bff

This day would not have been possible without all the support from others as well, especially Catapult Marketing and Dillard’s (Pinnacle Hills). Our clients enjoyed lunch catered by Crabby’s and received royal treatment by and everyone at the VIB Lounge Presented by Dove (Dove, TRESemmé, L’Oreal Paris, HARD CANDY, Paris Presents, Inc., Colgate Optic White, Constellation Brands, Cover Girl, and Always).

After the festival, we also received leftover product that stocked our shelves including coffee and makeup. We were even gifted some left over furniture-some that we were able to use in shelter and the remainder that we sold in our Thrift Store. Each item we do not have to purchase puts more money in our pockets to be able to serve our clients.

Thanks to everyone for making BFF 2015 special for NWAWS. We are looking forward to what May 2016 has to offer!