Third-Party

Handworks

When our new friends at Handworks learned that our shelter was at full capacity and running out of toilet paper, they decided to kick off their NWAWS partnership with a toilet paper drive. Donors who dropped of toilet paper to the Handworks Bentonville store received a special gift – a free candle. NWAWS received three car loads of toilet paper thanks to this donation drive! Handworks will continue to partner with NWAWS and host donation drives with a special incentive for donors, so stay tuned for more from this gift store that gives back.

(P.S. If you drop off a donation of bath towels, paper towels or disinfectant spray to Handworks in Bentonville you can receive a free summer votive.)

Church Friends

We are grateful to receive support from many church partners and there are two who went above and beyond and involved kids last month: First United Methodist Church-Downtown Bentonville and NW Kids (NW Assembly).

First United Methodist Church-Downtown Bentonville featured the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter as one of their partners for the week of Mighty Missions Vacation Bible School in mid-July. Amber Lacewell, our Director of Community Outreach & Education, was a visiting “Hero” and shared the NWAWS mission with the children as well as how they can support other kids who might have to stay in our shelter. Throughout the week, the FUMC kids collected backpacks and school supplies and assembled them for the kids in shelter. By the end of the week, they filled up a car with all of the school supplies! To learn more about this activity, check out the FUMC|Downtown Bentonville blog.

The Kids at NW Assembly focused on making a difference all summer long and NWAWS had the privilege of being one of the last partners. We spoke at Wednesday Night Live, ate nwaws-make-a-difference-nw-kids pizza, and had the kids assemble backpacks with school supplies they had collected all summer. When the night was over, they sent us back to shelter with 50 backpacks ready for our kids! The NW Kids were so enthralled when we shared about the shelter and showed them pictures of the rooms–they especially loved that we have a teen room designed just for kids like them and a computer lab for everyone! The kids were so inquisitive, we probably could have stayed all night answering their questions.

Brighton Hand Bag Trade-In

We received nearly 100 well-loved and gently used handbags from Brighton Collectible’s Handbag Trade-In event. Some of the bags went to our Thrift Store to be purchased by customers or clients shopping on our voucher system. Seventeen brand-name bags in excellent condition will be auctioned off online for an online Labor Day Sale. Stay tuned for more information and to snag a gently used bag at a fantastic price. Thanks to all who donated their bags at this event!

It is so fun and encouraging watching others in the community-especially kids-rally behind the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter. We appreciate everyone’s support and look forward to on-going partnerships!

We would love to come speak to your group, please reach out to Amber Lacewell: alacewell@nwaws.org.

Have an idea for a 3rd Party initiative? Please connect with us or visit our Support Our Shelter page.

June saw several local individuals and businesses raising support for NWAWS in very unique ways. Read below to hear their stories and how they made an impact.

Mom But So Much More: The Fashion Show

Our friends at Gap organized and hosted an amazingly fun night celebrating fashion and motherhood and supporting moms who need extra support by raising funds for NWAWS. More than 63 volunteers spent more than 300 total hours planning, organizing, and working the event to make the inaugural year of Mom But So Much More: The Fashion Show a success.

We are forever grateful to the litany of sponsors who provided goodies and silent auction items, the beautiful models who showed their confidence on the runway and the volunteers who brought it all together. Most of all thank you to Chantel Shuler from Gap Kids, who has gone from Thrift Store volunteer to 3rd Party event creator and now is our most recent board member. Your vision and tenacity truly made the event a success. The Fashion Show raised almost $6500 with an additional $3000 expected to come in from matching grants.

Want to learn more about the Fashion Show? Check out their website at www.mombutsomuchmore.com and make plans to attend next year!

Bikes, Brews, and No Abuse

Longtime friends of NWAWS, Regina and Burke Gower along with their friends—the Culhanes and the Winchesters—united their love of cycling with their love of local breweries in June to raise funds for our programs. Despite the rain, Bikes, Brews and No Abuse was able to raise nearly $1300. Thank you friends for organizing the event and thank you also to the local breweries and partners who participated or donated to the event: Bentonville Brewing Company, New Province Brewing, Bike Rack Brewing, Black Apple Crossing, Core Public House, Mars, General Mills, Advil, Chapstick, and Goo!

Maude Boutique 3^rd Party Drive

Becca Brisiel, Kelly English and the rest of the Maude Squad put their heads and hearts together to support our shelter with a donation drive that ran throughout the month of June. Customers who brought in gently used clothing items to a Maude store were treated to a special discount. At the end of June, NWAWS hauled off at least 6 car loads of donated clothing—much more than we originally anticipated!

Visit the Maude blog to read their interview with our Volunteer Coordinator. Here’s a sneak peek.

“There are always volunteer opportunities (www.nwaws.org/volunteer-application) but what I’d love to see is young women in our community advocating and being ambassadors for our mission. We need their passion! If anyone is interested in being an ambassador for our shelter, please reach out to me at akinder@nwaws.org and we can talk about how your ideas, skills and passion can meet our needs. There’s so much room for growth and creativity.”

So far in 2017, friends of NWAWS have raised more than $11,500 through 3rd Party Fundraisers. Have an idea for a 3rd Party Fundraiser? Contact Merritt Royal at mroyal@nwaws.org or visit our Support Our Shelter page for more information.

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

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.

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:

July 3rd Party Drive Updates

Handworks

Church Friends

Brighton Hand Bag Trade-In