YWCA Walla Walla

A Fun Factory team member bowed out for a family vacation, so Jude has joined the team. Earlier this summer he was coaching a soccer skills day camp for Whitman, so you could say activities with kids are Jude's jam! Come meet the whole team tomorrow, Tuesday, at 275 Woodland Ave (10:45am), Washington Park (12:45pm), YWCA (2pm), or the VA Parade Loop (3:15pm). If you're craving some soccer scrimmage, jump now because next week is looking hot...🔥😳

Tomorrow we wrap the first week of 2024 Fun Factory, which means you still have seven weeks to meet up with the team for some summer fun! We've made bracelets, played some Twister, tugged the big rope...the summer is off to a great start!

How do you find the Fun Factory? The schedule is at ywcaww.org/fun-factory, and all you have to do is show up! There's just one exception...we want to visit Starbuck every Monday, but that stop is by request only. So call 509-525-2570 by 1:30 on Mondays and the van will roll up to Starbuck School at 2:30.

If you have questions about Fun Factory call the office or email [email protected].

It's ! When a community speaks up for their rights, it's always helpful to have a voice in the halls of power.

Tammy Baldwin was the first openly gay person to be elected to both chambers of Congress and has served as the junior senator from Wisconsin since 2013. Baldwin has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, access to healthcare, and student debt relief.

When Kim Coco Iwamoto, a Hawaiian politician, was elected in 2006, she became at that time the highest ranking openly transgender elected official 1) in the U.S. and 2) to win statewide office in Hawaii.

The celebration continues with two women who have used their talents to tell LGBTQ+ stories through television and film.

Janet Mock is a transgender rights advocate, writer, and media producer — and is the first openly transgender woman of color to write a television episode and secure a major studio deal with her hit show .

Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim a Nigerian film producer, screenwriter, and filmmaker who has worked to give voice to Nigeria's LGBTQ+ community through her film production company, Hashtag Media House.

To all the dads raising kind, strong daughters and sons and showing them every day the meaning of unconditional love...Happy Father's Day!

[Illustration of father with a boy hanging off one bicep and a girl off the other]

June is Pride Month, but you can make every day Pride Day by supporting your LGBTQIA friends and family.

Rainbow-colored text reads: Be proud of who you are. Be proud of who you love. Be proud every day. YWCA

Photo shows smiling couple embracing. An orange circle with a bridge in the center reads: "Empowering communities, advancing justice." Includes text PRIDE MONTH. Photo is overlaid with the YWCA logo.

June is Immigrant Heritage Month, a time to appreciate what people from all over the world have contributed to life in the US!

Where would we be without our immigrants? For starters, we wouldn't have Apple, Costco, Broadcom, or Intuit.

Springsteen and his blue jeans may have been born in the USA, but Levi's was founded by two immigrants from Germany and Latvia.

Unless all your ancestors were Indigenous, you might not be here either.

Numbers from Society for Human Resource Management back up the vital role immigration has played in America's economic success:
* Almost 45 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.
* These companies brought in more than $6 trillion in revenue and employ 13.5 million people.

What has your DNA test or family lore told you about where you came from?

It's a special day at the YWCA (and I obviously could not get enough of this face)! Any guesses what just happened, and why it happened here?

Watch FB and Instagram for the rest of the story!

This week HOTlanta is full of YWCA women on a mission! Representing our local association at the Leadership & Capacity Building Institute are Executive Director Anne-Marie, Board Member Karen, Board President Becky, and Office Manager Karla. YWCA USA has flown in directors and emerging leaders from all over the country to learn from inspiring speakers and each other about increasing the impact of the YWCA on communities like ours.

Lindsay and David are hanging out at the College Place Farmers Market until 7. Come try tug-of-war or a ring toss and say hi!

Here's another peek at Mariposa's Whitman Day. The leaders agreed that having the girls design their own shirts was much more fun than having something printed. Pictured: Designing shirts, exploring campus, outdoor games, hanging out in the student center and all six members of the YWCA Mariposa team: Britt, Kiley, Helena, Kate (coordinator), Megan, and Rebecca.

Be Nice to Everybody and Save the Planet? Can't argue with that advice!

Each year Mariposa concludes with a day when all the fifth graders in the program get together for a visit to Whitman College. Some of them expect to go on to college, just like their parents and older siblings did.

For others, this might have been the first time they ever pictured themselves as college students!

Mariposa builds confidence as each girl grows to appreciate their own unique gifts and lift each other up. Thank you to Mariposa leader Helena (pictured, playing volleyball with Ruby and Cleo) for sharing a glimpse into the lives of these lovely, creative young women. Just imagine the dreams that will fill these journals as they begin their middle school journeys.

Mariposa leaders Megan and Kiley were out at the Ducky Derby Saturday with a free kids craft: making hanging koi fish. It was quite a windy day for a crêpe paper craft, but they managed !

These two have been talking about healthy relationships with fifth graders this school year, and Kiley (in blue) will be rolling with the Fun Factory van for 8 weeks starting June 24. The summer schedule will be posted in about a week and over the next few days we will finish hiring our final two Fun Factory leaders.

Trilogy Recovery and Whitman College have planned two REDress events for Friday, May 3.

The REDress Pproject responds to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) epidemic in the United States and Canada.

> 5 to 5:30 PM < 345 Boyer Ave. Memorial Building, North Lawn
REDress Event in support of the MMIW Movement with
HAND-DRUM SONG: CTUIR member Robert Wilson
SPEAKERS: CTUIR member and General Council Secretary Martina Gordon
CTUIR community member and Šináata Scholar Lindsey Pasena Littlesky '26

> 6 PM < Land Title Plaza
Vigil will follow with traditional hand-drum song and indigenous speakers sharing about MMIW

Thank you, Providence friends!
We are grateful for your support of awareness initiatives like these as well as for your generous support of events like next week's Leadership Luncheon! See you Wednesday!

Have you seen the bouquets of pinwheels at the Providence St. Mary Medical Center and Providence Southgate Medical Park campuses?

In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month, Providence St. Mary Medical Center and Providence Medical Group are partnering with YWCA Walla Walla to display blue pinwheels to draw attention to this urgent issue.

In Washington State in 2020, nearly 4,000 children were neglected or abused. The largest age group of victims were under the age of 1.

The pinwheel is a symbol of childhood, and serves as a reminder of the healthy, happy life that all children deserve.

Join us on May 1st as we reflect on 25 years of Leadership Luncheons and all that has happened in the lives of women and families because of your generous luncheon gifts. The 2024 keynote speaker is Nan Stoops who has been advocating for anti-violence for 40 years. You won’t want to miss this incredible event! Visit ywcaww.org/luncheon to get your tickets and reserve your spot!

We could use a few helpers to prep for the luncheon. If you are interested, here's some contact information. Hope to hear from you!

We have some upcoming volunteer opportunities at the YWCA! The Leadership Luncheon is our biggest event of the year. We need some helping hands to make it happen. Interested? Reach out to Karla Castillo at [email protected], 509-525-2570, or send us a DM to inquire.

The Luncheon will be on May 1st, 2024 at 12:00 pm. We will also have some volunteer opportunities leading up to that date.

The whole shelter, from the laundry room to offices, is getting a fresh, clean look for spring. It wasn't exactly looking terrible before, but we won't miss all the little spots and patches that have accumulated over time. Our painters have been working around shelter needs so services can continue with very little interruption.

Thank you for the support that makes it possible to take good care of these important spaces!

Thank you, Walla Walla County, for the official proclamation that April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month!

It's almost May, and you know what that means for YWCA Walla Walla: the annual YWCA Leadership Luncheon! This year is extra special because we are looking back at 25 YEARS of luncheons and all that has happened in the lives of women and families because of your generous luncheon gifts.

We are crunching some big numbers that we're excited about sharing with you, AND we are getting a kick out of 25 years of digital photos and prints. We are looking forward to sharing (some of!) those too. Go to ywcaww.org/luncheon to order your tickets (and choose your meal and let us know who you'd like to sit with). If you have questions, call 509-525-2570, from 9 to 5 weekdays.

Such a treat this week to have Maria from the Salvation Army food bank stop by with her daughter to pick up some pinwheels. They are helping spread the message of Child Abuse Prevention Month: Every child deserves a great childhood!

YWCA is at the Prescott resource round up, hosted by Skyrocket Church. We are giving away pinwheels and coloring pages for child abuse prevention month, bubbles and flyers for Fun Factory's upcoming summer visits to Prescott with free arts and crafts and activities... we even have some invitations to the YWCA Leadership Luncheon, which is coming up fast on May 1.

Friday, April 5, is WEAR BLUE DAY! 👔👗👖🩲

Anyone can wear blue. But can you wear SO MUCH blue that people ask, "What's the deal with all the BLUE?" 😄That will be your chance to share the message of Child Abuse Prevention Month: "Every child deserves a great childhood!" 💙and "Everyone can play a role in preventing child abuse!" 🩵

Share a photo of yourself wearing TOO MUCH BLUE tomorrow (if this is even possible) and post to social media with the hashtag ... plus if you are so inclined!

Wear your favorite shade in honor of your commitment to preventing child abuse.

PHOTOS: Smiling little girl in a blue dress with pink heart sunglasses and a child in a blue shirt looking toward the camera through blue-rimmed binoculars

LOGO shows five multicolor stylized figures with the letters CACWA and the slogan "Protecting children, reducing trauma."

If you are successfully signed up for the 2024 Racial Justice Challenge, you should have received a message this afternoon reminding you to sign in. WELCOME!

The challenge begins with the topic of Bodily Autonomy.

You may have heard about the Tuskegee experiment in the 1940s that undermined the trust of many African Americans in the medical establishment. In the 1950s, the "immortal" cells of Henrietta Lacks were collected without her consent. Learn more about both in today's challenge.

Even more recently, about 25% of Native American women of childbearing age were sterilized, often under duress. And, thanks to a 1970 law, this was LEGAL.

Today's challenge covers a lot, these stories and more, but you can explore at your own pace. And join the online discussion to see what other friends of the YWCA have to say.

We can't stop working for racial justice until justice just is! Join the YWCA board and staff in the 2024 challenge.

https://get-involved-ywca.mn.co/plans/378615?bundle_token=160dba2dfbaed61bce28a90dcacd1c07&utm_source=manual

The weekly topics that will be explored during the 2024 YWCA Racial Justice Challenge are:

Bodily Autonomy.
Learn more about some of the many ways marginalized bodies are restricted, policed, and violated.

Financial Empowerment.
Learn more about how women are taking control of their finances and making important decisions about budgeting, saving, and investing despite inequities that persist and interfere with them reaching their full economic potential.

Gun Violence.
Learn more about the history of gun ownership in America and how it has impacted the lives of marginalized people.

Transportation.
Learn more about how access to transportation impacts every aspect of our lives, from our ability to get to work, access healthcare, and educate our children.

It's amazing what can be accomplished when a group of committed people work together toward a common goal. Thank you to all the RoseMary's Place partners!

We are setting a new YWCA record for caring for YWCA families. So far, you've opened your hearts to adopt 51 families!

The need has been great this year. We do anticipate more families could be entering shelter this month, and we'd love to be ready with a few extra gift cards or gifts. If you'd like to help, email [email protected] or call the office, 509-525-2570.

In addition to dozens of families and individuals, some of the clubs and businesses adopting families this year include Coldwell Banker Walla Walla
Saint Silouan Orthodox Church
Walla Walla Kiwanis
WorkSource Walla Walla
Walla Walla Community College (Student Success Center)
Pioneer United Methodist Church
Falkenberg's (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063706454710)
Banner Bank
Blue Zones Project - Walla Walla Valley

❤💚