free wine for a good cause

if you read my previous post you'll know that i'm entertaining myself in a different way this spring season. free wine is my new mantra, and you'll never guess what happened today at work, my friend emily was trying to recruit someone to attend a fundraiser/informational meeting at a friend of her parents' apartment on the UES (upper east side, for my non-nyc readership). now, i would have attended even if my new mantra wasn't in effect, but this invitation also held two other things that have become near and dear to my heart since i moved to the big apple: the UES, my current and favorite neighborhood, and fundraisers.

fundraisers have a different connotation in nyc, not one of required donations to get in the door, or snobby snobs looking down their long noses. it's more of a "let's get together in a formal, slightly dressy way for a really good cause that you probably won't care about but that i want to talk to you about." you see, wildly different.

anyways, this specific gathering was of the typical fashion. held at the amazing apartment of Beth Daniels a devoted volunteer with the Women's Refugee Commission. she has poured her heart and soul into the organization since a spur of the moment refugee camp visit to Thailand in 2006. it was sometime around that visit that she met Ada Williams Prince, the senior advocacy officer at the commission, at the Women's Refugee Commission office.

ms. prince was the presenter at this evening's affair. she gave a very inspiring overview of the commission. did you know that the average refugee is in a camp for 17 years? that means that children are born into the camp and in some cases never attend school, that also means that the chance of their mother's being attended to properly before, during and after childbirth is slim to none. that used to be the case, at least, until the commission began taking action and rectifying these wrongs by raising awareness of women's reproductive health issues, education, and other needs and rights of women and children displaced by conflict or natural disaster.

it is a truly inspiring mission and one that these women have not taken lightly. there are only 25 employees in the new york office, and it is through the help of these employees and the many dedicated volunteers that all this work gets completed.

find out more on their website. they are always looking for volunteers.