My Nonprofit Reviews

The face of poverty and violence is seen across the globe. Many of us think it happens in faraway places but the truth is, it is happening right in our backyard. As a women who was born and raised in Salinas I have seen this first hand. In 2007 I began at Rising International, that same year there was 21 murders, 75 rapes and 1,066 assaults reported in Salinas, which is almost double the national average. One of those murders was my brother Jose. Somebody mistook his car for a gang member’s and shot him in a drive-by. It was a very difficult time for my family and prompted us to make the decision to move to a safer neighborhood. Rising enabled us to do that. My first three home parties I earned $1,085, I gave most of the money to my parents which enabled us to move to a safer neighborhood across town.


I have been a Representative at Rising for 10 years and I have seen firsthand the influence and the impact the organization has on the lives of the women who make the crafts and the women who are representatives here locally. One of my favorite crafts we sell at Rising is the Nadera doll made by Afghan widows. It is special to me because it has a history of being passed down for generations from mother to daughter. When you purchase just one of these dolls you provide 6 meals to a family and when you purchase two dolls you are enabling a child to go to school for a month. Rising is an incredible unique organization, they have made the connection and empowered women both locally and in the most oppressed regions of the world. Rising understands that when you empower and educate women you grow a generation of new leaders, and you stop the cycle of violence and poverty.