My Nonprofit Reviews

For fifteen years I have been a member of the Council Of Elders of AFWP. I'm glad to have an opportunity now to share the joy that comes to me in being one of this circle of active women. We meet monthly, addressing both domestic and international needs with our creative projects.

Internationally known jeweler Wendy Black Nasta, the founder and director, is a strong ally of the Lakota tribe; its traditions are a deep force in our work. The organization has a Board of Directors, but Wendy also relies on the collective, spiritual wisdom of the Council as we gather monthly to share ideas. We discuss the beginnings of new projects, volunteering ways that we can share responsibilities for carrying them out.

AFWP paths are diverse! As a result of early efforts in the country of Tanzania we share the care and educational needs of 25 children there. Organizational projects in the United States have included several years of eye care clinics on the Rosebud Reservation, two years of "Buckets of Love" Saturdays during which art materials were given to the children of Middletown during the pandemic, many ""Dances for Peace" evenings at The Katherine Hepburn Theater in Old Saybrook, CT, and annual fundraising performances on Broadway. In addition, for several years we have expanded our community by inviting artists across the country to donate 6^x6^ drawings of their own concepts of peace, tiles that would then be sold for the benefit of AFWP projects.

The project plans we design and carry out together carry newness and hope wherever it is most needed in our world. You can see why I am moved to be a trusted member of the Council of Elders of AFWP: volunteering my energy in this way I have become part of a precious sisterhood while contributing in my own small way to world peace..