‘The Scarlet Cord’

Film Premiere

Grand Rapids, MI – September, 2015 – Women At Risk, International will be hosting a film premiere on Tuesday, September 15, at the Grand Rapids Public Museum from 6-8pm with ArtPrize artist, Pamela Alderman. The film, based on the exhibit “The Scarlet Cord” will premiere following a panel discussion around modern day human trafficking. The cost of admission is $5. Pre-registration is now closed, but tickets will be available a the door.

At ArtPrize 2014, Alderman displayed her piece, The Scarlet Cord through a partnership with WAR, Int’l, in hopes of raising awareness of human trafficking in the United States. Through that same partnership, community members will have the opportunity to learn about the face of human trafficking in West Michigan at this program on September 15.

This event will feature a panel that will include Pamela Alderman, WAR, Int’l president, Becky McDonald, author of “A Vulnerable World” and communication specialist at Acton Institute, Elise Hilton, Senator Judy Emmons, and Vanessa, a trafficking survivor. Each speaker will share about the injustices of modern-day slavery, and will follow with a Q&A session. After the panel session, the video will be premiered.

This video features the reactions of those who walked through Alderman’s art installation during the 2015 Super Bowl in Phoenix. Through this piece, Alderman met trafficking and sexual abuse survivors who also shared their reactions as they experienced her art. This touching film also features human trafficking statistics and information on the horrors many children in America face.

The event will conclude with volunteers tying the infamous scarlet cords on the wrists of those in attendance as an ever-present reminder of the pain those engulfed in human trafficking experience each and every day.

Please note that this program and film may include content that could be disturbing.

Get Involved

We are asking those who are passionate about ending human trafficking, or want to learn more about this injustice, to come to the Grand Rapids Public Museum at 6:00 p.m. on September 15, to learn how you can be apart of the solution. This will be a time to get questions answered, hear from professionals in the fight against modern-day slavery, hear first hand from a survivor and experience a first-look into Pamela Alderman’s newest video, The Scarlet Cord.

For more information, please contact:

Women At Risk, International
(616) 855-0796
www.warinternational.org

About Women At Risk, International

WAR, Int’l is a non-profit organization that works in nearly 40 countries addressing 14 risk issues. The purpose of WAR, Int’l is to create circles of protection and hope around at-risk women and children through culturally sensitive, sustainable projects and partnerships. WAR, Int’l has a passion for giving a voice to the silenced cries of the oppressed while wrapping arms of love around them, and empowering them to live with hope and dignity.

About The Scarlet Cord

The Scarlet Cord is an award-winning art exhibit aimed at raising awareness of child sex trafficking. The unique art exhibit is housed in a 40-foot storage container that includes thirty weathered doors with portraits bound by a twisted scarlet cord. Arist Pamela Alderman’s motivation for creating The Scarlet Cord installation and video was to inspire healing for sex-trafficked children. To schedule an exhibit or video premiere, contact the artist at www.watercolorbypamela.com.

Micro-loans of Love

Empowerment, a basic need to be able to work with dignity, has often been unfulfilled for many of the women entering WAR, Int’l programs. These women need to know that they are a valuable part of their individual societies. Sometimes, all they require is an initial investment in their futures, and, through WAR Int’l, we are able to provide them with micro-loans to help them become self-sustaining businesswomen.

WAR Int’l has a deep desire to see women employed with dignity in safe environments and become financially stable. Micro-loans enhance that desire for us, which is why we believe so firmly in their effectiveness.

According to World Vision, it has been proven that women have the highest micro-loan repayment rate, and they also consistently invest the most of their earnings in their children and families. Many of the at-risk women we work with all over the world have no way to provide for themselves. But with a small micro-loan, they are given the finances they need to start a business. More importantly, these opportunities give them dignity. Micro-loans are not handouts – they are a hand up. WAR Int’l supports partnering micro-loan organizations all over the world to make sure that women have the opportunity to support their families while making an income.

What sets most of our partners apart is the fact that many times these micro-loans are also coupled with educational classes, business classes, and Bible classes. We’ll be honest; when it comes to choosing partners, we are picky. There are thousands of organizations giving micro-loans to those in need. However, we make sure life-change is happening, outside of the financial realm, for these women before we choose to partner.

Micro-loans have been the saving grace for many women and their families. Take Myra, for example. Myra was a salsa dance teacher in the Dominican Republic. Each morning, she left her three children at home so that she could teach dance. However, after learning that her oldest daughter had been raped by the apartment’s janitor, Myra knew that she had to create a circle of protection – first and foremost – around her three children. Through a micro-loan, Myra now runs a food stand selling empanadas. She is able to be with her children while making an income to support her family. She was even able to continue dancing by starting a salsa aerobics class at her local church! If you would like to donate to WAR’s Micro Enterprise fund, click here.

Though micro-loans are extremely important, women in some countries benefit more from a single, one-time gift. At WAR, Int’l, we have a program called the Goat Project. Currently, the Goat Project works in three different countries: Sudan, Nepal, and Kenya. The goal of this program is to provide women who need a source of income with goats, because in many countries, if a widow does not have a goat, she has no means of supporting herself or her family. So, while WAR, Int’l is very passionate about micro-loans, we also understand the importance of meeting specific needs. Instead of a micro-loan, this program includes a goat-loan. The goat is loaned to an at-risk woman who will raise it and use its milk to feed her family. She can also sell this milk to make an income. All WAR Int’l asks is for the woman to return to them the first female kid the goat has. In doing this, we are able to provide a goat to another woman at risk, creating a self-sustaining cycle in vulnerable communities. Read more on our Goat Project program page.

When women are provided with the basic necessities to support themselves, we help them to create an environment of empowerment in their communities. According to World Vision, violence against women decreases where women are self-employed – and we have seen this first-hand.

Please pray for the success of the businesses that these women have created, that the micro-loan program will be able to expand through WAR, Int’l and that the Gospel will be spread in mighty ways. We’re not just giving financial investments and stability to these women, but we’re giving them the opportunity to invest in their eternities as well. We don’t take this lightly, and we hope you’ll pray with us and for us as we continue to give more women opportunities that once seemed so out of reach for them.

Keep Kids in Vietnam Warm This Winter

Winter in the Highlands of Vietnam can be brutal. Weather conditions are harsh. Many of the children do not have adequate shoes, warm coats or blankets for their beds – basic necessities we often take for granted.

WAR Int’l partners with a program in Vietnam which provides for the needs of children who are living in state institutions, have special needs, or are at risk of being sex or labor trafficked in their communities. The organization currently reaches out to more than 4,500 children who live in orphanages and boarding schools in Vietnam.

Over the last few years, our partner has handed out hundreds of blankets and coats to needy children and this year the goal is no different.

This is where you come in. The organization is asking for $5 for a blanket and $10 for a coat, hoping to collect 3,000 of each item. If you can budget to give a $5 or $10 gift, you will help keep a child safe – not only from the winter cold, but from the dangers of trafficking and mistreatment as well.

If you would like to donate any amount to this organization, you can follow the link here.

We are extremely thankful for those of you who will respond to this call to action – providing safety and comfort to children across borders. We encourage you to continue to pray for this organization, that they would be able to not only reach their goal during this fundraiser, but they would impact many more children in Vietnam, sharing the Gospel with them in powerful ways.

As always, if you have any questions about us or how we partner with international organizations to bring a voice to the voiceless, you can email us at info@warinternational.org.

Lady Godiva’s Showgirls closes

GRAND RAPIDS – Lady Godiva’s Showgirls closes in GR

In the dark corners of strip clubs all across the country, traffickers loom. Strip clubs are breeding grounds for trafficking – its disguise even sometimes fools the women working in them. Many of the girls who begin stripping do so through a “boyfriend” who eventually leaves the role of lover to become a master manipulator, taking every cent the woman makes during her ten-hour shift. Violence and criminal action run rampant in strip clubs across the United States.

It’s always bittersweet when a strip club closes for those who understand the pain and depravity the girls face in these dark places. On one hand, there is cause for excitement because many girls have been set free. On the flip side, when a strip club closes, questions like “Where are they now?” begin to emerge. Some of the girls will turn to prostitution. Others will drive farther away to other clubs, either in Grand Rapids or in surrounding cities like Kalamazoo or Lansing. Even fewer will decide to leave the life completely.

Despite the uneasiness that this situation brings, a strip club has officially closed in the city of Grand Rapids. Lady Godiva’s Showgirls, a controversial strip club in Grand Rapids, has been sold to make room for downtown apartments, offices, and retail space. According to Wood TV8, demolition of the building is set to take place this fall to allow for the new developments.

There were only three strip clubs in Grand Rapids, which is quite a small number considering the population density of this city as a whole. One of the two left, Sensations, is also owned by the same woman who owned Lady Godiva’s, raising questions about whether or not the second location will also eventually close.

Lady Godiva’s has a shady past marred with the death of several strippers, shootings in the parking lot, and mafia activity. A WAR, Int’l partner has tried to go into this particular club to minister to the girls with no avail – even being banned from the premises because she came without a male escort.

So while the questions arise in the midst of this news, WAR Int’l realizes the closing of this strip club could be one step closer to ending human trafficking in West Michigan – and sharing the love of Christ with the girls who now have to search for employment elsewhere.

Please join us in prayer as we lift up the girls who formerly worked at Lady Godiva’s. Pray that God would lead them to places of joy and peace – out of the sex industry. Pray for the ones who do turn to other strip clubs or pimps in Grand Rapids – for their safety and protection in these dark times. Pray that they would find an alternate way out of the sex industry.

If you would like more information about this strip club closing, or the development that will take its place, you can visit WOOD TV8’s website that includes their article on this issue at http://woodtv.com/2015/06/30/arena-district-to-expand-with-sale-of-gr-strip-club.

Summer Sales = Bliss

Some of you have been anticipating our annual sale all year. Well, we have good news for you: you can breathe easy because our annual Sidewalk Sale is back and you’re not going to want to miss this! We are hosting the sale at all three boutique locations the rest of this month. This is a sample sale that meets a sidewalk sale – and it will support women worldwide! There will be one-of-a-kind samples from our product partners, slightly flawed scarf clearance bins, and clearance jewelry to sort through.

It is our passion to partner with champions around the globe who ensure women who create the beautiful products sold in our boutiques work in safe environments. These women are empowered in the workplace, receive fair wages, and learn about the love of Christ in the process. Supporting our boutique helps keep these women all around the world (including here in the United States) employed.

Our items make the perfect birthday, anniversary or Christmas gifts, but we also know that you are worth pampering! So, stop by and buy something for a friend, or for yourself.

If you live around the Naperville, IL area, visit our boutique July 9, 10 and 11. If you’re near Rockford, MI, check out our store’s sale July 16, 17 and 18. And if you’re around our Wyoming boutique, come stop by July 23, 24 or 25 to snag a few beautiful pieces at discounted prices. The sale will run from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day at each boutique. If it happens to rain on any of these dates, the sale will be moved inside, so don’t fret!

If you don’t live near one of our shops, you are welcome to check out hundreds of discounted items on our website at warchestboutique.com, as well.

Come be a part of this event and join us on any of those July dates – we can’t wait to see you!