Putting Her Soul Into It: How Collective Change Can Be Therapeutic

Ellen Stearns came upon The Soul Box Project two years ago at a Moms Demand Action event. She was moved by the mission and its founder, Leslie Lee, an artist who launched the project as a way to cope with this country’s epidemic of gun violence. Lee had spent a sleepless night trying to process the horror of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas that left 59 dead, 413 injured and countless others heartbroken and scared. She decided to model The Soul Box Project after the AIDS memorial quilt, creating an ongoing artistic effort that would allow individuals a wide range of self-expression.

Ellen was so impressed that she gave up a host of other volunteer jobs to join Leslie’s core team of eight.

“I like group efforts. I like the collective trying to bring about change,” says Ellen, fourth year girlfriend and Portland activist. “It’s why I like ninety-nine girlfriends and it’s why I’ve gotten so involved in The Soul Box Project.”

 More than 100 people are killed in the U.S. each day by gunfire and the ripple effect is huge. It’s no surprise that nearly 125,000 Soul Boxes have been made and sent in to support the goal of creating a visual representation of the enormity of the gunfire epidemic. Making a Soul Box is simple, and the act can be therapeutic. One needs just two pieces of 8.5-inch X 8.5-inch paper and the desire to share thoughts or feelings on what will become a 3-D origami box. Whether expressing grief for a family member or a stranger affected by gun violence, creating something positive out of their sense of loss, or as an expression of love, people from Oregon and across the country have been moved to fold.

All kinds of groups, including book clubs, students and faith communities have discovered the Soul Box Project and have created boxes. A fall exhibit of the collection scheduled for the National Mall has been postponed for now and a virtual one is in progress, but it’s not too late to pour a little of your soul in a Box and share it with the Project. Who knows? You may find it therapeutic too.

— Tammy Wilhoite

Another Way of Doing Things

“I’m learning how I want to give money,” says Diana Velene. “I feel like ninety-nine girlfriends has been my philanthropy grad school.” Diana, a fourth-year member, has been active on a Grant Review Team and as a Grantee Partner Liaison as well as participating in as many member education events as possible.

“I’ve loved being part of big, audacious projects, but from Portland Homeless Family Solutions I learned that helping someone out of an immediate financial crisis can make all the difference for them,” Diana said via email.

Several years ago, Diana met Cameron Whitten on an Albina District walking tour. She found him to be “a bundle of energy and passion, and a devoted activist.” Today he’s a Metro Council candidate and co-founder (with Salome Chimuku) of the Black Resilience Fund (BRF), an emergency resource that raises funds from non-Black allies to support Black Portlanders. In a short few months since its inception, BRF has raised more than $1,362,040 from more than 14,000  donations and that figure continues to climb.

As of July 30, BRF had funded more than $713,469 in immediate support of Black Portlanders. The effort has particular resonance as each day and night throughout the city, diverse groups of Portland residents gather to consider the implications of racial inequities.

“So many people in our community are at that point where it doesn’t take much for them to be in a precarious financial position,” Diana explains. “Add losing a job because of the pandemic, the trauma that comes from a lifetime of racism boiling over into the events of the last month and you’ve got the perfect, horrible storm.”

Individuals contact the fund with a need, volunteers conduct a 15-minute interview, and more often than not, BRF gives them money to cover their need. As Diana points out, “It’s truly a grassroots effort to bring money quickly to the folks who need it now.” 

— Tammy Wilhoite

VOTE FOR US: A Documentary That Celebrates the Struggle for Women’s Suffrage

If, like me, you are searching for a dose of faith in human progress in this wild and weird moment, queue up The Vote. This four-hour American Experience documentary, currently streaming on the PBS website, tells the invigorating story of the 70-year campaign by American women for recognition as full-fledged participants in democracy. August 26, 2020, marks the 100th anniversary of the day that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution became law, extending the franchise to 20 million women. 

Women weren’t given the vote: they took it. What an astounding story of persistence, high-level strategy and flat-out courage the campaign entailed. While putting pressure on Woodrow Wilson to support the amendment, dozens of peaceful picketers at the White House gates were thrown into prison and tortured with force-feeding and beatings. Yes, that happened. And the documentary doesn’t shy away from ugly details, like the willingness of the movement’s white leaders to jettison Black women from the movement in return for support from Southern Democratic senators. That didn’t finally happen, but it could have. 

Oh, and don’t call them suffragettes – that was a derisive diminutive nickname coined by the anti-women crowd. The correct title for these dauntless organizers and activists is suffragists. Now’s the moment to raise a glass to our sisters who fought so long and so hard. 

— Heidi Yorkshire

Introducing the Blog: Stories with Heart

Fun things to do during the pandemic: Heidi Yorkshire, Marcy Newton, Kaye Gardner-O’Kearny, Tammy Wilhoite and I have been brainstorming for several months now on how to humanize a group whose mushrooming membership roster means more money to give away, but also jeopardizes the intimacy implicit in the term “girlfriends.” We are a whole bunch of smart, interesting women doing cool things. But with more than 500 members, how do we get to know one another? If we ever are able to have a gathering that is not virtual, who do we figure out whom to sit with?

We scratched our heads, discussed the meaning of life, quoted from Faulkner and Proust, traded recipes and finally figured it out. The result is a recurring blog that will appear on the ninety-nine girlfriends website.

Our marching mantra is “stories with heart.” We will write about members, comparable groups elsewhere and grant recipients. We will consider issues of concern to all of us, with a focus on who among us is working to resolve those issues. We will write about members at home, on the road, in the workplace. We will explore activities we are pursuing or actions we are taking to remain (relatively) sane during this terrifying global health crisis. I confess: I have even written one item about an especially alluring ninety-nine girlfriends pet.

We welcome suggestions and submissions, with the caveat that we are the self-proclaimed editing empresses. We promise not to cry too publicly if we receive gentle criticism.

This is an evolving, ongoing experiment. We are unlikely to crusade for a Pulitzer Prize, but we do hope our effort will help us all to feel more connected with ninety-nine girlfriends.

– Elizabeth Mehren

Life Lessons from Akuna

Now is probably a good moment to confess that during the pandemic, I became a stalker. 

Well, wait: My obsession with a certain large, meaty male actually started at a ninety-nine girlfriends Summer Social in 2019. Sure, the backyard setting at the home of Kit Schon and Penney Stephenson in Portland’s fifth quadrant, North, was lovely. The guests were interesting and conversation was lively.

But from the moment I arrived, it was Akuna who commanded my attention.

“Is he…” I started to guess: Siberian Husky on steroids? Malamute crossed with Shetland pony? I am on the board of the Oregon Humane Society, after all. I know my dog breeds.

“Woolly Mammoth,” said Stephenson.

Of course. I should have known.

In fact, according to his business card, this 6-year-old Alaskan Malamute named Akuna is a model and life coach who has hundreds of friends on Facebook. (Shamelessly, I confess that Facebook has recognized me as one of Akuna’s most loyal followers.)  Now that he and his two moms are back in Portland after a 6 ½-month road trip to the East Coast and back, he has fans in every state they visited. In Bar Harbor, Maine, it took Akuna and his humans two and a half hours to walk five blocks, because so many people wanted hugs from him.

“You can’t get far when the Pupparazzi are after you,” a storeowner told Schon.

If, as Stephenson contends, dogs come in small, medium, large and OH MY GOSH THAT’S A BIG DOG, Akuna owns the latter category. It. would be tempting to call 130 pounds his fighting weight, but Akuna never fights. He also never barks, except for an occasional “oof” when he wants to go in or out of the house. He lets children, adults and puppies crawl all over him.

Akuna was three years old when Schon and Stephenson adopted him from a Malamute rescue program in Washington. Every morning, he calmly allows Stephenson to brush his lush silver, black and russet fur. When he smiles (which is almost constantly), the long dark stripe on his nose crinkles in its own expression of joy. Sprawled out on his humans’ back porch, he resembles a canine monarch in playful repose.

As a coach, Akuna offers three life lessons: Smile, slow down and talk to strangers. This peaceable giant, who has never been known to have had a bad day, might also borrow a phrase from “Hakuna Matata,” a song from “The Lion King” that sounds mightily like his own first name.

That phrase? “No worries.”

– Elizabeth Mehren

Member Spotlight: Nancy Johnson

I have been looking forward to writing Nancy Johnson’s member profile as she was the one who introduced me to ninety-nine girlfriends three years ago. Nancy is a close family friend who I have known my whole life. I’ve spent countless birthdays, holidays, and movie nights with her and her family. As I’ve gotten older, Nancy has been a wonderful friend and even flew all the way to Connecticut to attend my college graduation. I’m excited to share a bit more about Nancy and what she does within the organization. 

Nancy first heard about ninety-nine girlfriends through her friendships with founders Eileen Brady and Molly Cliff Hilts. “At first I thought it was way over my head,” says Nancy.

That changed when Eileen asked her if she wanted to design the logo for the organization. Once a specific role presented itself, she became convinced to join as a member. Nancy has been contributing her graphic design skills to the organization ever since and is on the Communications Committee. 

If you’ve admired the simple and hip formatting of the event programs, you can thank Nancy! Nancy designs all of the print material for ninety nine girlfriends, along with member Joya Menashe. She draws experience from years as a graphic designer for doctors, art galleries, and retail shops. “I was doing graphic design when we still had to hand-cut typesetter’s galleys and use wax to tack down designs on boards.” Nancy also designed the iconic ninety-nine girlfriend logo that we know and love. There is heartfelt meaning behind the crisp and simple design. “I wanted to pick a color that was feminine yet strong,” Nancy says. She selected the color out of a painting by Rick Bartow, the legendary Oregon Native American artist, who had recently passed away. The font was also wrought with meaning; it was from my mother’s business card who had also recently passed away. “It’s personal. It’s paying homage to two people that I felt connected to.” 

When she’s not designing, Nancy sings and plays percussion in a band with Molly Cliff Hilts and a few other members. Pre-COVID, they would meet weekly and play Neil Young, Tom Petty, and David Bowie covers. “We performed at a birthday party once, but it’s mostly just for us.”

With more time spent indoors lately, Nancy has tried her hand at the often daunting desserts featured in the Great British Baking show. “I think that COVID has inspired me to do more in-depth cooking projects” She recently made aebleskiver, danish spherical pancakes, using a special aebleskiver pan.

– Azul Tellez Wright, ninety-nine girlfriends Fellow

Discovery Forum: How Can Philanthropy Influence Policy?

What We're Reading: How to be an Anti-Racist Accomplice

Many of us are reading, listening, taking action and discussing issues of race in response to the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests and actions to address systemic racism and policy brutality in our country. In addition to the resources we and others have shared with members through emails, member Tammy Wilhoite offers two additional resources:

• CNN Article How to be anti-racist: Speak out in your own circles by Kristen Rogers

• AWAKEN Blog November, 2019 Allyship (& Accomplice): The What, Why, and How by Michelle Kim

What We’re Reading: Philanthropy and Race

Member Elizabeth Mehren shared a great article from the May 1, 2020 New York Times about philanthropy and race by Paul Sullivan.

And another Elizabeth in our membership, Elizabeth Klein, shared statistics and resources about racial issues in our community that are relevant to our collective action. This material, from Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury’s e-newsletter sheds light on the effects of COVID-19 that are disproportionately impacting communities of color.

Spotlight Study Teams

In May, 2020 ninety-nine girlfriends members launched the Spotlight Study Teams to discover more about the priority topics that emerged from our 2019 member survey. Each small group study team will shine a "spotlight" on one of these topics and dive deeper into these issues - on a big picture and local level - to help us become more informed grant makers and community champions.

Spotlight Topics

(1) Climate change / protecting our natural world

(2) Reducing racial disparities

(3) Homelessness / safe homes for all

(4) Mental health / social-emotional wellness

What’s happening?

The study teams will convene (virtually or physically) on their own group schedule from May to mid-July to collect information, learn from people with expertise or lived experience with the topic, and assemble information to share with other members. Teams will get a grasp of the data, identify promising practices and bright spots, note what's happening to advance positive work in our community, as well as opportunities and gaps in services, and investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the topic in our community.  The summer effort will conclude with brief reports and presentations to the larger membership at a Discovery Forum, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 30 (subject to change).