Spread the Word
Be an advocate for women’s empowerment in your circle by sharing BeadforLife and what you’ve learned with your friends and family. Tell friends and family that could not make it to your BeadParty about the work BeadforLife is doing to train women entrepreneurs and educate girls in Uganda.

• Click here to send an email  

• Use social networking sites, your own blog or just the power of your own voice to improve others’ understanding.

Write Letters
Write letters to your Senators and Representatives expressing your concern about the conditions women and girls face around the world and suggesting ways that the United States or your country could make a difference.  Visit the following websites to find contact information for your local congressional representatives in the United States:

• http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home
• For some well-worded templates, see www.womenthrive.org.  Letters can be composed and delivered either via e-mail or hard copy.

You can also write letters of support and encouragement to the BeadforLife members.  Send your letters to BeadforLife; 2336 Canyon Blvd, Suite #202; Boulder, CO 80304.

Support the UN
The United Nations has outlined an integrated approach (Millennium Development Goals) to fight extreme poverty worldwide, including Universal Primary Education, and has a strategy to achieve their goals by 2015.  Increasing awareness about these goals helps create the kind of coordinated international approach necessary. 

•  www.un.org/millenniumgoals

Connect
Connect with non-profit organizations whose missions also involve women’s empowerment. Build your understanding of the issue by reading their blogs, following them on social networking sites and browsing their websites.

Be our friend
Follow our Blog
Sign up for our Newsletter: The Bead

Volunteer in Your Community

• Call your local women’s shelter and ask what they need most. One option might be to organize collecting items such as socks, blankets, toiletries or other necessities.  Not sure where to start?  Contact:
• www.salvationarmyusa.org
• www.timeforchangefoundation.org

• Contact your local food bank or soup kitchen.  Arrange to collect or serve food, or clean up the kitchen and talk to recipients.
  Find a local food bank: http://www.feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx

• Get your hands dirty with Habitat for Humanity and help build a house for/with a family in need. www.habitat.org

Educate the Next Generation!
Are you a teacher, Girl Scout leader, Sunday school facilitator?
Educate today’s youth and tomorrow’s future leaders about women’s empowerment issues using BeadforLife’s interactive service learning curriculum in your classroom or organization. Students will use hands-on activities, simulations, and discussions to better understand the issues and ways they can take concrete actions to help eradicate poverty.

http://www.beadforlife.org/curriculum.html

Support Fair Trade
What people – and women – around the world really want is the opportunity to support their families through honest hard work.  But in many countries, there are few jobs or opportunities for them.  In some cases, trade rules unfairly discriminate against farmers and merchants from developing countries.  Many organizations are working to make trade fair.  Others, including BeadforLife, promote Fair Trade items that pay people living wages.

• http://www.fairtradefederation.org
• http://www.tenthousandvillages.com

Give Alternative Gifts
Buy BeadforLife Products! Give alternative gifts that not only provide sustainable livelihood to women worldwide, but allow the recipient to experience the joys of receiving and giving.

• www.alternativegifts.org

Donate
Choose an organization whose mission aligns with your own values and donate to help them reach their goals. Donations to BeadforLife go directly to empower women and girls in Uganda. 93 cents of every dollar is invested in community development work fighting extreme poverty, including projects in health care, affordable housing, vocational training for out-of-school youth, and entrepreneurial skills development. BeadforLife is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (tax ID: 20-1683139). Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.