Please support us and these great artists and pick up a great gift for the holidays!

We are offering, through the end of the year, an opportunity for our fans (and fans of the artists represented at the Gallery on Friday) to purchase signed, limited edition prints. The prints will be $100 each plus $19.99 shipping and handling. The artists will each get $50 and the other $50 will be split between Mango Tree Foundation and Dining for Women (www.diningforwomen.org).

We will have thumbnails of the artwork on our “shopping” page for you to see, click and purchase. Prints are being printed on demand and shipped as soon as they are printed, signed and numbered.

We are supposed to be live tomorrow for purchasing. If you are having trouble finding the prints on our site, please shoot me a note. I’ll try to help you!

Thanks.

Nancy

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUYZWZ6N-6tc&h=KAQDOw3xIAQBpuRO91-ZloxwEiYecLJw1l7GAi8DsmywbdA

Yea, F…famine!

nbb

I am filled with such gratitude. I have been truly blessed.

nbb

Friday, September 23 at 6:30 p.m. – Join us for an All Levels Yoga Class at Plum Tree Yoga in Historic Roswell. All proceeds to benefit African Famine Relief. Please rsvp – 678.585.0500 – space is limited! www.plumtreeyoga.com

Wednesday, September 28 at 7:30 p.m. – Free Community Pilates event at Pilates Tutor in East Cobb. Please rsvp – here’s the event link: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=us9ntucab&oeidk=a07e4rpdsc4d931b7c5

Friday, October 7 at 6:30 (maybe 6:00) at Vista Yoga in Decatur. I will post the rsvp information as soon as I have it!

Come out, have a practice, open your heart!

Nancy

On September 1 I embarked on another journey that I thought I had packed for. Haha! Guess what? I had, and probably still have, absolutely no idea what to expect for this journey. Because, this time, I’m not packing for how hot it may be somewhere, I’m not packing for what may be more acceptable dress for a woman in a culture different from mine.

You’re packing a suitcase for a place
None of us has been
A place that has to be believed
To be seen
(Bono/U2 – Walk On)

On September 1, I started a 30 day physical challenge to practice yoga and pilates every day. The purpose is to raise awareness and money for famine relief for the Horn of Africa. Those of you who know me know I’m not a disaster relief kind of person. My focus is on after the relief organizations have come and gone, after the attention is off the disaster or problem…then I think rebuilding civil society is so critical, helping to create sustainable, self sufficient solutions in response to disasters.

I digress. My point to all this is, I was prepared for the physical part – thinking I would be tired, sore, physically inefficient. I was not prepared at all for the mental and spiritual journey I’ve found myself on. It reminds me of when I returned to college at the ripe young and fabulous age of 50…I figured I wouldn’t be smart enough, that the other younger, traditional students wouldn’t accept me; but it never occurred to me that returning to college would entirely upset my personal apple cart, change my worldview entirely. Right now, I find myself a little more emotionally fragile, perhaps a little more vulnerable – something I’m not totally comfortable with. But I find I am filled with such joy; I am finding such incredible pleasure in the practice of yoga. I have the most amazing opportunity – through myself I can help others. Is that really a possibility?

Yesterday after I dropped my car at the repair store for new tires and an oil change I chose to walk the two miles home. As I walked, I began to think about how irritated I was that my husband wasn’t available to pick me up, that the lady who takes customers home wasn’t there, right at the moment I wanted a ride home. As I walked, I thought about the women and children in the Horn of Africa, particularly those who are walking 28 days to hopefully get to food and safety before they, or their children, die. As I walked, I wondered what would happen if my neighborhood of 95 homes had to all leave and begin a journey, on foot, that might cost all of us our lives. I imagined what the exodus from my neighborhood would look like. How can you even begin to explain that? How can you even begin to justify that?

I’m 10 days into my 30 day challenge. Wonder what it will feel like at 30 days?

nbb

Imagine if those types of safety nets existed for people living in the Horn of Africa. Imagine if the famine were covered on the international and national media level equivalent to what we saw over those days. Imagine the devastation that could have been prevented if officials were proactive in times before a famine. Imagine saving the lives of the more than 30,000 children now lost. Imagine the lives of over 12 million people that will be affected in this drought. Imagine walking 28 days with the hope of getting you and your family to a place where you might be able to find food and having to choose which one of your three children you would have to leave on the side of the road to die because you were too weak to carry them.

I agonized over this situation; this needless loss of life. I agonized over the idea that I would ever have to choose which one of my children I would have to let die first. Even worse, where I live, people die from obesity, obesity related causes – we have too much. And, people in a different part of the world die from not enough.

What good does it do for me to worry and agonize about a famine in another part of the world? What can I do? Can one person make a contribution that might make a difference? Those of you who know me, know that when I get frustrated with something that is happening I make a conscious decision for change.

On September 1 I began a physical, personal commitment to practice yoga and pilates every day for 30 days. The purpose of this endeavor is to raise awareness and money to support the work that CARE and the World Food Programme are doing in the Horn of Africa. I know that my physical challenge in no way equals what people in the Horn of Africa experience daily but I believe that through my commitment to a 30 day journey of physical healing I can somehow honor the lives that have been lost. I can also reach out to each of you to join me in this experience.

How can you participate?

1. Support me. Donations can be made to Mango Tree Foundation with all proceeds received from September 1 – October 15 going equally to CARE and the World Food Programme.
2. Engage your local yoga and pilates studios to do a community oriented event with the proceeds coming to Mango Tree Foundation, which will then be donated to CARE and the World Food Programme. Suggested donation amount is $30 (people living in extreme poverty live on less than $1/day – $30 for 30 days). Of course, if you are feeling more generous, please give freely.

Through my physical challenge I hope to honor the women and children and men who are struggling every day to find food, to stay alive. Sometimes we need to be reminded of how secure our lives are, how lucky we are. Yes, I know that one person can affect great change in the world. But, I can only start with myself, share with you what I am going to do and ask you to join me.

nbb

Nancy Bauer, Executive Director for Mango Tree Foundation, will be taking a physical challenge for the 30 days of September to raise awareness and money to be donated to CARE (www.care.org) and the World Food Programme (www.wfp.org) to support their famine relief efforts in the Horn of Africa.  Nancy’s challenge is to practice yoga and pilates every day for 30 days.  She is being joined by her friend and yogi extraordinaire, BeAnne Creeger, who will practice yoga every day for the entire 30 day period.  Check out the MTF blog for a personal statement from Nancy.

Look here for updates on participating studios, events for you to join us, and our partners in this effort.

Please click the donate button below to make a donation to support their efforts.  All donations are tax deductible.  Mango Tree Foundation is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization based in Roswell, GA.

Check out the blog from our new project: Vencedoras de Batallas – vencedorasdebatallas.blogspot.com.

Vencedoras are an amazing group of women who are determined to find a better life for themselves. We are really excited to be sharing this opportunity with our friends at Uniminuto as well as Padre Renee from Fundacion Eudes. Some of the women from Vencedoras are taking English classes and computer literacy classes. Great skills to acquire in this changing world. But, that means I had better get my Spanish speaking skills up to speed!

We are also still working on our fruit drying project development…always pushing forward to create a viable project that will change the lives of women in the developing world.

We are still trying to find a location for our annual fundraiser. We have some ideas but nothing concrete, yet! I will definitely keep you posted on our progress. We are hoping for a late September, early October event!

Hope you are staying cool in this summer heat. It has felt like August here in Roswell since the beginning of June.

Best.

nbb

May 22 I had a chance to meet with Todd and Holly Petitt of Africa Bags at their home in Colorado. They were leaving for a three week trip to Malawi the next day (with their kids and six or seven huge bags of medical supplies and other things, flying standby). If you’re not familiar with Africa Bags, check out their website and the amazing projects they are working on in Malawi…www.africabags.org. We have been talking with them about potential collaborations between Africa Bags and Mango Tree and want to put in a pilot fruit drying project within the next 9 months. Africa Bags has offered us space in one of their community centers (built by funds from the sale of Africa Bags) as soon as we can get ready. Super exciting – we have a lot of work to do and a lot of money to raise.

We have asked Africa Bags to create a special, limited edition, Mango Tree bag. We will be using fabric exclusively for Mango Tree for the bags. They won’t be one of a kind but they will probably be 1 of 100 kind! If the project is successful, my idea is to have a limited edition Mango Tree bag created by Africa Bags every year!

On June 13, we partnered with a local Mary Kay representative, Callie Brown, for “Makeovers for Mango Tree Foundation.” 50% of the proceeds from the sale of that evening’s sales were donated to Mango Tree. We raised around $800! A great way to raise awareness and to support a local businesswoman. I love these kinds of collaborations.

We have also moved forward with our support of Vencedoras de Batallas in Bogota. Right now we are funding capacity building, leadership training, and organizational development working with our wonderful partners at Uniminuto and Fundacion Eudes. Some of the women are taking English classes as well as computer literacy classes. Beginning in September, the women of Vencedoras will begin entrepreneur training – the ultimate goal is to become independent businessmen. One of MTF’s requests is that the entrepreneur training include the creation of a micro-savings initiative within the group. MTF’s goal – create a savings account that the women can eventually borrow from to start their own businesses. We believe that a micro-savings opportunity has the potential to strengthen this group, continue their training and development and leaders and, create an environment of savings! We also believe that this isn’t giving a “hand-out” to women but rather asking them to make a commitment to be the best they can be!

Working on the 3rd Annual Girls Night Out for late September/early October. Still trying to secure a venue that will be suitable for what we want to do. Hoping for a wine tasting with live music!

This year will be a big fundraising year for us. We need your help to do our work. Please consider making a donation. Every amount helps and every amount is necessary – so necessary. As you know, we continue to be a volunteer organization – no one at Mango Tree Foundation receives a paycheck.

Thanks for sharing this journey with us.

nbb