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I read about this incredible opportunity for teen girls who are passionate, determined and looking for their next leadership platform. This one is internationally focused from the organization Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation for American girls to provide them the opportunity to become global leaders.

Girl Up is looking for 20 girls to serve on the 2014-2015 Teen Advisory Board. Teen advisors are tasked to raise awareness and take action on behalf of girls around world; speak up for girls in the hardest-to-reach regions.

Past advisory boards have engaged with girls from around the world during the Girl Declaration at the United Nations. Shared stories with indigenous Guatemalan girl-leaders. Met Malala Yousafzai. And so much more!

Do you know a girl who wants to take charge and share her voice in this world? Girl UP wants her to help live out its motto of being both “for girls” AND “by girls.” Click to nominate her!

We are all in this together, and just like myself and many leaders throughout the world, Girl Up envisions a world where all girls, no matter where they live, have the opportunity to become educated, healthy, safe, counted and positioned to be the next generation of leaders.

Peace, Love and #investingirls

Cristen

Learn more about the teen advisor role.

The fine print:

• Girls must be entering 7th-12th grades.
• Do not nominate family members.
• Nominations close May 31, 2014 at 11:59 pm ET.

 

Meet 8 year-old Martha. She does not have a mother, the woman who loves Martha unconditionally and places the needs of Martha above her own.

Or does she? There are many meanings to “mother.”

• A person who gives birth is a mother.
• A person who raises a child is mother.
• A person who loves and cares for a child is a mother.
• Mother Thersa was a “mother” to thousands of poor children.

It is not an all-or-nothing word. Mother is the woman or women who raises you. To all the mothers out there, enjoy the words of Author: Katherine Nelson Davis.“What is a Mother?”

 

A mother is someone to shelter and guide us,

To love us, whatever we do,

With a warm understanding and infinite patience,

And wonderful gentleness, too.

How often a mother means swift reassurance

In soothing our small, childish fears,

How tenderly mothers watch over their children

And treasure them all through the years.

The hearth of a mother is full of forgiveness

For any mistake, big or small,

And generous always in helping her family

Whose needs she has placed above all.

A mother can utter a word of compassion

And make all our cares fall away,

She can brighten a home with the sound of her laughter

And make life delightful and gay.

A mother possesses incredible wisdom

And wonderful insight and skill-
In each human heart is that one special corner

Which only a mother can fill!

St. Elizabeth Girls’ Academy has numerous mothers; nuns, house moms, and you – we are all present for our girls everyday be it physically or spiritually.

God bless our girls, our orphans. They deserve the best life can offer – they deserve a roof over their heads, food to eat and an education. Most importantly they deserve and HAVE a mother.

Happy #MothersDay

Peace, Love, and #investingirls

Cristen

Oh my gosh! Where has this year gone? Today is the last day of April. Do you know what this day is listed as on the calendar? It’s National Honesty Day.

Fun Fact: M. Hirsh Goldberg created National Honesty Day in the early 1990sbecause he felt that the month of April, which begins with a big day of lying (April Fools Day), should end on a higher moral note.

Today and every day we are encouraged to be honest. Honesty is a great virtue. There are no rules for today. Just be honest.

I suggest you take a few moments to reflect your priorities. Be honest with yourself. You have eight more months and then this year is gone forever.

Today, make it a habit to talk more about your blessings than your problems. Choose to live for what matters. It may be your children, your husband, your friend, the girl you sponsored…the list goes on and on…

You choose. A hundred years from now will the story be she conquered that cleaning to do list with gusto? NO, IT WON’T. Chances are, it will be a story passed down for generations…Do you remember when Grandma Cristen helped educate thousands of girls…

We all have “stuff” to fix, work to do and problems to deal with, but we need to keep them in eternal perspective. Invest time in yourself, in your God and other human souls. In the end that’s what matters.

Peace, Love, Honesty and #investingirls

Cristen

Meet 8 year-old Geraldine. Ask her what she wants to do when she grows up?
She’ll point and say fly in space.

Gloria is 9 years old and helps the nuns in class.
Teaching is in her blood.

 What 10 year old does not dream of saving the animals?
Gorreth DOES!

There is a big giving day here in Nevada this Friday. Our girls may live a flight and a day away, but let’s take their hand and with all our compassion provide a hand-up with their education.

ALL girls, no matter where they live – an orphanage or surrounded by family – deserve an education.

I ask that you Give Big allowing our girls to Dream Bigger.

Say it proud: #ISupportH4H and click here to participate in #NVBigGive

From my faith to your faith,
Peace, Love, and #investingirls

Cristen

 

Easter Greetings My Friends,

Easter is tomorrow, and Jesus’ blessing of forgiveness and freedom upon us. May the spirit of the season be with you, and while celebrating take a moment to reflect how you can honor the gift Christ gave.

You have the opportunity to provide life-giving power to a girl. St. Elizabeth Girls’ Academy houses and educates 200 girls annually. This weekend their days will be filled with a passion for Christ and life. They celebrate the blessing of life and the power Jesus provided them to make a choice to follow the path to an educated future.

You see, St. Elizabeth houses and educates the most destitute girls in Kampala, Uganda, girls who dedicate themselves to achieving a productive and self-reliant future. Hope for Hearts provides a hand-up to these girls with funding to support educational and vocation training.

Your gift lights the path for girls like Maggie, who now works in hospitality.  Before our program Maggie’s reality was a life of prostitution. Her parents died of HIV/AIDS, and young Maggie ended up on the streets. The power of faith stepped into Maggie’s life when a visiting bishop invited her to counseling.

St. Elizabeth Girls’ Academy changes lives, girls’ blossom after attending. They understand they are not alone, bonding with other girls who have a passion to live a better life through an education.

Your gift to creates opportunities to change a girl’s world; her faith will change the whole world.

• $25 provides two girls a month of meals
• $120 purchases a sewing machine

  

• $240 – one girl, one year of education
• $625 feeds 50 girls for a month
• $1,200 sponsors five girls for the entire year

Click here. Schedule your tax-deductible gift to support us during Nevada’s Big Give.

Mail: St. Elizabeth Girls’ Academy


P.O. Box 371-372

Las Vegas, NV 89137

Call: 702-412-6571

Together, we can provide a hand-up in the life of a girl. #investingirls.

Easter Sunday I will simply thank our girls for the inspirational grace they have brought to our lives.

Peace, Love & Grace

Cristen