I just came from the Hawaii Women’s Fund Tea and Champagne Event because they gave Learning for a Lifetime a grant for Girls Day at Palama Settlement. Board members Barbara Kozlovich, Donna Ambrose, Kristin Jackson and I drank champagne in the daytime!
It was so great to see these amazing women, all devoted to making the world a better place. Not too long ago, a woman needed to marry well. You were considered a failure if you were unmarried at twenty-two. So you got a low-paying job as a teacher, or —as in the case with my people—you became a nun.
Things have changed. Women have choices. All the women I know have ability and opportunity. Also, some of them married well. (For sure, their husbands married well.) In any case, women today do not have to join a convent if no one will marry them. That’s a good thing. And yet, look. Even with all our opportunity, women do good works. At Learning for a Lifetime, we keep an eye on the kids who have nobody looking out for them. Gwen and Momi stopped by to read stories. Suzan taught about fractions and money one day. Rayna brought the Hawaii Potters in to run a free pinch pot workshop. When we help these girls, we give them the tools to turn around and help the next generaton, and the next.
Mother Theresa said, “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” And sure enough, that’s what the Hawaii Women’s Fund is all about. On behalf of girls everywhere, thank you for making Wednesday Girls Day at Palama Settlement. And thanks for the champagne!