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Charity of the Month: The Beatitude House

BeatitudeHouse Scholarship RecipientEach month, Brown Paper Tickets donates 5% of profits to a charity submitted through our charity donation page. See our previous donation recipients.

Ursuline Sister Margaret Scheetz was so inspired by the film God Bless the Child that she opened the Beatitude House. The film tells the tale of a mother and daughter caught in poverty and homelessness. The mother is forced to face a tough decision to give up her daughter so that she can have a better life.

The nonprofit and nondenominational organization understands that a healthy family is essential for the community. The Beatitude House provides an array of programs to improve people’s lives. Primarily, educational opportunities and homes while the mother obtains an education and works towards employment.

To be eligible, the recipient must be considered homeless according to HUD. Additionally, The Beatitude House offers programs of “Fostering Better Families” where mothers are taught how to interact in a constructive, nurturing way with their children through activities.

Words from a Beatitude House Graduate

Sarah Ludwick, 2005 Beatitude House graduate, will be awarded the 2017 Karen R. Murphy Beatitude House Scholarship. This scholarship was created in memory of Karen R. Murphy, a thirty-year teacher and guidance counselor. The scholarship recognizes the achievement of a woman who has completed the Beatitude House Program.

“Beatitude House is an amazing program,” said Ludwick. At the age of fifteen Ludwick found herself with little self-value and on a road of poor decision-making. Three years later, she met a man who claimed he loved her. “I believed him through five years of alcoholism and emotional abuse until he finally left me alone with our two young boys and no ability to make it financially.”

In the process of being evicted from her house, Ludwick, thought she and her children were on their way to a homeless shelter, but a social worker from Help Me Grow intervened and told Ludwick about Beatitude House. “Walking into our furnished apartment, I was overwhelmed by the welcome I felt and seeing the stuffed animals on the bed that was made-up for my children,” she said.

Ludwick began meeting with a caseworker who taught her financial literacy, as well as a child advocate. “These experiences showed me that I was capable of more than mediocrity,” she added.

Gaining self-value and a wealth of life skills from Beatitude House, she decided to go back to college. “I see how I’ve grown as a person since that time, and I’ve decided not to settle for anything less,” she said. Ludwick is pursuing a degree in social work so she can help others make a better life. “I see gifts in other people that they don’t see, and I want to show them how to use those gifts to help themselves,” she added.

Ludwick hopes to graduate with a B.A. in Social Work in 2019.

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Compassion Day at Pasado’s Safe Haven

Group3-Pasados (1) Cropped-01-1Pig oinks. Donkey brays. Pony whinnies. As an animal-friendly office, we’re pretty used to dogs (and sometimes cats) running a bit amuck, but a few weeks ago we spent our workday with animals of a different sort (or snort).

Our crew used a few hours from our paid time-on benefit at Pasado’s Safe Haven, an animal sanctuary sprawling over 85-acres in Sultan, Washington. Named after a beloved donkey who was sadly tortured and killed by a group of teenage boys, Pasado’s mission is to end animal cruelty. The organization provides rehabilitation, housing and kindness to neglected, abused and discarded animals.

Pasado’s also advocates for better animal protection laws and encourages the public to make choices that will abate cruelty:

  • Reduce or eliminate meat and dairy consumption. As more people forgo meat, more lives are saved. According to the Pasado’s brochure, “from 2007-2014 nearly 400 million fewer animals were killed for food.”
  • Adopt, don’t shop for all animals, including egg-laying chickens. See some of the animals up for adoption.
  • Spay and neuter pets.
  • Look for the leaping rabbit symbol on cosmetics and household products to ensure it was not tested on animals.

Blonde-Goat-Pasados

We made new friends while touring the grounds. Priscilla, the potbelly pig greeted us by pushing her snout into our hands. (She has since found her forever home.) We snuggled kittens in Kitty City and played with pups in Dog Town. We gave gregarious goats Gary and Chloe behind-the-ear scratches and also met a pair of six-month-old sows with a penchant for untying shoelaces. A staff member explained that at six months, these wonderful creatures would typically be headed to slaughter. Instead, they were rooting around an expansive enclosure in bright afternoon sunlight, happy as can be.

After the tour, it was time to dig in and work. Pasado’s, a nonprofit with a small staff needs volunteers to help maintain the grounds. We pulled weeds and clipped blackberry branches, cleaned out the healing barn and spiffed up the welcome center. Messy work, but the hours flew by and we even got to revisit Kitty City for a second round of cat cuddles.

Our Compassion Day came to a close too quickly and we were sad to leave. The animals we met remain fresh in our minds and some of us have since changed habits to diminish animal cruelty. We’re sure we’ll return, as there’s always more work to be done.

Thank you Pasado’s for introducing us to your very special residents.

 

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Nonprofits Invited to Learn How to Own The Airwaves

Are you a nonprofit?

It’s time to dream big! Now, your nonprofit has an opportunity to own a piece of the airwaves, and it’s easier than you might think.

This Friday, November 30, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will announce rules on how nonprofits can apply for low-power FM radio licenses (LPFM) across the United States. These radio signals will reach 3 to 10 miles, serving communities in a similar way to how neighborhood and community blogs do for the online community.

We expect the FCC announcement will guarantee that the new local stations are run by truly local organizations and are broadcasting programming that originates locally. As radio signals go, LPFM isn’t too expensive, and you’d  have two years to raise the money. Watch the live Internet stream of the FCC meeting announcing the rules for application at 10 a.m. EST/7 a.m. PST,  here.  Join me for a #LPFM Twitter Party, hosted by Prometheus Radio Project, sharing comments, questions, and insights as we all watch the event.  If you miss the event, don’t worry!   To learn more about about what this announcement could mean for your school, community organization, or nonprofit, read on!


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