May 16, 2003

Dear Friends,
It is glorious spring where I live and I'm sure it is glorious fall down
under! Today when I took my morning walk I saw thirteen little goslings, two wood chucks, a cormorant, a heron, a nesting Cooper's hawk and lots of lilac and fruit trees in full blossom. The Mississippi River is racing along from the recent rain and St. Anthony falls is shooting mist high into the air. I am reminded that new life is all around and it gives me joy.

WELCOME NEW EMAIL CORRESPONDENTS:
Gloria Rixen (Director, Spruce Woods Apartments, Bemidji, MN), Emily Hoey (SW Chicago Women's Programs, possible new Sheila Shawls distributor), Cyndi Doyle-Bryce (Student, Vashon, WA, possible new SW exhibit and programs), Kristen Ball (Prevention, Education and Development Coordinator, Sojourn Shelter, Springfield, IL). Demett Jenkins (Counselor, United Family Services
Shelter for Battered Women, Charlotte, NC, possible Shawls project), Annie Warmke (France, friend of SW, new email address), Lois Herman (SW International Ambassador, new email address), Sylvia Richardson (SW New Brunswick, Canada, new email address), Dinae Blackwell (survivor, Winston-Salem, NC).

ATTENTION: If you are a mother, daughter, grandmother or sister of a woman or man who's been murdered in domestic violence and would like to receive a comforting hand made shawl to remind you of the care and love of others please contact me. We have shawls available and would love to give you one. If you know of other women who have a loved one who has been murdered in DV, let us know her name as well. We also have a limited number of scarves for
men who are close relatives of murdered women. Thanks. Please pass this word along so the healing can move forward. Jhagberg@mn.rr.com

We also have quilts for kids whose mothers were murdered in acts of DV. To request a quilt for a kid contact Augusta Rodgers quiltsforkids@hotmail.com To send a quilt for a kid, please send to Augusta Rodgers Quilts for Kids c/o Women's Resource Center
77 East 5th Street Winona, MN 55987 Please see note in Shawls, scarves, quilts section of this newsletter. We need quilts!

NEWS FROM THE STATES/COUNTRIES:

Minnesota:
Jeanette Raymond of Family Service sends this update on the 100 Men project: Thanks for the update in your e-mail newsletter on 100 Men Take a Stand. We do have a new staff person for that project. Warren Edwards started last week. warren.edwards@fcsmn.org

*Great. We'd like to hear more from Warren about that project and it's
effects. It sounds so powerful it needs to be reproduced in every state.

Oregon:
Erica Wagner of the Women's Safety and Resource Center writes: We have finished our SW Exhibit for Coos County, OR. Our first showing was on the 21st of April at a fundraiser. It was a wonderful experience working with them. Thank you again for the vision and you willingness to help.

*We are thrilled that the new exhibit has emerged in Coos County. This is a wonderful way to honor the women from that area who have died and to rededicate our energies to eliminating this tragedy. Thanks for all the work you do, Erica and company.

Rhode Island:
An update on uses of SW during state legislative hearings from Ben Atherton Zeman: Our intern Julie just had material donated and made covers for many of our Witnesses! And we used a Witness in another hearing ­ this time for the Senate Judiciary. Tammy Chan was the Witness used ­ murdered last year in Westerly. It¹s her daughter that received the Sheila Shawl.

*This is such a good use of the Witnesses. The photos Ben sent were great. In Minnesota a group is trying to get all the Minnesota SW exhibits (10) together to go to the Capitol to signify how important funding is for the shelters. They are being threatened with cuts. Can you imagine the power of about 100 Silent Witnesses from all over the state. I really hope this works out. We'll keep you posted.

SHEILA'S SHAWLS, PAUL'S SCARVES, QUILTS FOR KIDS

Thanks to knitters: Thanks to the generosity of people all over this country we have now received, just at the main office in Mpls, more than 95 shawls and we have given away more than 75. Here are the names of people who have knit shawls (some have knit many more than one!) Nancy McCoy, Carol Cook, Sharon Sudman, Ann Sisel, Edrie Zweber, Silvia Sigglecow, Mary Brown, Peg Wise, Mary Skoy, Shirley Kimball, Cynthia Hobbie, Harriet Johnson, Emma
Filowich, Helen Inman, Barb Franklin, Geraldine Broden, Carol Venezia, Barbara Spradley, Kathy Hoagland, Dorothy Gephart, Myra Arnold, Donna Mirocha, Marian Day, Bonnie Zwierzbin, Marjean Postlethwaite, Nelda St. George, Pat, Louise Huebner, Lois Mizuno, Abby Lamberton, Judy Melanson, Joce Bono, Chris Silken, Char Follett, Helen Williams, Judy Harris, Joan Velde, Tarsia Harra, Becca Brackett, Linnea Asp, Lynn Borden, Jenna Hutchinson, Shelley Shreffler, Sue Tincher Wendy Andberg, Barbara Weatherhead, Jenny Hansen, Kirsten Osterberg, Lorie Leaf, Janet Hagberg

Four new areas are considering Shawl projects: The following states/cities are either starting or heading in the direction of the shawl project; New Mexico, Detroit, Chicago, and Charlotte.

New shawl project in Minnesota: A note from Judi Gay-- When we launched Sheila's Shawls in our agency newsletter, we began receiving responses from women who want to knit them right away. We plan to use the healing shawls in two ways: (1) to give to sisters and mothers of women murdered by acts of domestic violence; (2) to give a woman a shawl when she comes to her first support group at Anna Marie's shelter. It can be so difficult coming to that first support group, and we hope that the love and care in the shawl, the
connection with women in the community who make them, will comfort, warm, and give hope to the women who come to Anna Marie's. We are so glad that the Silent Witness Initiative thought of this meaningful tribute to Sheila Wellstone. We see Sheila's Shawls as a wonderful expansion of our Silent Witness Exhibit. -Judi Gay, Coordinator of Volunteer Services/Marketing, The Central MN Task Force on Battered Women, St. Cloud, Minnesota.

We need more quilts for kids: We need your help!!
There is quite a list of children waiting for quilts. The response for
requests has been steady. So far, the number of quilts sent is not keeping up with the demand. It's the good news, sad news. The quilt pattern is on the SW web site www.silentwitness.net and the quilts can be sent to Amanda Rodgers, Quilts for Kids c/o Women's Resource Center 77 East 5th Street
Winona, MN 55987

Shawl story from MN: My niece, Krista was murdered on Mar.24, 2002. It happened at her home by the hands of her husband. The two things we trust in we should feel safe in our home and with our husband who is supposed to love us. After killing her, he loaded her into their car and tried to stage an accident. Krista's parents, my sister-inlaw have finally got full custody of the two boys. He is now serving prison time. I truly admire Gary and Brenda. All of this has been very emotional for them. Krista had a twin as well, her name is Karla . They were identical twins, it is like Karla has lost a part of herself. I don't know how many shawls can be sent to one family, but I would like Brenda to get one for sure.

Thank you from Montana:I wanted to tell you that the shawls and scarf are greatly appreciated. Jenn's 85 yr-old grandma immediately selected the sea green shawl, Jenn used to sing about "the sea of green" from the song Yellow Submarine while sitting in the trees of our yard. Although her arthritic fingers make grasping difficult, she holds the shawl and feels memories that are too painful to think about. The other shawl and scarf belong to a miraculous guardian angel of a friend who walked with me through months of
grief-disabilitating days. She will feel comfort and hope from the shawl on chilly Montana evenings as she awaits the birth of her first child. And the hopes and dreams of the new mother and baby will be wrapped in thoughts of what wondrous gifts our children are. The shawls and scarf are tangible reminders of the love that my daughter, Jennifer O, made humbling to the proudest father in the world. I've created a memorial scholarship in my daughter's honor at her high school. Reading the hopes and optimism of the future that is written by applicants - soon-to-be graduates, has been difficult because they are the same hopes that were viciously stolen from my daughter through a selfish, cowardly act of domestic violence. I also wrote
a song that gives a way for me to express my feelings, and it has been nice that Jenn's grandma has shared it with so many friends and that copies of the song on CD are going into so many hands. It is a way for me to help Jennifer live on in the hearts of so many who love and support each other in this little community.
Thank you and all involved, for your work in the program. its too bad that such a support group even needs to exist, but thank God for the good people in the world. Norm O

Thank you from RI: We received our shawl and quilt on Friday. They are both beautiful! Thank you so very much, for myself and Frankie. Frankie would like to send Augusta a little note, if that would be o.k. My birthday falls on Mother's day this year, so I consider my shawl the most wonderful gift I could possibly receive. Many, many, thanks to all involved. Robyn

Thank you from MN: Thank You so much for sending us the shawls. Melissa was one of the most beautiful women I know and the shawls are just as beautiful .