34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund and of the Women of the World
A touching hand-written letter to Jane.
Feb 28, 2010
 
Dear Jane,
 
For Christmas this past year, my mother (Francine Javarauckas) gave me the a book "Half the Sky". It was also at that time that we learned that there were no more treatment options for her colon cancer.  Knowing she had only a couple of months to live, she and I started making preparations. In one of our conversations, she asked where donations (memorial) should go... and that is when I told here about the DOT ORGS listed in Half the Sky.  She was very impressed by 34 Million Friends. Together, in her bed, she and I used her laptop to go to the site, and we watched your video. When done--she said "That's the One!"  
 
She was particularly impressed by the difference a few dollars can make to a young woman and how that in turn will make the world a better place.. She was thinking that if we could get more women educated, it may very well be one of those women that find the cure for cancer, work toward world peace, etc.
 
Included is $110 in memorial donations from several people that attended her service earlier this month.
 
 
Before my mom passed on February 16, she and I agreed that in addition to collecting for 34 Million Friends, it is important to get the word out and make as many people aware as we can.  We included it in the paper announcement and I will continue to spread the word.  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help the cause. I travel all over the globe and I have an idea of what it is like in many of the developing countries
 
Kind Regards, Trish Torizzo.

When the world takes  care of women, women take care of the world. The United Nations Population Fund Takes Care of the World's Women. Please become one of 34 Million Friends of the women of the world through the United Nations Population Fund. 

Click here: Women's Health Equals Global Health: A Radical Proposal | RHRealityCheck.org

A Project of the United Nations Association of Pasadena. UNA Pasadena is a tax deductible 501c3 organization which then regrants the funds to UNFPA to the full extent of the law. 

"The United Nations Association of the United States of America, www.unausa.org, enthusiastically supports UNA Pasadena's collaboration with 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund, a powerful grassroots movement for the women of the world."

Ambassador Thomas J. Miller       
President, UNA-USA
 
The Pasadena Foothill Chapter of UNA is extremely pleased to be the host for 
34 Million Friends. www.unapasadena.org. Esther Gillies, President
                                       


  Jane's poem and Odetta's song

A WONDERFUL EMAIL FROM SENATOR CLAIRE MOORE OF AUSTRALIA

Hi, I have just read  Half The Sky, and was thrilled by your story in Chapter 8. We have had a similar struggle with our government about funding for international womens rights, particularly on reproductive rights and maternal mortality. There have been positive changes, and government support for UNFPA , but the struggle continues. Congratulations on your commitment and energy…the 34Million Friends is a wonderful initiative, and I will be sending the message to our Parliamentary Group on Population and Development .I hope that your work will be part of the Beijing+15 at the UN in March..it reflects the spirit of Beijing, and the rights of women..the need is clear, as is the responsibility and demand for sisterhood, we just need the action

Senator Claire Moore

Labor Senator for Queensland

 Hello everyone. In 2002 Lois Abraham and I started 34 Million Friends asking 34 million Americans to give one dollar to UNFPA because then President Bush had withheld $34 million. He withheld $244 million in all. That is the history. What about the present? The Obama Administration has released the $50 million voted by the Congress. But the need is so great and increasing, and your response is so positive, that Lois and I both think 34 Million Friends should keep going and going. We want this to go worldwide. I have become the public voice of this effort.

Good people, nothing is more important for the future of people, the planet, and peace than the education, health, equality, and choices for the women and girls of the world. Hillary Clinton, in her testimony to become Secretary of State: "Of particular concern to me is the plight of women and girls who comprise the majority of the world's unhealthy, unschooled, unfed, and unpaid." What an indictment! And she went on to say: "The United States must remain an unambiguous and unequivocal voice in support of women's rights in every country, every region, every continent." We must all (Americans as well as others) become unambiguous and unequivocal voices. That is what 34 Million Friends calls upon us to do. My vision for 34 Million Friends has always been that it should become a worldwide grassroots movement for the women and girls of the world. We must enter the fray against gender inequality.

UNFPA works in over 150 countries at their invitation to help women survive childbirth and to help families practice family planning. It educates the world's adolescents about the dangers of HIV/AIDS. It stresses girls' education and discourages harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and child marriage which often lead to long term harm. And UNFPA is at the very heart of the fight to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. I urge you with all my heart to become aware. www.un.org/millenniumgoals.org . Look particularly at MDG 5.
GOAL 5:
IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH
Target 1:
Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio

  • The high risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth continues unabated in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia (Worldwide over 500,000 women die giving birth every year, one a minute.)
  • Little progress has been made in saving mothers’ lives
  • Skilled health workers at delivery are key to improving outcomes

Target 2:
Achieve universal access to reproductive health

  • Antenatal care is on the rise everywhere
  • Adolescent fertility is declining slowly
  • An unmet need for family planning undermines achievement of several other goals

And all of us who are reading this have no doubt practiced some type of family planning. Family planning is such a gift. If truth be told, the ability to control one’s fertility is at the very core of women’s ability to become educated and to make choices. For me, access to reproductive health including family planning is at the very core of the world’s ability to reduce poverty and misery. Voluntary family planning saves women’s and children’s lives, reduces population pressures, gives the planet a chance to sustain us, and contributes mightily to peace and stability. One can not emphasize enough its importance not only for all the reasons above but also because it helps to prevent many of the 20 million illegal and unsafe abortions which take place every year and which take a terrible toll on women and their families. UNFPA is the largest supplier of family planning counselors, reproductive healthcare physicians and workers, and of family planning commodities in the world. Please visit its website. You can learn much valuable information. www.unfpa.org

The MDGs are at the very heart of the grassroots United Nations Association of the United States of America with chapters all over the country. That is why in keeping with the grassroots character of 34 Million Friends that I am elated to align 34 Million Friends with UNA Pasadena so that your charitable donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. These good people, with whom I have coordinated my speaking and other activities for the last two years, understand at a very deep level the importance of grassroots. We work wonderfully together. You can have full confidence that your gifts will do the most possible good for the women of the world through UNFPA. It’s time to take a stand! Please spread the word!

Warm Cheers, Jane Roberts

P.S. People like my little book, 34 Million Friends of the Women of the World. It tells the whole story. If you would like me to send you one, just ask. Click on CONTACT above. My resume is also there.

 

Please read Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's address DELIVERED JANUARY 8, 2010 at the State Department

 

 

 

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/135001.htm