In case you haven’t noticed, our logo is the sunflower. Sunflowers are bright and tall, with strong stems. They always turn to look toward the sun. They come in many shapes and sizes and make people smile. They are able to clean the ground of lead. The sunflower has become the perfect symbol for what we do here – support and empower women, with a focus on positive grow in community, in a respectful environment.

While picking up snacks to have at our first official board meeting, I saw sunflowers for sale and bought a bunch. They sat on the table that night, and just seemed to fit. It has stuck with us. Our stationary, brochures, business cards have sunflowers on them. Outside our door we have a large sign with the sunflower on it. We tell people we are located on the corner of Bates and Ash St. behind the old “Intown Manor / Healy Asylum” and say to look for the door beside the sign with the big sunflower on it.

In an effort to save some funds and the environment, we have decided to use mugs instead of paper or foam cups. Last Tuesday, July 13, we were gifted with a mug painting session led by Judy Giffin whom we met at Calvary Methodist Church. We had been invited by the women’s group there to talk about our center. The church has a commitment to our neighborhood. It is located just a few blocks from us.

Judy has been doing decorative painting for about 30 years and teaching it for about 15 years. She belongs to the Society of Decorative Painters and is the coordinator for Sea Strokes Chapter for the Memory Box Program. This is an international program whose members paint Memory Boxes to donate to families who experience the loss of a baby, either at or shortly after birth of the child. The families use these boxes to take their precious memories of the child home from the hospital. The website for this group is www.memoryboxes.org .

Judy brought with her all the needed supplies including a special kind of paint that will not wash off of the mugs. She taught us how to paint sunflowers. Every mug was different and everyone was beautiful. Each woman put their name on a mug to personalize it for use when they are here at the center.

It was a wonderful workshop! Thank you Judy for sharing your gifts with us! You are an incredible artist and wonderful teacher! We’ll have you back sometime for women who were not here this week, or new women, can make a mug.

And thank you Calvary, for your ongoing support of our work here.