NOVEMBER 5, 2009 ISSUE
‘Celebrating Women’ Calendar on Sale
A calendar titled “Celebrating Women,” which features artwork donated by local artists, is currently on sale to benefit the local nonprofit OASIS (Opposing Abuse with Service, Information and Shelter), which strives to end domestic assault and violence in Watauga County.
The local Peace Rose Sisters, a group of 11 women, created the calendar as this year’s project to raise both money and awareness for OASIS, along with awareness of domestic abuse and assault, said Belinda Pardue, one of the Peace Rose Sisters.
“Most of us were formerly part of the Watauga County Cabbage Queens,” Pardue said, adding that the calendar is the first project the women have completed under the name Peace Rose Sisters.
Recently, the group reorganized and will now use the arts as the medium through which to support OASIS, Pardue said. As the Cabbage Queens, the group hosted the Wanda Ball around Christmas each year for about 10 years, also to support OASIS, she said.
The calendar sells for $15, and all proceeds benefit OASIS. Its diverse artwork celebrates the beauty and power of women, Pardue said.
“The art is frameable,” she said. “The calendar is put together so people can remove pictures and frame them.”
“It’s very dear to all of our hearts,” Pardue said of OASIS. “We’re a group of women [and] we like the idea of helping women…that women can survive [and] move out of those situations. It takes a lot of power to get out of a situation like that.”
With the nonprofit’s funding down this year and its grants diminished because of the economic crisis, “more so than in other years, it’s important that we do well with our fundraiser for them,” Pardue said.
The calendar launched in early October, during the downtown Boone Art Crawl, in conjunction with Michelle Major’s art exhibit at Greenhouse.
Major, a local artist and survivor of domestic violence, was nearly strangled to death by her husband, who also slashed more than 90 of her paintings, said Rebecca Gummere, associate director of OASIS.
The exhibit portrayed her defaced paintings.
“It’s a very powerful visual of domestic abuse,” Gummere said. “He not only slashed them, but wrote on some of them.” For more information about Major, click to www.beavoicearts.com.
“Over the last year, we have provided direct services, support and referrals to close to 200 clients and 160 of their children,” Gummere said of OASIS.
“Our shelter can hold up to 12 women and children,” Gummere said, adding that OASIS helps 30 to 40 regular clients with case management, assistance, support groups and other services.
Despite scenic surroundings and the commonly held perception that serious social problems such as domestic violence do not exist in Boone, Gummere speaks to the contrary.
“Domestic violence occurs pretty much at the same rate here as anywhere else,” Gummere said, adding that an astounding 25 to 30 percent of women are victims of domestic violence at some point over the course of their lifetimes.
OASIS invites the community “to partner with us to break the cycle of violence,” which is the organization’s overarching goal—because domestic violence affects the whole community, Gummere said.
“We’re really grateful for community partners like the Peace Rose Sisters,” Gummere said.
Local businesses sponsored months in the calendar, which provided funding for the calendar to be printed, Pardue said.
AdLib Casual Clothing; Appalachian Women’s Fund; Ceramic Designs—Bill Marr; Forget Me Nots Landscaping & Stonescaping; Glenn Ellen Starr Stilling; Janet Norris, CPA; Maggie Sparks, MD—Dermatology; Patti Turner, broker/realtor with Weichert Realtors and Weber-Hodges Group; the Peace Rose Sisters; South’s Boone Mall; and Wellspring Chiropractic and Acupuncture Center sponsor the calendar.
Calendars purchased online will be available for pickup at the OASIS office, located at 225-4 Birch Street in Boone, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.
For more information, call 828-264-1532.
For more information about OASIS or to purchase a calendar, click to www.oasisinc.org.
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