What you will need:
1. A coffee can or other suitable container
2. Lots of caring
3. A few friends

The Women to Women’s Fund

I want to tell you about the Heliotrope Women to Women Fund and see if you can get your own version rolling wherever you are. We want to hear about what happens!

Not long after Heliotrope opened, it became clear that there were quite a few women who needed some really concrete help, as in things that only money would get. In the World today, money is often a little thin on the ground.

Several of us sat and pondered the problem and came up with some great ideas! We could start a not-for-profit organization, we would do fundraisers, we would write grants……. And, we only needed filing fees, lawyer’s fees, an accountant, printed receipts, advertising, a budget for events….. Something was wrong with this picture.

Instead, we made a list of what we knew was needed. Special shoes for a Down’s Syndrome child, vitamins for a woman with chronic fatigue, the other half of the money for a wig for a woman undergoing chemotherapy that could only get half reimbursed, and on and on.

We made some calls from our new totally off–the-cuff Women to Women Fund. Several of the needs were immediately adopted, free of charge, by business women that could fill the need. Others took on a need personally.

Still, the needs were there and growing….

I remembered the description of the charity room in the Beit HaMikdosh (Holy Temple). Everyone would walk through the room, one at a time. Those who had money left some. Those that needed took. No one knew who was who.

I wrapped an old coffee can with a plastic lid in beautiful paper, cut a slit in the top and boldly wrote” Women to Women Fund” on it. It sat quietly in Heliotrope’s waiting area. Slowly, women would ask what it was. I explained the needs and that everything that went into the can went straight to another woman in need. I didn’t look in the can for over a month as I was sure there was nothing in there. One day, a desperate situation happened. I bravely opened the can and found 450. Sheq., almost exactly what was needed!

More and more miracles happened. Someone would come in and return money they had received to the can and later in the day someone in serious need would come that needed the exact amount. Someone would mention that they would like to adopt a need and the need they had an interest in would come in within a few hours…

“The Can” served us well over many years until one of our wonderful ladies brought us a pretty one (see the pretty blue house in the photo of the waiting area). Through the years we have bought many pairs of shoes, put groceries on quite a few tables, bought expensive drugs that aren’t available on the health plan, provided special foods for the ill, replaced many mezuzot, sent women to needed specialists, helped single mothers start businesses, provided tutoring for a number of children, provided all sorts of things for terror victims, and even special creams for women in chemotherapy so that their faces stayed beautiful….

Best of all, “The Can” is still working… “The Can” has helped many but it has also given me the infinite joy of seeing women at their best.

So here you go ladies! Grow your own miracles! Listen for needs, talk to your friends and wrap up an old can. We are waiting to hear your stories.