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The BeaLine (YouTube video)
Bea Black, Executive Director
Gratitude is the word for November. This time of year, I find myself so grateful for all that I have in my life. I have a wonderful family, a great place to live, and a fabulous place to work. I just feel so humbled and honored to be at the WCA doing the work that we do each and every day.
I also know that there are a lot of individuals for whom this time of year is very difficult. They hear these messages about being grateful and Thanksgiving and families getting together—but they may not have a warm and loving family to go to. They may not have a home to go to.
When you are thinking about all the things you are grateful for, please also think about ways you can help support our clients. There are three very specific ways to help: donations of gift cards, items from the Wish List on our website, and the Giving Tree at the Grove Plaza. Gift cards allow our clients to regain some power as they purchase gifts and determine their own needs, our Wish List online is often being updated with needs for our clients and items we may need to continue our work, and the Giving Tree is another way to ensure that everyone in our community gets the things they need for the holidays.
Thank you in advance for your support.
I wish for you and all your loved ones a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving month.
-Bea
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“Alchemy,” by Rebecca Evans
This “recipe” poem is by Rebecca Evans, a great supporter of the WCA, a survivor and former client. Rebecca is a writer with essays and poems published in The Rumpus, War, Literature & The Arts, Entropy, and Fiction Southeast, to name a few. She served eight years in the Air Force, including service in the Gulf War. With an MFA in creative nonfiction, Evans is now working on an MFA in poetry at Sierra Nevada College. She is currently editing a collection of essays titled Body Language, and just completed her memoir, Navigation. She lives in Idaho with her three sons.
Step One: Sprinkle a dash of encouragement and a sense of being, always more generous than you thought you’d need.
Step Two: Speak in tones that bring grandparent’s smile. It really isn’t what you say, but the delivery that counts.
Step Three: Add twinkles and soft touch, remembering that snowflakes are best when slightly melted.
Step Four: Add warm bubbles and tell yourself that creatures transform when robbed of their comfort.
Step Five: Sip steamy Chai infused with dolloped honey. Consider extra honey to neutralize bitterness or heartbreak. Turn the heat high if the spirit has been hardened.
Step Six: Enfold the being, if not with arms, then the softest flannel woven with the brightest hue. It is well-advised to add music, perhaps wailing cellos or birdsong or riverbanks backed by the wind.
Step Six: Note the return rate and realize you may need to begin again, one step back, one step forward. You may stay in place for quite a while. Do this dance as long as it takes.
Step Seven: Remind yourself that you were here before and this recipe, passed along to you, generation after generation, has existed for all of time.
Note: Tell yourself to hold onto that hope-thread wish—that one day this recipe is no longer needed.
Read, “It Does Not Matter” by Rebecca Evans on our website.
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Annual Meeting Volunteer Recognition
On October 21 at our Annual Meeting, we were excited to celebrate 11 volunteers  who have made a huge impact on the WCA in the last fiscal year
Congratulations to Cindy, Amy, Geraldine, Nolan, Steve, Kathy, Baylie, Abbey, Zoe, Maura, Martha and Denise. These stellar volunteers help in the areas of child care, our shelter, the thrift store, court advocacy program, administration and on our Philanthropy and Outreach teams.
All our volunteers are special to us and in the last fiscal year, more than 4,858 volunteers contributed more than 27,134 hours of their time to the WCA. This equates to 13 full time staff members. Wow!
We cannot do what we do without the vital support of our volunteers. Thank you all!
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Supporting Our Clients
Our community is constantly giving back and supporting our clients on their journey to safety, healing and freedom. We would like to highlight just a few special cases that have happened recently.
Our work is only possible through the support of our community.
There are simply too many companies, families, and individuals to list. Check out our Facebook page for more fun photos and stories!
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Staff Spotlight: Meet Olivia
Our staff spotlight for November is one of our Jesuit Volunteer/AmeriCorps Members, Olivia! She is serving as the Women’s and Children’s Alliance’s Prevention Coordinator for the year.
Olivia comes to us from Massachusetts where she grew up and attended the College of the Holy Cross as a Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Major. With a Navy ROTC background, her interest in Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault prevention budded while interning in DC and writing a thesis on the sexual harassment epidemic within the United States Military. Though the Navy was not the path for her, Olivia feels very lucky to have found the Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest and been placed with the Women’s and Children’s Alliance in Boise.
This is the second year that the WCA has had a Prevention Coordinator position. With a growing Prevention program, Olivia fills her days assisting with weekly healthy relationship groups, presenting on healthy relationships and teen dating violence, running the annual PSA Contest, and helping to manage our Youth REP program. Olivia loves that the prevention coordinator position allows her to expand upon her Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s studies education while interacting with the Treasure Valley youth.
More…
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The Impact of Corporate Pillars
The WCA’s Corporate Pillars and Business Partners programs are vital in helping us fund our services for clients. We have close to 70 business partners and their employees who choose to generously donate to the WCA through financial and in-kind support.
Why do they do so?
“ESI has always been dedicated to supporting the WCA because of their commitment to empower women and children to get back on their feet. We support organizations that operate with fiscal responsibility and discernment when it comes to stretching their budget, and the WCA demonstrates this very well.” –Neil Nelson, President, Engineered Structures, Inc. (ESI)
“The WCA has been amazing for support and resources. They changed and saved my life. I could not have done this without the support and help of each and every person that assisted me. Women like me who have gone through tough experiences really need places like this for help. Wow! What an amazing place for women and children.”—A former WCA client
We would be very grateful for interested businesses to contact us regarding our Corporate Business program. This is a wonderful and life-changing way to help make our world a much better place, and our clients benefit greatly from the community support.
Should you need more information, please contact Lisa anytime at [email protected] or by phone: 208-343-3688, ext. 245.
Thanks so very much for being there for our clients and for all of us at the WCA!
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Boise State Students Shed Light on Domestic Violence
October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month–a month dedicated to bringing awareness to an issue that is too often kept private. Throughout the month we saw the community get involved in several ways by volunteering for ribbon making, doing outreach, attending and supporting us at one of our events, participating in the Sue B 5K, and hanging clothesline projects in local businesses.
A group of Boise State Students chose to focus on raising awareness about Domestic Violence for the service component of their University Foundations 200 class. Taught by Sara Fry, the class focuses on the ethics of safety, which connects to the mission of the WCA–to provide “safety, freedom and healing from domestic abuse and sexual assault.”
More…
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5th Annual Witches Night Out:
A Spook-tacular Success!
No words can adequately convey how incredibly grateful we are to The Village at Meridian’s management, Debby Smith and Ramona Merrill, and all of The Village at Meridian Merchants for the phenomenal 2019 Witches Night Out held the evening of October 16 in The Village town square area. The  stage presentations from Michelle Edmonds, Bea Black, music by The Retreads, and Tara, our WCA ambassador’s beautiful and life-changing words were all impactful. Through the generosity of the The Village at Meridian and all the attendees, almost $27,000 was raised! Of course, the bottom line is the importance of the outreach about the WCA’s work and the essential services provided. Witches Night Out made a profound difference. For that, we are so appreciative of Witches Night Out and the important outreach and funding it provides for our clients’ needs.
We couldn’t be more grateful and humbled by the time, resources, energy and passion that go into orchestrating an event of this magnitude. We feel like this was the best year yet!
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Giving Tree
Please join us and the Downtown Boise Association for our Giving Tree Program  kickoff and the annual tree lighting at the Boise Grove on Friday, November 29 from 5:00pm – 6:30pm.
Our Boise Mayor will light up the Christmas tree in The Grove Plaza with live local music and local vendors in attendance. This is also the kickoff of our annual Giving Tree program, in which gift tags are hung around the tree that list the WCA’s facility, shelter and child care needs. Community members can take tags from the tree and drop the items off at our 720 W Washington office or select Idaho Central Credit Union locations.
Many thanks to our friends at the Downtown Boise Association and Idaho Central Credit Union for their incredible support of this important program!
Can’t wait to see you there to ring in the holiday season!
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City Santa
Get your photo with Santa and support the WCA at the same time through our annual City Santa event at D.L. Evans Bank in downtown Boise (890 W Main St). You can get your photo taken with a professional Santa Claus, including a printed photograph in a special holiday photo holder, for only a $10 donation to the WCA. Please join us on one of the following days and times to celebrate the holiday season:
December 5th (First Thursday) – 6:00pm to 8:00 pm
December 7th, 14th and 21st – 10:00am to 2:00 pm
Special thanks to D.L. Evans and the Downtown Boise Association for their loyal support!
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Wish List
Our lists of needed items are updated as needed and always available on our website. New items from this list below can be dropped off at the WCA lobby at 720 W Washington St. M-F from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Check out our Amazon Wish List to see other much needed items!
- Gift cards (Home Depot, Walmart, Thriftway Lumber, Any $ amount)
- Gift cards, $20 and up (i.e. Winco, Albertsons, Target, Shopko, Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer, etc.
- Gift cards, $20 and up for any gas station
- Gift certificate to Jump Time (any amount) – 5 needed
- Gift certificate to Lakeshore Learning Store gift card (any amount) – 4 needed
- Passes for family-friendly activities (movies, bowling, JumpTime, Wahooz)
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