Our Front Stoop, Samhain Night

Samhain Blessings

Usually for Samhain I will put together a special ancestor altar to remember my ancestors known and unknown and also family members who have died during my lifetime. But this year I just left my family altar as it usually looks:

I did, however, put up a special altar in remembrance of my sweet calico Claire, who died earlier this year. I printed some of my favorite pictures of her for the altar; the box contains her ashes and the little pink heart has her footprint. After I lit the candles and sat with the altar awhile, I realized I would give anything just to hold my baby girl on my lap again and smell her warm kitty smell. I cried for a little while, because I miss her company and her attitude so much. She was such a good friend to me.


Tomorrow, on Halloween night, when I put an apple out on our doorstep as food for the dead who are journeying to the Otherworld, I will also put out the last can of Claire's cat food in one of her little pink dishes, too, just in case her spirit passes by. If not, I know the neighborhood cats will enjoy it.

Spend a little time this Samhain remembering those you've lost... they live on in our memories-- even beloved pets. Blessed Samhain.

The Year Was 1986

Firehand and I have been listening to the XM radio 80's channel for weeks now on digital cable and it's been a total blast from the past. Lots of Huey Lewis & the News, the Bangles, Bon Jovi, Lionel Richie, Hall & Oates, INXS-- even some Squeeze! They even play old American Top 40's from the 80's. I once sent in a Long Distance Dedication that made it on the air; if we ever hear that particular countdown, I'll die of embarrassment. It was sappy as hell. We listen to XM 80's almost every evening.

SOOooOOo... when I saw this music meme over at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom, I had to see what came up for me:

The Rules:

A.) Go to Music Outfitters.

B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year.

C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you REALLY hate.

AND, just 'cuz I can, I'm adding color to the ones I absolutely adored and still do.

SAY HELLO TO 1986:

1. That's What Friends Are For, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, and Gladys Knight
2. Say You, Say Me, Lionel Richie
3. I Miss You, Klymaxx
4. On My Own , Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald
5. Broken Wings, Mr. Mister
6. How Will I Know, Whitney Houston
7. Party All The Time, Eddie Murphy
8. Burning Heart, Survivor
9. Kyrie, Mr. Mister
10. Addicted To Love, Robert Palmer
11. Greatest Love Of All, Whitney Houston
12. Secret Lovers, Atlantic Starr
13. Friends And Lovers, Carl Anderson and Gloria Loring
14. Glory Of Love, Peter Cetera
15. West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys
16. There'll Be Sad Songs, Billy Ocean
17. Alive And Kicking, Simple Minds
18. Never, Heart
19. Kiss, Prince and The Revolution
20. Higher Love, Steve Winwood
21. Stuck With You, Huey Lewis and The News
22. Holding Back The Years, Simply Red
23. Sledgehammer, Peter Gabriel
24. Sara, Starship
25. Human, Human League
26. I Can't Wait, Nu Shooz
27. Take My Breath Away, Berlin
28. Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
29. Papa Don't Preach, Madonna
30. You Give Love A Bad Name, Bon Jovi
31. When The Going Gets Tough, Billy Ocean
32. When I Think Of You, Janet Jackson
33. These Dreams, Heart
34. Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone), Glass Tiger
35. Live To Tell, Madonna
36. Mad About You, Belinda Carlisle
37. Something About You, Level 42
38. Venus, Bananarama
39. Dancing On The Ceiling, Lionel Richie
40. Conga, Miami Sound Machine
41. True Colors, Cyndi Lauper
42. Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins
43. What Have You Done For Me Lately, Janet Jackson
44. No One Is To Blame, Howard Jones
45. Let's Go All The Way, Sly Fox
46. I Didn't Mean To Turn You On, Robert Palmer
47. Words Get In The Way, Miami Sound Machine
48. Manic Monday, Bangles
49. Walk Of Life, Dire Straits
50. Amanda, Boston
51. Two Of Hearts, Stacey Q
52. Crush On You, Jets
53. If You Leave, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
54. Invisible Touch, Genesis
55. The Sweetest Taboo, Sade
56. What You Need, INXS
57. Talk To Me, Stevie Nicks
58. Nasty, Janet Jackson
59. Take Me Home Tonight, Eddie Money
60. We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off, Jermaine Stewart
61. All Cried Out, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam With Full Force
62. Your Love, Outfield
63. I'm Your Man, Wham!
64. Perfect Way, Scritti Politti
65. Living In America, James Brown
66. R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A., John Cougar Mellencamp
67. Who's Johnny, El Debarge
68. Word Up, Cameo
69. Why Can't This Be Love, Van Halen
70. Silent Running, Mike + The Mechanics
71. Typical Male, Tina Turner
72. Small Town, John Cougar Mellencamp
73. Tarzan Boy, Baltimora
74. All I Need Is A Miracle, Mike + The Mechanics
75. Sweet Freedom, Michael McDonald
76. True Blue, Madonna
77. Rumors, Timex Social Club
78. Life In A Northern Town, Dream Academy
79. Bad Boy, Miami Sound Machine
80. Sleeping Bag, ZZ Top
81. Tonight She Comes, Cars
82. Love Touch, Rod Stewart
83. A Love Bizarre, Sheila E.
84. Throwing It All Away, Genesis
85. Baby Love, Regina
86. Election Day, Arcadia
87. Nikita, Elton John
88. Take Me Home, Phil Collins
89. Walk This Way, Run-D.M.C.
90. Sweet Love, Anita Baker
91. Your Wildest Dreams, Moody Blues
92. Spies Like Us, Paul McCartney
93. Object Of My Desire, Starpoint
94. Dreamtime, Daryl Hall
95. Tender Love, Force M.D.'s
96. King For A Day, Thompson Twins
97. Love Will Conquer All, Lionel Richie
98. A Different Corner, George Michael
99. I'll Be Over You, Toto
100. Go Home, Stevie Wonder

As you can see, I was a total 80's child. I liked almost everything. Lionel Richie got pretty overplayed and so did Madonna, though, which accounts for my dislike of them. I also was not swept up in the whole Tom Cruise/Top Gun mania that was so big that year, barf. Like barf out, totally! Fer shure! But I absolutely adored Level 42 and The Outfield-- in fact, I have them on (ahem) cassette and play 'em when I'm driving my car, even now!

Happy, Happy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
LITTLE BRO!!!

Okay, so he's not quite as little as this anymore, but wasn't he a cutie-patootie as a baby? This year he's 37! Wish I could be with him to help celebrate.

Love you, Little Bro!

To Tempt You

I have been saying for almost a year now that I'm going to open an etsy store. Well, it's about to become a reality! I plan to start listing items next weekend. Thought I'd give a little preview of some things that will be available...

All sorts of rune necklaces...


Herbal rune sets...


Scarab pendant necklaces...


Moon necklaces...


... and earrings...


... polymer clay votive holders with etched votives...

... boxes with intricately designed polymer tiles on the lids...

... and more! Hope you'll come visit my etsy store INTO THE DAWN DESIGNS when I open next weekend-- and perhaps you'll find something to tempt you.

Six MORE Things

Look what the lovely Mrs. B gave me-- a blog award! Thanks Mrs. B!

In accepting this award, I need to share six things that I love and then pass the award on to six blogs I love reading. So here goes:

• Flannel sheets are wonderful. I say this because it's that time of year for putting them on the bed. It makes sleeping so snuggly warm and cozy.
  

• I love tarot decks; I think they are fascinating. I love the psychology of tarot and seeing the different interpretations of all the archetypes. They are also like little mini-collections of art.
  

• Felt-tip pens. They remind me of my grandma, she always had lots of felt-tip pens and would draw all sorts of intricate patterns and pictures with them. I treated myself to a set of felt-tip pens for journaling and I use them all the time.
  

• My craft/Craft room. I love having my own space for creativity and spirituality. I love the colors of my room, it's warm and inspiring; and I love having all my books and altars and craft supplies all in one space where I can lose myself in creativity.
  

• Cats. I love our Moose-man, he is such a sweet boy. I am making friends with all the neighborhood cats, too, and whenever we go to a pet store, I always find a cat I wish we could adopt. I'd have a half dozen, if Moose would allow me. Unfortunately, he is not willing to share his humans.

• Herbs. I love them. I love having an herb garden, I love growing my own lavender, rosemary, chamomile, lemon balm, calendula... I love the smell of them, the feel of them, the look of them and the taste of them. I love using them in sachets or cooking or incense or teas...
  

I'm going to choose from my blogroll both here and at my craft blog, Into the Dawn for passing along this award:

1. What I Made Today- something new every day! A new favorite read.
   
2. The Long Thread- a blog about handcrafted goods in the age of mass production--another new favorite.
3. Skyclad Crafting- A wonderful pagan artist, specializing in unique wood crafts.
   
4. Weaving the Web- Creative and straight from the heart.
5. Enchanted Gypsy Travel Diaries- A nomadic family traveling the US in their converted school bus home run on veggie oil. She's a wonderful needle-felting artist, too!
6. Suzie's Sacred Space- Creative writing, photography, and more.
   

Feline Friday: Mr. Neuroses

I say that my cat is neurotic, and some of you may think I'm exaggerating, but I swear to you I'm not. Let me tell you a big, long Moose story and you will see just how strange he is.

First of all, Moose appears to have no "off" button when it comes to eating. If we put a bowl of food out with his entire daily serving, he will eat and eat and eat until its all gone and still think he's hungry, so he'll scream and scream and scream for more food. If you ignore him, he will get sulky and do things like stomp all over your head and knock stuff off the table tops. His favorite time to do this is all night long, while you are trying to sleep.


We finally hit on a solution-- part A) he was put on a high-fiber cat food that bulks up in his belly and helps him feel full and part B) he's on an automatically timed food dish that goes off 5 times a day and gives him a measure of food. The dish is set so he gets fed at (approximately) 6 pm, 10 pm, 2 am, 9 am and 2 pm. This has been working pretty well for the past 7 years.

The new problem became-- Moose has an internal clock. I think most cats do. However, add internal clock with Moose's OCD and you have him becoming verrrrrrrry upset when his dish doesn't go off when he knows it should. And he will tell us about it. Loudly. Constantly. He will lead us to the dish and point it out. Frequently. Until it goes off. Or we make it go off. We have learned to live with this.


However, he has recently developed a couple of new issues. The first one being-- he knows WHICH section of his dish is supposed to be open at WHAT time. So if his 2 pm feeding still has food at 6 pm, he won't eat it, because its the wrong food for that time. He wants his 6 pm serving, not the rest of his 2 pm serving. He is very particular on this point.

He has also decided that what he likes best is to eat when we eat. He loves supper time when we are all in the kitchen together, eating. He likes eating lunch when I eat lunch, he will often even save his food so that he can eat when I am in the kitchen eating. At 10 pm he will cry and lead us to his dish. "Moose, you HAVE food!" we've been telling him. Yet he cries and leads us to his dish a half dozen times. Often, if we gave him some lovin' he would then eat. But recently that hasn't been working. It took us a while, but we finally figured it out. He wants us to BE WITH HIM while he eats, whether we're eating or not. He evidently thinks he needs the company or he can't properly digest, or something.

So last night, Firehand sat out in the kitchen at 10 pm and read so that Moose could eat. Yes, Moose owns us. Problem is, I think he's beginning to figure it out. We are in so much trouble.

Six Random Things Meme

Livia Indica from Magic In These Hills has tagged me to share six random things about myself.

The rules are:

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Okay, lets see if I can entertain you...

1. My feet are so small that I could not find women's heels that fit to wear for my high school prom and had to wear children's size dress flats. I still have a terrible time finding shoes that fit, which is why I prefer to wear Birkenstocks-- even though I wear an odd size, they always fit right.
   
2. I pretty much refuse to wear anything black. When I was younger I liked wearing black and white together and I still wear white now, but not black. It's just too... black.
3. Back in the '80's, I offended actor Richard Gere by loudly exclaiming “Oh my god, he’s SO SHORT” in his presence when I first saw him (he gave me a dirty look). He was making a film called "Miles From Home" in and around my home town at the time. Never heard of it? Most people haven't.
   
4. I have dated 3 Davids: one died, the second one mysteriously disappeared (I had nothing to do with either of those occurrences, btw-- just sayin') and the third one I married. (I also dated 2 Joes and 2 Mikes.)
   
5. I said "No' the first three times my husband asked me to marry him. I'm glad he asked one more time!
6. I have a degree in psychology and my all time favorite job was doing research for the Institute for Social & Behavioral Research. I'd love to do more behavioral research, it's fascinating.

In no particular order, I tag:

Nydia at Bringing Up Salamanders (let Lucas help you with this one!)
Sacred Suzie at Suzie's Sacred Space (maybe she can do it when she's back from vacation)
MrsB at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom (go wish her Get Well Soon)
Peppylady at Peppylady's Almost Prefect World (check out her Skywatch posts-- lovely photos)
Willow at Ramblings of a Witch (and stop by her lovely shop Goldentree Wands, too)

Weekend In Pictures

I am the sanding bandit! We did some sanding of the walls downstairs to smooth plaster from mudding. What a mess! Plaster dust everywhere! We were coated white-- if you look close, you can see it in my hair, on my face and shirt. I had to use a bandana for a face mask to keep from breathing in all the dust. We went outside afterwards and dusted each other off before we went into the main part of the house. I'll be so happy when this step of the work is done.


Had Firehand do some "modeling" of my rune pendant necklaces. I'm taking pictures for my etsy store. I've been trying to work up the courage to open an etsy store for--- oh, ages now. Nydia has recently become my cheerleader on this subject! Thanks, girlfriend!

Have been making sure the feeder is full for the birds. Here's a cute little finch who stopped by for dinner. Look how plump and colorful he is! I love finches.


Not pictured: We rented a few movies this weekend. Sweeny Todd (dark, gruesome and a musical, I've been wanting to see it for ages), Grace Has Gone (wonderful and sad film about a man who loses his wife in the Iraq war and is unable to figure out how to tell his young daughters), and The Golden Compass (intriguing fantasy with lots of moral/ethical questions). Firehand also watched Beowulf.

The Golden Compass was sort of filmed in a way that was confusing if you were not familiar with the story. The book is almost always better than the movie, so when we were at the bookstore this weekend, we got the GC trilogy to read. Looking forward to it.

Window Ledge Shrine

Our house has these wonderfully wide window ledges which are at chest level, perfect space for Moose to sit and watch out the window-- or, perfect for a little window ledge shrine. I recently cleaned and redid mine; thought I'd share pictures.

This is the window ledge that is above my devotions altar in my craft room. From the left side you see a polished geode bookend (I believe its Botswana agate), a blue banded agate, white and rose quartz, a banded green onyx bowl full of polished stones, an amethyst cluster and a statue of the Dreaming Goddess of Malta.


Next is a white onyx bowl of soil from Iowa, a statue of the monkey god Hanuman, deer antler, green calcite, small piece of petrified wood in front of a river stone from Cape Fear river, abalone shell with sage smudge, Iowa geode behind an aqua aura cluster, clear quartz cluster, another agate geode and (cut off on the edge of the photo) a piece of flint.

The stones and crystals have been collected over the years. Some were gifts. The Iowa geode is half of a whole stone that was one of my very first, given to me by my uncle when I was young. It may very well be the rock that got me interested in collecting; I was fascinated by it and spent lots of time playing with the two halves (the other half is on another altar, in case you're wondering), fitting them together to make a perfect, round, dull grey rock and then opening them up to see the glittering magic inside.

The Dreaming Goddess of Malta is very symbolic for me. She not only represents dreams to me, but walking between the worlds and peaceful sleep, and hope. Not much is actually known about her, which makes her a wonderfully mysterious archetype. I was first introduced to Hanuman in college when I read Ramayana. He is a noble warrior and the most loyal and loving of friends.

I like having this small shrine here on the ledge because it seems to bring good energy into the room through the window. The early evening sun catches on the stones and crystals and adds a touch of magic each evening, too.

SPC~ Mirrors Week #3

This month's Self-Portrait Challenge made me realize that we only have two mirrors in our house-- one in the bedroom and one in the bathroom:


So here's me, straight from the shower and squeaky clean.

Steam on the bathroom mirror after my shower is a rare thing. I'm not like Firehand, who loves hot, hot showers and then sits in the steamy bathroom afterward for as long as he can. He adores saunas and hot tubs, too.

But not me. Hot, humid air is my idea of one of the outer rings of hell. I gasp like a fish out of water. I feel positively stifled. I like warm showers and then as soon as I'm toweled off, I have to fling open the bathroom door and let all the hot air out. I love the blast of cool air when I open the door, it energizes me. Then I'm ready for the day.

For more mirror photos, visit this week's Self-Portrait Challenge.

DV Awareness~ Lindsay Ann Burke Act

From the Associated Press:

RI Schools Required to Teach About Dating Violence

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. - Ann Burke saw signs of trouble with her daughter's boyfriend.

He'd incessantly call her at night, keep her from her family, and, ultimately, physically abuse her during a tumultuous relationship that ended with her death three years ago.

Burke's 23-year-old daughter, Lindsay, may not have understood the dynamics of an abusive relationship, but her death is helping to ensure that other young people do.

A new law in Rhode Island called the Lindsay Ann Burke Act requires all public middle and high schools to teach students about dating violence in their health classes.

The initiative was spearheaded by Burke and her husband, Chris, who say schools should be obligated to teach teens the warning signs of abusive relationships and broach the subject head-on so victims feel empowered to get help and leave violent partners.

"If this could happen to her, this could happen to anyone," said Ann Burke, a health teacher who runs a memorial fund to raise money for dating violence workshops for parents and educators.

Read the rest of this article HERE.

This is an excellent act and I am glad to see that middle schools, not just high schools, are included in the education. When I was in junior high, I was already experiencing inappropriate behavior from boys including physical abuse (bruises on my wrists from being grabbed and forced when refusing to comply to demands regarding sexual touching), sexual abuse (incessant uninvited groping of my breasts by a boy on the school bus) and emotional abuse (threats of suicide/self-harm if I did not comply with demands for sexual stimulation)-- all of which left me bewildered, fearful and eroded my sense of self-worth. I can't believe that I was the only girl at my middle school who was experiencing these sorts of behaviors, especially considering the boys who were involved, who were quite popular.

WAYS TO IDENTIFY DATING VIOLENCE:

Dating violence is a pattern of controlling behaviors that one partner uses to get power over the other, and it includes:

• Any kind of physical violence or threat of physical violence to get control
• Emotional or mental abuse, such as playing mind games, making you feel crazy, or constantly putting you down or criticizing you
• Sexual abuse, including making you do anything you don’t want to, refusing to have safe sex or making you feel badly about yourself sexually

Early warning signs that your date may eventually become abusive:

Extreme jealousy Controlling behavior Quick involvement Unpredictable mood swings Alcohol and drug use Explosive anger Isolates you from friends and family Uses force during an argument

Shows hypersensitivity Believes in rigid sex roles Blames others for his problems or feelings Cruel to animals or children Verbally abusive Abused former partners Threatens violence

Does your boyfriend/girlfriend:

• Have a history of bad relationships or past violence; always blames his/her problems on other people; or blames you for “making” him/her treat you badly?
• Try to use drugs or alcohol to coerce you or get you alone when you don’t want to be?
• Try to control you by being bossy, not taking your opinion seriously or making all of the decisions about who you see, what you wear, what you do, etc.?
• Talk negatively about people in sexual ways or talk about sex like it’s a game or contest?
  

Do you:

• Feel less confident about yourself when you’re with him/her?
• Feel scared or worried about doing or saying “the wrong thing?”
• Find yourself changing your behavior out of fear or to avoid a fight?

Does your partner:

• Embarrass you with put-downs?

• Look at you or act in ways that scare you?

• Control what you do, who you see or talk to or where you go?

• Stop you from seeing your friends or family members?

• Take your money or Social Security check, make you ask for money or refuse to give you money?

• Make all of the decisions?

• Tell you that you’re a bad parent or threaten to take away or hurt your children?

• Prevent you from working or attending school?

• Act like the abuse is no big deal, it’s your fault, or even deny doing it?

• Destroy your property or threaten to kill your pets?

• Intimidate you with guns, knives or other weapons?

• Shove you, slap you, choke you, or hit you?

• Force you to try and drop charges?

• Threaten to commit suicide?

• Threaten to kill you?

If you answered 'yes' to even one of these questions, you may be in an abusive relationship.

More information on dating violence can be found at the Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Attack of the Pods

Remember when I posted pictures of our tree in bloom? Well, now the flowers have turned to "fruit"-- or in this case, pods. They are everywhere! The pods grow so thick and heavy that the branches of our tree begin to bow down.

I'm showing my Iowa upbringing by saying this, but they look similar to soybeans. Only not fuzzy and not growing in a field. That's how I remembering eating soybeans, right out in the field. Here in Colorado, soybeans are popular served as an appetizer in the sushi restaurants and are called by the fancy name edamame instead (the price is fancy, too). But I digress...

Our pod/beans are eaten by the squirrels. The squirrels leap from the neighbor's elm tree onto our roof, gallop across the roof and leap onto our tree, collect the pods and gallop back across the roof to go store them away. All day long. THUMP! Ba-dum-ba-dum-ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum...

That's what autumn sounds like around here.

Fun with Shaving

Firehand decided to shave off his full beard at long last, but not before we had a little bit of fun with the process.

Presenting Firehand as a young married Amish man:

Shave a little more, and you have Firehand as Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine:

But wait, there's more! Shave some nice sideburns and you have Firehand as David Tennant (swoon!) as the 10th Dr. Who:

I begged Firehand to keep the 'burns, but to no avail... guess I'll have to continue to sigh over David Tennant...

Tarot for 2008~ 10th Moon

Last Monday (9/29) was the new moon, and my card for this moon cycle is the 6 of Cups.

Keywords and phrases from TP&S: good old days, old friends, innocence, family visit, renewing old ties, emotional renewal. This card advises that it is important to recover and deal with old memories.

Tarot: Your Everyday Guide notes that this card encourages creative and artistic activities and lifestyles, re-experiencing the pleasures of childhood, and setting emotional riches and quality of life as a main priority in your life.

Six of Cups also is concerned with those things from childhood or the past that have negative influence on our lives today, clinging to idealizations from younger years, and being trapped and obsessed with memories and emotions caused by childhood victimization. This card advises, "... when our hearts or minds are in the past, our energy is also in the past. This loss of vitality prevents us from living in our bodies and grasping the pleasures of the moment." Therefore, 6 of Cups says to put away the past and focus on creating a beautiful and fulfilling life in the present.

October is DV Awareness Month

It seems that each October there is more and more promotion for breast cancer awareness and pink ribbon products are hugely prevalent everywhere one goes… but I, personally, would just like to take the time right now to let everyone know that OCTOBER IS ALSO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH.

DID YOU KNOW?

• One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
• Females who are at the age of 20-24 are at the greatest risk for intimate partner violence.
• One in six women and one in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape.
• One in 12 women and one in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime.
• An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.
• The majority (73%) of family violence victims are female. Females were 84% of spousal abuse victims and 86% of abuse victims at the hands of a boyfriend.
• Almost one-third of female homicide victims that are reported in police records are killed by an intimate partner.
• Domestic Violence is one of the chronically most under reported crimes. Only approximately one-quarter of all physical assaults, one-fifth of all rapes and one-half of all stalkings perpetuated against females by intimate partners are reported to the police.
  

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

• WEAR A PURPLE RIBBON AND TELL PEOPLE WHY YOU DO. Purple is the color for Domestic Violence Awareness. Wear purple ribbons to bring national awareness to the issues faced by battered women, men and their children.

• DONATE A PHONE. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has partnered with the Wireless Foundation for over 7 years through the CALL TO PROTECT program which was created to provide victims of Domestic Violence who may encounter emergency situations with free cells phones for that use. The collection of deactivated cell and wireless phones for this purpose has literally saved hundreds of lives over the course of the partnership. In addition to phones being distributed for emergency use, proceeds from the sale of phones not utilized for emergency use help fund agencies that work to end violence in the home, such as the NCADV. NCADV would greatly appreciate your old cell phone– CLICK HERE if you would like to donate your used wireless phone.

• DONATE A CAR. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence & 1-800-CHARITY CARS: if you would like to donate a vehicle and have 100% of the proceeds used to support the NCADV, please CLICK HERE to access the 1-800-CHARITY CARS website.