(Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)
What does your profile pic look like on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? Is it a headshot, a photo of you with family or friends, or an icon or quote? Do you use your birth name or a pseudonym? What we show to the world online says a lot about who we are. We have a choice as to how we present ourselves. Sometimes we may even protect ourselves - blocking personal details from the scrutiny of the public. Likewise, we protect the identities of the children, teens and women we support. We are sensitive to their rights to remain safe and secure. For example, some of the kids we work with carry the intense weight of two secrets they can't reveal to their classmates:
(Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)
This January, we're turning two! We are thrilled by how much we've achieved together, and YOU are at the center of it all. So, a huge Thank You (Gracias) to everyone! We hope you'll enjoy our birthday video!  By Amy Paulson (Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)
Today is the international day of peace. And, as I sit here watching stories of violence in the news, whether about systematic violence in Syria or domestic violence in America, all I can think about is one place where violence has been raging since the mid-1990s: The Democratic Republic of Congo. After the holocaust, the world said: Never Again. After Rwanda, the world said: Never Again. After 16 years, the genocide against women in the DRC continues.  (Reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)
Since 2009, our own Vice President and Co-Founder, Elayne Doughty, MA, MFT has been working with local trainers to help heal traumas endured by survivors of sexual torture in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nominated by the eBay Switzerland GIVE Team, the Gracias Foundation was recently awarded a $7,000 grant by the eBay Foundation to continue Elayne's capacity building program called Safe Embrace Trauma Healing (SETH) at a safe house and healing facility for sexual violence survivors in Bukavu. Thank you eBay GIVE Team and the eBay Foundation! Read more about the SETH program  By Amy Paulson (reposted from The Gracias Foundation, now called Global Gratitude Alliance)
It was 2008. Silvia Vasquez-Lavado and I were finance colleagues at eBay. After one of our regular meetings to discuss financial systems stuff, we (naturally) started talking about nonprofit projects and ideas. Silvia's family in Peru had founded a local project back in 2003 called Fundacion Gracias which gave back to an indigenous community high up in the Andes mountains where her father had lived as an orphan. Starting with small provisions, the project carefully evolved over time and with the trust of the community to enable the people to help themselves. |