VDay Marianas raises $6,100 for charity

Non-profit organization Off The Beaten Path announced yesterday that it managed to raise $6,100 for charity during the recent Vagina Monologues productions and through other fundraising activities. At the same time, it said that the group will be staging the play anew next year, in time for the celebration of International Women’s Day.

VDay organizers of Off The Beaten Path committee said the fundraising goal amount was $5,000, so they are excited to have surpassed expectations with their VDay Marianas 2006 fundraising projects, particularly The Vagina Monologues production.

Group president Fran Castro said during the news briefing that VDay Marianas 2006 has split the money raised and will give 90 percent to Karidat’s Guma’ Esperansa, a local shelter that assists victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking in the CNMI.

“Today, we are proud to present Lauri Ogumoro, manager of Guma’ Esperansa, a check for $5,545,” said Castro.

The remaining 10 percent—amounting to $555—will be given to the Justice for Comfort Women project. The Comfort Women project is this year’s VDay spotlight charity, as a part of the yearly effort to draw attention to a particular group of women who have experienced violence.

Fundraising projects for VDay Marianas 2006 included ticket sales for two nights of performances of the hit play The Vagina Monlogues, t-shirt and tank-top sales, corporate donations, and an Esperansa Charity Auction.

“We would like to thank the community for supporting our events and for getting involved in the ongoing dialogue concerning women. Recently there was a full-page spread featuring VDay apparel in a local newspaper. The next day, a young woman wrote an eloquent letter to the editor asking why a certain pejorative word was selected to be printed on some of the shirts. To this we say that in it is our mission to reclaim certain words used to describe women that are currently seen as degrading. In order to remove the negative sting of such words, it is necessary to use them more, and eventually they will become part of normal vocabulary and thus less derogative. This is one of the many issues about our project that is controversial, and we do appreciate and encourage intelligent inquiries into our goals, as this woman did with her recent letter to the editor,” said Castro.

“We were fortunate to have a talented cast, a dedicated crew, and a terrific venue at American Memorial Park for The Vagina Monologues. Our cast members gave themselves in their monologue performances in a way that made me see that this project changed all of us involved. Thank you all for your help.

“Off the Beaten Path is still inspired by the overwhelming need for action to stop violence toward women worldwide, and to this end we plan to again host The Vagina Monologues next year. Our activities will take place from Feb. 1 through March 8, 2007, in conjunction with the international VDay effort (Feb. 14) and International Women’s Day (March 8). We will begin casting calls and planning for these events around the end of summer, so please look forward to news from us about VDay Marianas 2007 at that time,” she added.

Sponsors of the staging of the play included Pacific Health Inc. (PHI), Aon Insurance, Public Health Sexual Offense Awareness Program, Pacific Trading Co., Carmen Safeway, Enterprises, Salon de Manila, Joseph A. Arriola, Esq., Marianas Medical Center, Saipan Shipping, Sablan TopLine Cleaning Agency, Ruth Tighe, Younis Art Studio, Inc., Elite Printing, Torres Brothers Attorneys at Law, Marian Methner, Greg Elliott, Joseph C. Weaver, and Leila Clark Staffler.

The news briefing was held at the Shimbashi Restaurant, Fiesta Resort and Spa, Garapan. (PR)