Mu Tau Mu of Alpha Chi Omega

Are you ready for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October? Each week in September, look for a new easy way to prepare!

Our third suggestion is to learn more about and participate in Be a Voice Arts. Read all about it  http://ow.ly/pjhm  and then make your plans!

We'd love it if you'd help us spread the word to your friends and Alpha Chi Omega sisters! Here's how:

On Twitter, post a message like this

Support @beavoicearts! Create art work to give hope to domestic violence survivors http://ow.ly/pjhm
 #AXO #charitytuesday

OR

Plan ahead now for October - it's Domestic Violence Awareness Month! http://ow.ly/pjhm
 #AXO #charitytuesday

And follow @beavoicearts 

On facebook,

post the Be a Voice Arts video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRMLHV5qaHI  on your profile page, with a short bit about how to support and participate. Here's an example:

also please join the Be a Voice Arts fan page http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Hickory-NC/Be-A-Voice-Arts/109408604115?ref=ts

 and group  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=134734835191

On email send your friends and family members a link to these instructions:  http://ow.ly/pjm4

Thank you for participating, and thank you for making a difference for domestic violence awareness!

We have such an interesting and inspiring project to share with you this week! One of the best parts is that it's interactive, and meshes our love as Alpha Chi Omegas of the fine arts with our ongoing mission to promote domestic violence awareness. Michelle Major is an artist and a survivor of domestic violence. When her husband tried to take her life, he also took a butcher knife to her paintings. She is safe now, out of the relationship, creating new art, and speaking up through her website Be A Voice Arts. 

In preparation for an upcoming show, Michelle is creating an interactive piece of art. Please create a small card, the size of a baseball card, with art or words of peace and hope. From her website:

"I want to create a work of art where the cards hang on my wedding dress as an interactive gallery piece. The reason I am creating this wedding VOICE piece comes as an outcropping of a painting I did called "Til Death". 'Til Death' is a painting of me as a bride, tortured and hopeless, with 'X's" over the mouth to symbolize the secret and shame and inability to speak up during a relationship of abuse. After viewing that portrait, one would think that my wedding dress would be a symbol of the loss of hopes and dreams for a marriage and a future, yet in actuality, the dress will be transformed to symbolize the literal artistic VOICES that have come together as one to "Speak Up Against Domestic Violence". I want to hang all the submitted cards from the dress skirt and viewers can come up, turn the cards over in their hands, move around the piece and experience the "Voices!" I am hoping to generate enough response to fill up the skirt. I think it will be a very powerful piece and full of hope!

"Help me fill the dress with YOUR artistic voice.
"You may save a life!"

Here are the details for the cards:

Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards, or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (6cm X 9cm). Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc), paper media (in the form of collage, paper cuts, found objects, etc). They can include quotes or positive words, poetry, etc. rather or in addition to art work. 

Form for submitting with the card can be found here. 

Then mail your card to

Be A Voice Arts

PO Box 22

Hickory NC 28603

Michelle asks that you include a $5 contribution with each card for the Speak UP Project: "Through the SPEAK UP project, your donation will make a difference in the life of a victim, and may mean the difference in her becoming a survivor.  Promotion of BAVA's traveling exhibit, 'How Do You Paint the Portrait of Domestic Violence', will also be made possible through your donation by mailing publications to domestic violence agencies and organizations." 

This would be a great creative project to do on your own, with a group of sisters or friends, or with your collegiate or alumnae Alpha Chi Omega chapter!

Purple Light Nights!It's four weeks now until October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness (DVA) Month!

Each week in September, we're offering Alpha Chi Omega sisters and friends a fun and meaningful way to prepare for DVA Month; this week, we're very excited to the share Purple Light Nights project with you!

From their website: 

Purple Light Nights™ is the inspiration of the Covington Domestic Violence Task Force, King County , Washington .

The goal is to have all residents shine a purple light on every front porch; hang a string of purple lights in every business window; and decorate each downtown street tree with purple lights, to send the message that“Domestic Violence Has NO Place In Our Community”.  

The outcome of Purple Light Nights™ is to increase the awareness of domestic violence issues and it’s affect upon children and families. 

Join neighborhoods and cities around America each year during October’sDomestic Violence Awareness Month and participate in Purple Light Nights™.  Click on “Get Involved” for usable templates and instructions on how to start a campaign in your community.

Are you ready for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October? In September, look for a new easy way to prepare each Tuesday. 

Our first suggestion encourages you to work with 2 of our Alpha Chi Omega DVA partners. Read all about it here, then make your plans!

We'd love it if you'd help us spread the word!

On Twitter, post a message like this

Help out your local domestic violence shelter/FVPF on @MacysInc's Shop for a Cause Day! http://ow.ly/nv5t #AXO #charitytuesday

OR

Plan ahead now for October - it's Domestic Violence Awareness Month! http://ow.ly/nv5t #AXO #charitytuesday

and follow @MacysInc and @Give_Respect

On facebook, post a link to  http://ow.ly/nv5t  on your profile page.

On email send your friends and family members a link to these instructions: http://ow.ly/nv7w

Thank you for participating, and thank you for making a difference for domestic violence awareness!