Tuesday, June 24, 2008

YOGA-THON


Sunday, October 12th 2008

1pm-4pm
Willow Street Yoga Center
8561 Fenton ST
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Take the Yogathon challenge!

Join Willow Street teachers, Naomi Gottlieb-Miller, Batya Metalitz, AJ McIntyre and Marion Griffin in this practice dedicated to opening our hearts and uniting our community in this act of selfless service!

How much can you raise by contacting friends and family and letting them know you will be dedicating a 3 hour yoga practice towards saving lives?!

Prizes will be awarded for the largest cumulative or individual donation!

All donations including registration fee will go directly to the cause and are tax deductible!

Registration is $60, for more info, upcoming events and to
REGISTER email: Abbyoffthemat@gmail.com

Mission Letter

Dear Friends,

Children cannot be abandoned. Children cannot be forgotten. Children cannot be thrown away. And yet it happens all over the world. I have recently learned of an appalling situation. In Phnom Penh, Cambodia there is an 11-acre garbage dump called Steung Meanchey. Crawling through mountains of trash are children. Why are they there? They did not choose to be born into a country with some of the highest rates of child prostitution and domestic violence. Their only recourse for survival is digging through garbage in search of recyclable items. Doing this 10 hours a day they make the equivalent of 25 to 75 cents!

I want to help. I have taken on a seva (the yogic tenet of service) challenge to bring financial and human resources to these children and to children suffering in our communities. My challenge is to raise $20,000 to participate in a service and leadership tour in February 2009 to Cambodia through Off the Mat into the World [OTM].

OTM is a non-profit project founded by prominent yoga leaders Seane Corn, Hala Khouri and Suzanne Sterling. OTM’s mission is to empower leaders to create social change in their local and global communities. OTM has partnered with the Cambodian Children’s Fund, an organization impacting the lives of a generation of Cambodian children, literally changing the face of Cambodia’s future. The CCF is providing healthcare, shelter, food, education, and cultural enrichment to over 300 children. Additionally they provide vocational training, daycare, and community outreach, really planting the seeds for a brighter future.

Locally OTM provides support to a growing network of leaders and teachers in the yoga community with bringing yoga to at-risk youth. Yoga gives these children the tools and self-worth they need to cope with often difficult and disturbing life circumstances including poverty, and violence.

I will be writing letters, holding a “yoga-thon” with area yoga teachers, partnering with Lululemon Athletica to host a silent auction, teaching donation only children’s yoga classes at various locations and contacting local businesses for assistance.

Please help me make a difference. Your contribution would directly improve the lives of impoverished children in the U.S and Cambodia while helping me gain leadership skills to continue on a lifelong path of activism and altruism.

Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law and can be made in the following ways:

- By check payable to Engage Network, OTM’s 501©3. Please be sure to write Abby Murphy on the memo line and mail to:

Off the Mat Into the World
P.O. Box 748
Venice, CA 90294

- Online at www.offthematintotheworld.org
Please click on Contribute
Then click on the red Donate Now button.
Select Seva Challenge from the drop down menu of fund designations
Select my name, Abby Murphy, from drop down participant list

All donors will receive a taxable donation letter within one month.

I’d love to hear from you with any questions via email
abbyoffthemat@gmail.com
Please pass this letter on to anyone you think could help!

For more information please see the attached pages and visit
www.offthematintotheworld.org
www.cambodianchildrensfund.org

Sincerely,
Abby Murphy



About The Cambodian Children’s Fund [CCF]

The CCF is a U.S. registered 501©3 not-for-profit organization working to break generational cycles of poverty and abuse.

The CCF was developed to provide safe haven for 45 children in critical need. In the past 4 years CCF has grown to include three facilities housing nearly 300 children. In these facilities children are provided housing, food, clothing, medical treatment and education. Children are provided education in local language reading and writing, English math and social studies. In addition to academics the children are exposed to dance, art, drama and cultural pursuits.

The CCF provides vocational training both on and off site in cosmetology, hair dressing, graphic design, restaurant management and language instruction. They have also opened a baking facility that provides intensive training in baking, bread making, food hygiene and business management.

The CCF is also committed to community relief programs providing water, sustenance, education and healthcare.

About Off the Mat into The World
(information excerpted from www.offthematintotheworld.org)

Off the Mat, Into the World™ is a 501(c)(3) project of the Engage Network.

Off the Mat, Into the World™ (OTM) is a program that aims to inspire and guide you to find and define your purpose and become active in your local or global community in an effective, sustainable and joyful way. OTM is an educational, experiential and motivational process for those interested in conscious activism and service. We combine yoga asanas, meditation in-depth self-exploration which culminates in the formation of a group project that is real and in service to the community.

We define conscious activism and service as feeling empowered to make a difference in the world from a place of balance, connection, and fierce love! Each of us has a unique calling that needs only to be nurtured and cultivated so that it can grow and flourish. Conscious activism happens in community and is a way of life. Find your Purpose.