Causes we Support

FlairWalk’s Causes Choices

So many possibilities!  So many worthy causes!  So many legitimate organizations needing help!  How can each of us decide whom to assist?

My solution is to let personal experience and my heart guide me.  That’s why Flairwalk’s initial giving program will focus on two organizations that help poor women and children in third world countries and, in our own society, expand exposure to art and music.  Allow me to introduce to you Foundation Batum and MetroArts, Inc.

Foundation Batum

Photo: Pauline Batum feeding an infant.

Most third world pregnant women lack what I was so fortunate to have during my pregnancy – superb medical care.  Until labor began, my pregnancy was easy – my glow was visible a mile away.  But then, with the umbilical cord wrapped twice around my son’s neck, and other complications, it took two doctors and four nurses to provide me with a beautiful nine and a half pound baby boy (now 19 and in college).  Later I came to realize that had I lived in a third world country neither my baby nor I might have survived. 

A family visit to South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania in 2009 drove this point home to me.  A guide took us to visit his family village and showed us his home (made of hardened mud) where, in a small space, his wife, his children and he lived and his extended family lived within feet in similar mud houses.  Plenty of love there, yes, but also too much that adversely could affect health.

Foundation Batum was established to meet this need, to help mothers and pregnant women overcome formidable obstacles to a healthy future.  Their first project involves a small village two hours from Dakar, Senegal.  With additional resources they plan to extend their helping hand elsewhere.  Flairwalk is proud to support their efforts.  For more about Foundation Batum, visit their website, www.batumfoundation.org.

 MetroArts, Inc.

 Photo: Metro Arts Kids Summer Camp.                 

My son, then a fifth grader, announced after school one day that a cello player he would be.  And for the next two years he happily played that instrument.

What prompted this decision?  He had just heard a classroom presentation describing and illustrating the joys of creating marvelous music.  The price tag was not low – practice before school four days weekly with a few concerts to follow.  At an informational meeting the following week the aspiring future musicians could experiment with the cello, violin or viola.  Did he want to try all three, I inquired.  No, he replied, he was a “cello man!” And so he was for two intensely rewarding and enjoyable years until he entered the next phase of his education.

So much that was constructive and positive came from that one classroom presentation.  Interest in other instruments, other musical forms as well as theater followed. Now you’ll understand why I’m so enthusiastic about MetroArts, Inc., a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon, that brings the wonders of music to children at all levels.  The organization has an outstanding Director, staff and program.  With additional funding, they can do even more.

Flairwalk is proud to support MetroArts, Inc.  To visit their website, click here:  www.metroartsinc.org.