We invite you to join us for a special evening with an extraordinary group of women who have transformed their worlds by courageously pursuing their dreams. Come and be inspired by their stories of hope.
Give Us Wings presents
Many Strong and Beautiful Women:
an evening of hope and inspiration
Thursday, February 12, 2009
6-10 pm
Solera Restaurant
900 Hennepin
Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55403
$75 per ticket or $750 for a table of 10
6:00- 6:45 pm Hors d’oeuvres, Cash Bar, African Boutique,
Welcome, Photo Exhibit of Kenyan Women
6:45 pm Dinner and Presentation
Evening Emcee: Colleen Needles, award winning producer and
news anchor, President of Tremendous Entertainment.
Performance by locally and internationally renowned musician
Ann Reed!
9:30 pm: Dessert compliments of Cafe Latte.
The Many Strong and Beautiful Women Honorees for 2009 are:
Ann Bancroft, Grace Kingatua, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, and the Victoria Young Women's Group.
Ann Bancroft is the first and only woman to cross both the
North and South poles. She has established herself as one of the world’s
preeminent polar explorers and an internationally recognized leader. She is
dedicated to inspiring women and girls around the world to unleash the power of
their dreams.
Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Ed.D. is a Professor of Education at
Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. Nancy is a nationally recognized author and
speaker on media violence, conflict resolution, peaceable classrooms and global
education. Nancy is the mother of two sons: Matt Damon, well known as an actor
and activist in Africa and Kyle Damon, an accomplished sculptor and artist.
Grace Kingatua is an amazing woman who joins us for the Many
Strong and Beautiful Women event from Kenya. She is a social worker and child
advocate in her community as well as a mother of five and foster mother to many
orphans. She has inspired her children to pursue careers such as community
organizing, nursing, and social work.
Victoria Young Women’s Group 
These Kenyan women, ages 18-28, left school in primary
grades due to financial hardship. Many are married and have children. There are
over twenty women now attending primary school daily. The women are working to
complete an 8th grade education and hope to go on to attend
secondary or trade schools. While
working hard to obtain their certification, these women continue to work manual
labor jobs and raise their children.
The money raised at the event will fund the scholarship
program for the Victoria Young Women’s Group, as well as support the funding of
a water tank for the school and surrounding area so these young women can count
on clean water everyday to help prevent illness and save lives. This evening is
dedicated to Grace Atieno. The Victoria Young Women’s Group Academy would have
been a dream come true for Grace Atieno, a 22-year-old mother from Nyaoga who
passed away in 2004 from AIDS. She dreamt that one day her village would have a
school where women were encouraged to learn how to support themselves. Her most
treasured lifetime memory was chasing butterflies outside of primary school
before she was forced to leave.
The Victoria school’s logo, the butterfly, symbolizes
Grace’s dream of providing women of Nyaoga a way out of their daily struggles.
