For $25, one card buys lunch for a week for a woman in need
Women’s Lunch Place (WLP), a day shelter that provides meals and programs for women experiencing homelessness and poverty, is back with its 19th year of Mother’s Day cards.
Each $25 card will provide lunch for one woman for five days through WLP’s Healthy Meals program.
This year’s card utilizes pieces of cards from years past that have been cut up and arranged into a floral mosaic design. The card was created by Darcy, who has been a WLP guest for more than 10 years, according to WLP Chief Development Officer Paula White.
“She came to us after she was in a car accident and injured her back, and was unable to work,” White said. “She has been stably housed for quite some time through efforts of WLP.”
White said that Darcy fell in love with WLP’s Creative Expressions program, which is part of the organization’s “overarching wellness program,” she said, adding that “…through expressing yourself in a creative way, a lot of our guests find peace, they find their inner voice, they talk a little bit more easily about what they’ve experienced and the trauma that they have felt and witnessed by expressing themselves through art rather than just retelling their stories.”
After becoming housed, Darcy continued to visit WLP to participate in the Creative Expressions program, as well as “to have community, because she found community when she started coming to us and to ensure that she had well-balanced, nutritious meal,” White said.
The Mother’s Day cards are created through the Creative Expressions program, where one woman’s design is chosen to be the face of the card, and they can either be sent blank to be filled out later, or sent directly to the recipient with a message.
White said that Darcy, “probably more than anyone,” has had her design featured on the cards the most over the years.
This year, many of WLP’s programs and activities are still being conducted via pick-up rather than at the shelter, though White said that WLP is starting to return to the community slowly. The Creative Expressions program was “takeout rather than on-site” this year, so the women “didn’t have a lot of time” to create the designs.
The cards are priced at $25 each, and White said that the prices for meals were increased this year because everything has to be individually packaged per COVID regulations. Additionally, they couldn’t have any volunteers in the kitchen and instead had to hire staff to prepare the meals.
Aside from the $25 card, there are also other options to help the entire WLP community.
For $300, an individual, business, or organization “can sponsor a day of breakfast..for everyone we serve,” White said. “That’s very impactful for a lot of people. We do about 200 meals a day.”
For $500, a day of lunch can be sponsored, and for $150, fresh fruit can be provided for a day. Each of these three options also includes one Mother’s Day card.
White said that the sale of these cards “gives people something very meaningful to give women in their lives,” and allows people to “honor the women in your life by supporting women in need.”
She said that often, people buy cards for their wives, sisters, and other important women in their lives, not just their mothers.
“You don’t have to be a mother to understand the importance of caring for each other,” White said.
Additionally, the purchase of a Mother’s Day card from WLP “spreads our message,” she said, as everyone who receives one of the cards also receives information about WLP and about the artist who created the card.
“It really helps to educate those who need to understand…exactly the impact of our work,” she said.
To order a card, which can be sent blank or personalized with a message, visit womenslunchplace.org/mothers-day.