I was interning at Seventeen Magazine when I opened the newspaper and read the headline above: For Some Women Mother's Day Is Just Another Day On the Street. I was making $125. a week, before taxes, but I opened up my checkbook and sent what I could to Women In Need, the organization that sponsored that oh-so-powerful ad. 

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 I've given to Women in Need every year since.  You can donate online, with a credit card and they send the woman you want to honor a lovely card.  Moreover, you know exactly where the money is going.  $25. provides emergency supplies (clothing, diapers, formula) to an infant entering a Women in Need shelter. $50. provides a holiday meal for 10 children. $100. funds two weeks of snacks for a Women in Need afterschool program. And so on.

Since I've become a Mom, I've also become passionate about One by One, a Seattle based organization that works to end fistula, a devastating pregnancy related disease that usually results in the death of a child and permanent injury to the mother, which not only prevents her from having future children, but because of the way fistula damages a woman's organs, makes her unable to work and causes her to be shunned in her community. Amazingly, the surgery to repair fistula cost just $300.  You can start a giving circle to raise the funds to cover a $300. surgery or you can join mine by searching for my last name.  One by One has e-cards so if you make a Mother's Day donation in some fabulous woman's name, you can send them an e-card right away to tell them about it.

I'll be back tomorrow with some super pampering Mother's Day gift ideas -- and in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment with your favorite Mother's Day gifts and traditions!