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Women of Vision is a volunteer ministry of World Vision that educates, inspires and equips women to use their God-given resources in compassionate, mutually life-changing service to impoverished and oppressed women and children worldwide.

The South Puget Sound chapter, formed in 2009, includes the south Seattle suburbs from Burien to Tacoma; Olympia; valley areas from Kent to Puyallup; southwest to Gig Harbor; and surrounding areas.

Joining Women of Vision offers you a chance to participate in a fresh and meaningful way in a movement which connects women not only locally, but worldwide. You will engage with women and children in some of the neediest places on earth and in your own community. As a Woman of Vision you will have access to the best and most current information, learn from renowned experts, use your voice to advocate and raise awareness, support projects that are transforming lives, and even travel, if you choose, to see first hand how your involvement makes a difference.

Please take time to explore our website and follow the SPS blog, as well as the Women of Vision National organization website and blog. Sign up to receive weekly educational updates; read our bi-monthly newsletter, WOVen; participate in studies, conferences and conference calls; and plan your next trip with us! Rejoice that as you engage and grow, you are making life better for another woman or girl - perhaps you will be the answer to her prayers.

wovsouthpugetsound@gmail.com

Women of Vision Helpdesk: 1-877-968-4968

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This Women of Vision website contains a variety of references to resources that are provided solely for informational purposes and the convenience of the user. Women of Vision does not control, review, approve or endorse these resources. In addition, the resource in no way intended to represent an exhaustive listing.

Partnership

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Women of Vision partner with women and their children around the world to create mutual life -changing opportunities. Each year we pray that many of you choose to become Women of Vision partners.

What is a partner and why do we ask you to partner with us? According to Webster's dictionary, a partner is a partaker, sharer, colleague - and interestingly, "partner" is also the heavy timber that strengthens a ship's deck to support a mast. When you partner with WOV, you are the heavy timber that strengthens our mission and supports the very thing that keeps us going.

The $50 annual chapter partnership fee, which is tax deductible, pays for Women of Vision's administrative costs and supports our projects. Without partners, we cannot exist. Please say "yes, I will partner with WoV!" You will be saying yes to a program that exists to help hurting, needy children and women around the world.

PARTNER WITH SOUTH PUGET SOUND CHAPTER
Note: After registering as a partner, please email wovsouthpugetsound@gmail.com to let us know, so we can send you a welcome packet as soon as possible!

Projects

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LOCAL COMMUNITY SERVICE
WoV South Puget Sound chapter members have the opportunity engage in direct service to local families in need through Network Tacoma, a Tacoma based non-profit organization that assists families with children by providing housing, resources and a program to help them achieve self sufficiency.
Watch our Events Page for opportunities to serve locally at Network Tacoma!
http://www.networktacoma.org/

FAMILY SUPPORT IN APPALACHIA
The Appalachia region contains many counties that are counted as chronically depressed. The impact of generational poverty includes a myriad of issues including lower educational attainment, broken homes, substance abuse and unstable home environments. We have adopted a domestic project in Appalachia that will improve the stability of families through the development of a family center that provides supportive services for children and families.
Appalachia Project Information (see US Programs projects)

FROM HORROR TO HOPE: ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING/RECOVERY PROJECT IN CAMBODIA

One child sold to a brothel is too many. Yet in Cambodia, so many children are trafficked into brothels that there are not enough high-quality shelters to care for the children who have been sexually exploited. Already deeply involved in antitraffi cking efforts, World Vision has a chance to improve care for trafficked children, protect survivors from further abuse, and make communities safer.

Several Women of Vision Chapters, including ours, are supporting this new and scaled up Child Protection project which focuses on the prevention, protection and restoration of those at most risk of human trafficking. The project uses the best practices known in the field today and is part of a large child protection campaign of World Vision.
Click here for more information and a complete description of this project.

Donate to our projects Here.

About Us

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Women of Vision is a volunteer ministry of World Vision that unites women who feel led to invest their time, intellect, compassion, creativity, and finances so that impoverished women and children might find hope, and a tangible expression of God's love.

The South Puget Sound Chapter began in the fall of 2008 with a group of women challenged by the Heart of The Matter Study. As a result of much prayer and guidance by World Vision our chapter was officially formed in the Spring of 2009. We meet regularly for prayer, planning and education on issues pertaining to women and children in crisis.

We encourage all women to come and participate in what God is doing in our hearts and in the lives of women and children in the world! There are so many ways you can be involved with us! You can join with other women in The Heart of the Matter Study; sponsor a child; volunteer at Network Tacoma; attend partnership, educational and fund-raising gatherings; donate to our projects in Cambodia and Appalachia; and of course, pray for us and with us.
We look forward to meeting you!

FY2012 South Puget Sound Chapter Leadership

Katrin Dietz, Chapter Co-Chair
Zeena Smith, Chapter Co-Chair

Lynn Arvisais, Website/Communications Manager
Annie Brandt, Education Chair and International Project Co-Chair
Patty Dalrymple, Child Sponsorship Chair
Laura Livingston, National Project Chair
Brenda Oliver, Advocacy Chair
Holly Pennington, Local Service/Project Chair
Melanie Freiberg, International Project Co-Chair

Brenda Shaw, Treasurer
Tina Veer, World Vision Liaison

Open Positions:
Secretary/Historian
Spiritual Life Chair
Education Co-Chair
Partnership Chair

Events

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Network Tacoma Service Opportunity - February 13, 2012
Join us in our monthly service opportunity! Details here.
(You will need to be a member in The City to view this link and respond to the invite.)

Community Awareness Event - February 29, 2012
You are invited to a community awareness event to learn about the realities of human trafficking and prostitution from informed leaders in the field and how we can put a stop to these abuses in Federal Way. Details here.

Registration still open!
Women of Vision Conference
March 4-6, 2012 - Washington D.C.
This is a not-to-be-missed bi-annual event for Women of Vision partners and friends, nationwide.
Details here.
See photos from the last conference here.

Devotions & Prayer

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The Leadership of Women of Vision South Puget Sound Chapter opens all meetings with prayer and a devotion. You are invited to view our devotions (see below) and read our Prayer Blog.

Prayer Requests
Please email any prayer requests that you may have to us at wovsouthpugetsound@gmail.com. We will faithfully pray for your requests.

Leadership Devotionals
August 2011
We again turn to Oswald Chambers in his devotional, My Utmost for His Highest where he talks about Prayer in the Father's hearing using John 11:41 " Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me." When the Son of God prays, He has only one consciousness, and that consciousness is of His Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if the Son of God is formed in me the Father will always
hear my prayers. Read more here
July 2011

Oswald Chambers in his devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, in his July 23 devotional talks about Sanctification. He begins with, "The Life Side. The mystery of sanctification is that the perfections of Jesus Christ are imparted to me, not gradually, but instantly when by faith I enter into the realization that Jesus Christ is made unto me sanctification. Sanctification does not mean anything less than the holiness of Jesus being made mine manifestly. Read the full devotional here

June 2011

Pastor Cobler’s sermon “From Mountain Tops to Suddenly” focuses on how God works through change which often results in us waiting. . .we find ourselves living in the dots. . . What are the dots? The dots are marks used between the end of one statement and the beginning of another but what happened in-between was too long to write so the writer uses a series of dots for what is omitted. The time between the promise and the fulfillment requires us to wait. That waiting time is living in the dots or the ellipsis. Read the full devotional here

May 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May, 2010
April, 2010
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February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

Statement of Faith

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man, regeneration of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Vision Statement

Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness. . .our prayer, for every heart, the will to make it so.

Photo Gallery

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June 5, 2010
Find Your Voice...Break the Chain - Conference on Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery
Gig Harbor, WA

See PHOTO LINK for more photos from this event.

March 7-10, 2010
Women of Vision National Conference, Washington D.C.

See PHOTO LINK for more photos from this event.

February 25, 2010

Discover Your Vision Event,
with speaker and artist Margaret Becker

See PHOTO LINK for more photos from this event

January 22-23, 2010

Partners & Leadership Retreat

See PHOTO LINK for more photos from this event

September 30, 2009

Capture the Vision event, with Angela Mason

See PHOTO LINK for dozens of photos from this event.

Advocacy

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South Puget Sound Women of Vision are called by our faith in Jesus Christ to seek justice for all the world's people.

We are especially committed to ending Human Trafficking, Slavery and forms of oppression that deprive individuals of their humanity.

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

National Advocacy

Let Congress know that you support the Child Protection Compact Act.

The Child Protection Compact Act (HR 2737) would help enforce anti-trafficking laws by providing technical assistance and training to several targeted countries that have shown the political will to fight human trafficking and exploitation but lack the resources, know-how, and capacity to follow up with survivors.

Go to www.seekjustice.org and click on the Child Trafficking link at the bottom of the page. Scroll down to "What can the United States do?" and click on the "voicing your support" link. This link takes you to an automated form for contacting your representative in Congress and asking them to support the Child Protection Compact Act.

U.S. Senators for Washington State

Maria Cantwell

Patty Murray

U.S. House of Representatives (follow link and find your representative by zip code) http://www.house.gov/Welcome.shtml

Good article summarizing the Child Protection Compact Act http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20090715_klarevas_buckley.html

Or, for the full text of the act go to:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2737

Related Links:

www.irinnews.org

www.unicef.org

www.ijm.org

www.freetheslaves.net

www.seekjustice.org

Child Sponsorship

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Content coming soon!

Heart of the Matter Study

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What are the root causes of poverty? How are we called to respond? Where is hope for the suffering? How can love turn compassion into advocacy? Scripture, video, printed material, simulations, discussion and reflection questions contribute to a multifaceted and creative learning experience.

We would love to have you join us in The Heart of the Matter study!

This is an opportunity to learn what the Bible says about poverty and injustice, and to meet like-minded women in your area. If you are interested in attending a HOTM study, please email us at: wovsouthpugetsound@gmail.com.

Preview the study here:

Overview
HOTM Module 1: Hope in a World of Hurt
HOTM Module 2: Communities Transformed with Change that Lasts

Start time for study groups is generally 7 pm. Suggested donation for materials: $10 - or you can preview and download and print for free at http://www.womenofvision.wordpress.com/.

International Project: Micro Enterprise Development in Cambodia

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Nary was born into a poor and unstable family; she was the last of her mother’s children before her father left to marry again, taking Nary with him. When she was 13, Nary left school and started to look for work. She gave all her earnings to her stepmother, who beat her. One day, a “windblower”, one of many migration recruiters who earn their living in Cambodia visiting poor communities with offers of better work, came to her village. Some of them have legitimate paid jobs to offer, but many of them make their money feeding the illegal but lucrative industry of human trafficking. Nary, unhappy at home, ambitious for a better life and money for the future, believed the promises of a job in the city, and went with her.

Forced into a life of abuse in a brothel, Nary endured it for a time. The final straw came when she was tricked by a friend into visiting her “grandfather”, only to be drugged and raped. Tired of her trust being abused, Nary moved to a shelter for trafficked or sexually abused girls, determined to learn every skill she could to avoid future situations of dependency and poverty.

Life can be especially hard for women and children living in Cambodia. Cambodia is ranked as one of the worst countries for gender empowerment, meaning women are under represented, uneducated, and very vulnerable. Poverty and desperation cause families to sell young children or send them to work. Some children see the desperation of their family’s situation and leave for the city to look for work to help their family. Many naively fall into trafficking situations, believing in the promises and friendship of traffickers with malignant intentions. Poverty and desperation alternatively drives friends, relatives, or neighbors of children, adults trusted and part of their daily lives, to sell them into human trafficking situations.

Trafficking victims are plagued by a constant sense of shame, though they faced injustices and trauma through no fault of their own. Nary attempted to return home, but met only scorn from her family, driving her back to her brothel life. She was trafficked or sexually abused five times before she found refuge at 17 in Neavea Thmey, a Trauma Recovery Center operated by World Vision. Many children rescued from forced labor return to the streets to live in them or fall prey to traffickers repeatedly, as they find acceptance and assistance no where else. Outside they are looked down upon and devalued, rejected and shunned. Women especially feel that once their virginity is lost, so is their value as a woman to their family, community, society, and future husband.

To eradicate the issues of trafficking and child labor, World Vision is working on the root causes of poverty and injustice, combating what creates economic and physical vulnerability through micro enterprise development.

Micro enterprise development in Cambodia allows a poor woman to start a small business. As her income increases, more money will be spent on her family and within the community, stimulating existing businesses and increasing the income of those entrepreneurs. As these businesses grow, more money is spent on their families, more employees will be hired, and family welfare improves and incomes increase throughout the community. As the community resources increase, children will be able to attend school and will not be expected to work locally or in the city to help support their families. By creating jobs and opportunities in rural communities, MED not only enables economic development, but improves the situations of women and children who are forced into compromising situations by the extreme destitution of their families.

In addition to its preventative power, micro finance comes alongside Neavea Thmey, which teaches rescued trafficking victims vocational skills, and provides the needed start up capital for their new enterprises. This allows these victims to prove their worth to the community, and, more importantly, to themselves, by contributing to the economy and providing goods, services, and jobs for its members, as well as hope for a normal life after a poor and tragic childhood.

In Cambodia’s Prasath Ballang district, social services, infrastructure, and markets are poorly constructed or non existent. The poor are severely limited in their access to credit, markets, training, and new technology. Vision Fund Cambodia, a micro finance institution (MFI) affiliated with World Vision, seeks to deliver each of these services to hard working micro entrepreneurs in Prasath Ballang. But they need our help.

The average loan size for an entrepreneur in Prasath Ballang is just $150. Typical enterprises include agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing, and crafts. In order to successfully deliver credit and other services, badly needed by impoverished entrepreneurs in this district, World Vision intends to scale up the branch of their microfinance institution in the Prasath Ballang district. Currently, only 1700 clients are served by World Vision in this district. This lack of access to financial services is keeping the many poor women from achieving their potential and preventing the local economy from experiencing growth, exacerbating the poverty cycle. The scale up will provide loans and business training to approximately 607 additional clients waiting to be served, positively impacting the lives of more than 2,400 children and protecting them from trafficking situations, hard labor, and life in the streets.

The South Puget Sound Chapter of Women of Vision is honored to raise funds for micro enterprise loans for women in Cambodia.

Local Project: Network Tacoma

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Content coming soon!