Feel Good Fashions for Deserving Tucson Women Throughout the year we supply work attire and dress clothes to women in the community. We partner with two organizations: Look Good Feel Good is an organization that supports women going through chemotherapy. Often the household budget is spent on health care, not leaving much for new clothes. We bring new and used clothes for them to “shop”—we offer suits for the office or a dress to wear out to dinner! Wings of Hope offers transitional housing for homeless and re-entering women who have been left with no support system. We bring in work attire to add the finishing touch in preparing them for a successful future! The new and used fashions are donated throughout the year. We look for donations and fundraise so we can present the clothes dry cleaned. We also like to offer small certificates for beauty services, massages or restaurants to the women! Hand Bags for Moms We partner with Wings of Hope annually to help children give their moms a memorable Mother’s Day! We bring in handbags filled with toiletries and craft supplies. The children get to make a special card for mom and then pick out a handbag to give her! The new and used handbags are collected throughout the year. We need to look for donations or fundraise to fill the bags with toiletries. A Gift from M.E. We started this project in honor of our late Aunt Margaret. (Read more about her below.) This helps women in the community with terminal illnesses. We help them give a gift to their loved ones. We put together an afternoon of relaxation for the family affected by the illness. We give in-home reflexology, Reiki and massage to the family and the patient. We also bring in a gift basket full of fruits, teas and treats. A patient can nominate their family, or a friend can always nominate a family in need of a Gift from M.E. The body work provided is donated by local businesses or individuals. Again, we fundraise and look for donations to fill the gift baskets. More About A Gift from M.E. My Aunt Margaret was a beautiful person. The picture of a lady; well-spoken and carried herself with grace and elegance. Her beauty went beyond the surface, she was just as beautiful inside. She was devoted to raising money to fight breast cancer, assist soldier’s families and gave much of her time to animal shelters. She was a devoted daughter, sister, wife, aunt and friend. She always put family first and took care of all of us. In June of 2010, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Even in her weakest moments, she was worried about her family and how her illness was affecting them; so selfless. I was so grateful that I was able to go for a visit and spend some time with her. Before I could even give her a hug and a, "How you feeling today?" she wanted to make sure I didn’t need something to eat or drink, and know if I had a comfortable bed to sleep in during my stay! I spent the first day watching her; she was so concerned over how her family was handling her illness. My heart was braking for my grandmother, dad, aunts and uncles. I wanted to be able to do something to help or take care of them the way she always had. I could tell they were all so stressed and worried. Since stress has a way of causing aches and pains in the body, I gave them the one gift I had: reflexology. When I came home after my visit, I was so upset and angry with cancer, so resentful that she was going through that. She was one of the kindest most selfless people I knew. Why her? I decided that the anger was a waist of energy and I needed to put it into something of value. Make something beautiful come out of this ugly disease she battled. I decided that I would give a gift of Reiki and Reflexology to families affected with terminal illness. This will be a cost free afternoon—a gift from me to a patient dealing with a terminal illness to share with their family. This is what I call "A gift from M.E." (Margaret Elsner), since she was the one who has inspired me to do this. I hope to find other Reflexologist and Reiki practitioners along with Massage Therapist that will volunteer one day a month to help out. Patients can contact me directly or have someone nominate their family to receive the gift. The time can be spent in the patient’s home and they can invite family members over to enjoy a relaxing afternoon. They provide the location and I will bring the treatment table as well as a gift basket of fruit, teas and treats! The patient is of course given the treatment if it is approved by their physician.
