I woke up this morning, threw on some clothes, and dashed out the door to vote!

I was greeted by multiple volunteers, at my library, sharing pamphlets and flyers of how I should vote. Most of you, I am sure, had made your decisions prior to walking into the voting booth. What a blessing it is to have this right to vote!

2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women's constitutional right to vote. I have been sharing this with my middle school students; many of them just assumed women always had the right to vote! We know, this not the case! This historic centennial offers an unparalleled opportunity to commemorate a milestone of democracy and to explore its relevance to the issues of equal rights today. I am so proud to be able to vote and have the opportunity to share this with my students! As Altrusa women, we are “builders of women” and I am confident we would have been marching right alongside these strong, committed and courageous women back in 1920!

In addition, November 25th marks the 20th anniversary of The United Nations' (UN) International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

“The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was started in 1999 to commemorate the Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic who were assassinated on this date in 1960 for opposing dictator Rafael Trujillo. The three sisters started an anti-Trujillo group called the Movement of the Fourteenth of June, named after a massacre reportedly ordered by the dictator. They called themselves, “Las Mariposas,” or “the butterflies,” and openly protested Trujillo and his regime. To retaliate, his henchmen beat the sisters to death in a cane field and faked a car accident to explain their deaths.” More information can be found on the following website: https://time.com/3603582/international-day-to-end-violence-against-women/ In closing, Altrusa sisters have always “blazed the trail for greater things” and were are “committed to the philosophy of unselfishness, of the joy of giving rather than getting, and to the search for happiness which is based upon spiritual worthiness”. Please have a blessed November, full of thankfulness, joy, and peacefulness.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving holiday!