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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLLEGES ACROSS MARYLAND RALLY  AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

College students in Baltimore city and seven surrounding counties to gather this spring to highlight US Human Trafficking with the conviction that

“My Generation Will Be Free.”

Throughout the months of March and April 2012, fourteen college campuses will be hosting anti-human trafficking rallies.  These are student-led activities that will take place over the course of a week, including a wide variety of expressions to bring awareness to the issue of modern day slavery.  Student groups are assembling speaker panels, immersion experience tents, documentary screenings, a Fair Trade fashion show, student-created performances,  information booths from local NGOs, videos, social media events, art exhibits, spoken word events, and advocacy efforts, all in an effort to Educate, Enrage and Engage the next generation.

Participating schools will host their rallies according to the following schedule:

5 March              Towson University

5 March              Morgan State University

19 March            Stevenson University

19 March            Howard Community College

26 March            University of MD Law School

27 March            University of Baltimore

2 April                 University of Maryland Baltimore County

9 April                 Frederick Community College

9 April                 Anne Arundel Community College

9 April                 McDaniel College

16 April               Johns Hopkins University

16 April               University of Maryland, College Park

24 April               CCBC-Catonsville

30 April               Loyola College

A detailed schedule of the activities planned for the various locations can be found at www.marylandcoaltion.org. The rallies are being hosted by The Maryland Rescue and Restore Coalition, a state-wide anti trafficking effort. In 2010 the Coalition was designated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the Maryland liaison and became a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s national anti-human trafficking effort, the Blue Campaign. The Maryland Rescue and Restore Coalition’s work includes public awareness, prevention, intervention, advocacy and aftercare, working specifically through communities of faith.  These rallies are funded through a grant from the Petit Foundation and several Maryland congregations.

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Contact:  Jeanne Allert  at  443.858.7796 or jallert@thesamaritanwomen.org

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Support for the vocational training component of our residential program is made possible in part through a grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which provides resources and support to injured service members, veterans, and their families.

For more information about the Bob Woodruff Foundation, visit www.ReMIND.org.

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Listen to a podcast about media campaign “Women and Girls Lead” featuring The Samaritan Women and Maryland Public Television.

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Faith Wachter, the Director of Community Outreach Initiatives at of Maryland Public Television(MPT) and Jeanne Allert, Founder and Executive Director of The Samaritan Women joined Women Talk Live on Talkradio 680 WCBM Baltimore to talk about the Women and Girls Lead initiative, a multi-year, public media initiative that is focused on educating and connecting people globally in support of the issues facing women and girls to help them develop into the leaders who will improve their corner of the world.

If you missed this informative show or want to share it with someone, listen here.

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Joan Plisko, Grants Committee Co-chair of the Catonsville Women's Giving Circle, presenting a 2011 grant to Jeanne Allert, Executive Director of The Samaritan Women. The grant will finance the purchase of an industrial sink for the teaching kitchen in TSW's new residential facility for homeless women veterans.

The Catonsville Women’s Giving Circle, the newest philanthropic organization in Catonsville, has pooled the contributions of its members to make six grants totaling $8000 to local nonprofits.  Each of the grants will support a specific project within organizations ranging in mission from preservation of open space to mental health services.

Sherry Welch is the founding member who originally brought the idea of creating a women’s giving circle to the Catonsville Community Foundation, of which she is a board member.

Welch said, “We are delighted to announce the inaugural round of grants approved by the Catonsville Women’s Giving Circle.  The nonprofits who will receive funding are all such worthwhile causes, and we hope our contributions will assist them in fulfilling their missions. In 2012, we hope even more women will want to join our circle and be a part of growing philanthropy in the Catonsville area.”

Some of the grants are for very specific purchases like buying an industrial sink for the teaching kitchen at The Samaritan Women or buying books and CDs for the fall prison literacy program sponsored by Turning Pages.

Other grants are more for support to ongoing costs like legal fees for NeighborSpace or the Catonsville Rails to Trails clean-up efforts after Hurricane Irene.

After one site visit to assess grant requests, Siri Svaeren, co-chair of the grants committee, said, “Being at Lighthouse reminded me that all families and all children have their struggles and deserve access to support services that can help them overcome challenges.  Having an organization like Lighthouse impacts the well-being of Catonsville as a whole, and we are honored to be able to support them through the Giving Circle.”

Maggie Schorr, a member of the CWGC and local exercise instructor, was especially excited about the Circle’s grant to The Children’s Home for an exercise program for the residents.  Schorr said, “I’m thrilled that the CWGC is supporting a health and wellness program. Keeping Catonsville active will provide benefits that increase the quality of life in our town.  It’s great to work with engaged, enthusiastic women on supporting such worthwhile projects.”

The next meeting of the Catonsville Women’s Giving Circle will focus on bringing in new members for 2012.  For more information about membership or grants, visit the website at www.catonsvillewomensgiving.org

For more information, contact:

Meg Tipper 410.967.5216                         Siri Svaeren  410.869.9152

meg.tipper@gmail.com                             sirisvaeren@comcast.net

For general information                            For information about attending an award presentation event

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A long-neglected mansion on the city’s west side has been restored to its 19th-century grandeur so that it can provide a home and hope for homeless women.

Dozens of volunteers have adopted rooms in the 8,000-square-foot Victorian, built in 1893 by the owner of a Baltimore tugboat company. They swept away years of abandonment, sanded floors, painted walls, restored stained-glass windows, repaired fireplaces and polished the fixtures. They have rebuilt the kitchen, added new bathrooms and donated linens, handmade quilts and every stick of furniture — save for the few pieces that came with the house.

Making the 23-room house beautiful again is a metaphor for the transformation its newest residents should undergo within its walls, said Jeanne Allert, director of the Samaritan Women.

“All of this will bring health, healing and hope to those women in need,” she said in announcing a gala opening set for Saturday.

In addition to this gracious house for about 16 homeless women, “all of this” includes the city’s largest urban farm, acres of woodland and a smaller home for offices, as well as a culinary arts training program.

Allert expects the first women, likely veterans of the armed services who are now homeless, to move in by Thanksgiving. They will stay about two years as they put their lives back together and acquire skills that should ensure them an income.

“We want them to leave here with a certification that shows they have the training and ability to work,” she said.

The Samaritan Women will also serve women referred by the Department of Homeland Security, many of them rescued from human trafficking, Allert said.

She founded the organization nearly four years ago and set to work on planting a third of its tillable property. The bounty from the land has gone to area soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters. Allert wants to ensure the city’s neediest have a steady supply of fresh foods.

Some produce — everything from arugula to zucchini — makes it to the organization’s weekly farmers’ market and to retirement homes in the area. These sales pay for seeds, plants, tools and chicken feed for the resident egg producers. They have also helped fund a 120-foot-long greenhouse that will extend the growing season.

“We started with dirt and rocks, and now we are cranking out food like crazy,” Allert said.

Ben O’Donnell, farm manager, has reaped a large harvest this season. He just planted fall greens and is about to gather the last of the root vegetables. The greenhouse is planted with rows of peas, spinach and romaine lettuce.

He looks forward to assistance from the new residents and feels certain they will find satisfaction in the work. These culinary students will have only to go into the backyard to gather class materials. They will also plant, tend and harvest crops.

“Seeing something grow is part of the life cycle,” he said. “It has a beautiful impact and gives you a purpose, where you might not have had one.”

He looks out on tilled fields and sees thriving beehives and a new berry vineyard. He envisions an orchard.

“All we need is an electric fence to keep the deer population away,” he said.

Volunteers have helped The Samaritan Women since its founding in 2007, including a high school football team that cleared land, university students who donate their spring breaks and those who just wander in with offers to help. One particularly engaged volunteer, Jessica Maltman, took some time off for travel after graduating from University of South Florida last spring. On a visit to friends in Baltimore, she learned about The Samaritan Women. She has been volunteering ever since and has twice canceled her flight home to Tampa.

“I understand the personal struggles these women who will live here have been through,” she said. “I know they will leave here after an empowering journey with opportunity ahead of them.”

Allert will usher visitors into the home at a gala benefit Saturday. The evening includes music by members of the U.S. Army Band, a silent auction and a dinner that features many dishes made from the recent harvest. This program and those dishes are just a taste of what is to come, said Allert.

Allert said she cannot wait to show off the parlor, library, modernized kitchen and the space that will soon be made into a commercial kitchen and classroom.

“I just saw the mural and writing on the kitchen wall,” said Emma Runge, 12, who was helping out on a day off from school Thursday. “It is just amazing.”

An artist painted a cornucopia brimming with all manner of vegetables above the kitchen’s brick fireplace. Above it, she wrote, in a bold script, words from Scripture:

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Click here to read the full article by Mary Gail Hare, at The Baltimore Sun

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Jeanne Allert was interviewed on September 29, 2011 for  “Maryland’s News Now” with Mary Beth Marsden on WBAL Radio.

Click below to listen:
The Samaritan Women ‘sJeanne Allert with Mary Beth Marsden Sept 29, WBAL -Radio.

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Over 120 Johns Hopkins students volunteers, including President Daniels and his wife Joanne, for a rousing day of service at The Samaritan Women on September 26, 2011.

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Though the facility is in the Irvington community of Baltimore, this amazing place just down the road has some significant connections to our community.

The Samaritan Women, 602 S. Chapel Gate Lane, provides a healing community to help women recover from trauma, victimization or addiction and rebuild their lives.

Catonsville residents, as well as local businesses and churches, are among the hundreds of volunteers who have donated their support in the past four years to the facility.

“We have from 60-100 volunteers a week who contribute their time and talents,” said Jeanne Allert, a former businesswoman and founder of the Christian ministry that encourages healing and hope.

The facility provides “restorative services specifically to homeless female veterans and women rescued from exploitation and human trafficking,” according to its website.

Allert, a giver, a doer and an amazing organizer, can often be found directing projects on the campus throughout the day, with her Labrador, Daisy, pit bull, Orion, and cat, Elizabeth Taylor, nearby.

“I’ve been impressed with Jeanne’s faith, passion, and commitment to the needs of women,” wrote the Rev. Ken Kovacs, pastor of Catonsville Presbyterian Church, in an email. “She has a determined trust in God’s faithfulness to the growth out of this project.

“In my time on the grounds of TSW, I could palpably feel that something was special about the place, that God appeared to be doing something important there — across denominational and theological divides.

“I was particularly struck to see conservative and liberal Christians working together in this ministry. This provides a model for what the Church as a whole can be about.”

Girl Scout troops have transformed rooms in the house, church groups have painted and cleaned, students from Johns Hopkins University built a berry garden structure and high school students tend to the farm.

“We have some great support from Catonsville businesses and church groups which has been terrific, ” wrote Sharon Runge, a volunteer, in an email.

“I continue to be inspired by the hundreds of volunteers who have given thousands of hours of time and talent to renovate the historic mansion and to create the farm,” wrote the Catonsville resident.

“I am also deeply appreciative to the businesses, especially the Catonsville community, who have supported our events and projects. Now I can hardly wait for the women to move in and for the house to become a home and a place of healing and renewal.

“It will even be more exciting once our culinary kitchen is completed in the new year and the residents begin to use produce from our harvest to learn culinary skills and create nutritious meals,” she wrote.

In addition to the residence and vocational training program, the facility also features a greenhouse and a huge, 2-acre farm.

Two Catonsville businesses on Frederick Road, Atwater’s and Ships Café, donate to the compost effort on the farm.

The Rev. David Asendorf, pastor of Salem Lutheran Church on Frederick Road, enjoys tending to his own garden plot where he grows potatoes and corn.

“I used to live on a farm. It’s delightful to be at TSW. My space is right next to the chickens,” he saidl.

He called the facility’s outreach and mission to offer counseling, spiritual development, vocational training and life skills, a blessing to women on the streets.

An Oct. 1 gala will celebrate four years of renovation efforts by thousands of volunteers on the battered 1839 Victorian house.

The 6-10:30 p.m. event will feature an evening of food, music, dancing and a tour of the residence.

In addition to signature dishes from area chefs, many highlighting produce from the facility’s farm, members of the U.S. Army Field Band will donate their musical talent.

Tickets are $75 and available here.

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Government needs to step up and increase its efforts to combat the growing problem of sex trafficking