National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. On average three women in America die each day as a result of domestic violence. One in four women and one in 13 men will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.  Wear your Holding Harts Domestic Violence Awareness Bracelet in purple to stand up for whats right and protect families suffering from abuse!

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Holding Harts began with a burning desire to fight child sexual assault.  Amongst the fight, someone very dear to us was diagnosed with breast cancer.  With an overall intention of wanting to help people in need, this tragic announcement catapulted Holding Harts forward.  At this point, we decided to create Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelets in honor of our family member, in honor of all women, in honor of your mother, aunt, sister, and grandmother.  Holding Harts is not about a single cause or a single person, we have a passion to help all people, to change our community as a whole, to make someone's life just a little bit better.  It is our ideal to set an example,  to make a difference, and to stand up for those who need us.  Whether we touch one life or many, Holding Harts feels that change is needed, and more importantly love is needed.  Above all love is the most important thing in life.  With love, we hope to initiate change, one bracelet, and one person at a time.  So please support beautiful women everywhere by wearing our pink Holding Harts Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelet.  

At the close of Breast Cancer Awareness Month we will choose a charity to support, with your help!  Please cast your vote for your favorite breast cancer charity on our Holding Harts Facebook page, our website when you place your order www.HoldingHarts.com, or on Holding Harts Twitter.   And don't forget to give love, all day, everyday!

DEAR GOD,

I want to thank you for all of the good things in my life in which you have provided!  The gifts you have given allows me the opportunity to help others!  With all my heart, I believe that helping those in need is my reason for being and I do it for you, God.

Lord you know, it has been a struggle raising awareness and selling the designs I am making with my partner Monica to help charitable organizations!  I am praying today, that people will see our heart, good intentions and will help by supporting Holding Harts! 

We truly want to help your hurting children Lord and in order to continue doing what we are doing we need to reach as many people as we can.  God, please bless Holding Harts, so we are able to bless others through you!  God, please bless us so we are able to develop great ideas to reach others! Please bless people to accept Holding Harts, to carry our products in their stores locally and nationally and to sell thousands, maybe even millions of Holding Harts designs so we are able to help those who are less fortunate here in our community and all over the world! 

God, the message in our products are most important, please bless our products and people so they are able to see our message clearly!  God, please give us a blessing that people have the desire to purchase our Holding Harts designs and that people all over the country will be proud to wear our Holding Harts designs!

Love,

Daquari

Where Holding Harts Proceeds are Going

Since launching, Holding Harts sent our very first donation checks for the month of February to The Heath Evans Foundation and the Lisa Ripp Foundation!  It was a small amount due to low sales but I know with every one's help we will be able to give more in the future!  Holding Harts was only able to give each organization $40.00; this doesn't sound like a lot but every little bit helps! 

To emphasize why Holding Harts is important I want to share an official letter from The Heath Evans Foundation explaining where Holding Harts proceeds are going! This month's donation will help with programming that supports the healing of children and families who have been victims of sexual abuse!  The letter below gives an example  of a mom who recently called The Heath Evans Foundation office asking for help for her teenage daughter who had been sexually abused by a family member. The mom revealed that she too had been sexually abused as a child but her parents didn't believe her and she never received the help that she needed! 

Far too many situations are exactly like this!  Children do not come forward because they are scared that no one will believe them. Children grow into adults, keeping the pain bottled up on the inside leaving their wounds untreated!  When there isn't a release of some kind the victim will always have a feeling of pain, agony, insecurity, distrust and is there something wrong with me! 

Now because of The Heath Evans Foundation and your support of Holding Harts, families like this will receive the help they need!  With your support of Holding Harts, we will be able to continue to help children and families heal through supporting expert counseling The Heath Evans Foundation provides. 

So please help spread the word about Holding Harts and what we are trying to accomplish.  Please help us help others by purchasing one of our fun Holding Harts designs!

Thank You

Since developing the concept of helping others through Holding Harts, so many people have provided their unconditional support.  In so doing, Holding Harts wants to express our gratitude.  These people are friends, family and even people I hadn't known until now!  They need to be thanked because this is and always will be a collective effort.

I'll start with girlfriends...Stacy Seamon, Whitney Guarisco, Nicole Labadot, Barbara Fortier, Tiffany Phillips, Alexandra Garner and Erin Smith thank you for listening to me rant and rave about my ideas, thanks for pushing me forward everyday and thanks for lending a helping hand!  Jennifer Gaubert, thank you for not only joining us in our first photo shoot but thank you for inviting me and holding my hand to discuss Holding Harts on Law Out Loud With Jen ; your help has  meant the world to me.  Thanks to all of my girlfriends who were a part of our first photo shoot and some of my biggest supporters; my sister Brandy Anderson, Stacy Seamon, Jennifer Iapichino, Cheri Giminez, Vanessa Duda, Jennifer Gaubert and Jenna Gaspar.  Thank you to our photographer, Stephanie Mediamolle of Envisage, who gave us the most incredible photos. Thank you to a real sweet person, Olivia Thompson, our hair stylist for the day!  Thank you to the most beautiful venue, Race & Religious, for allowing us free range for our photo shoot! Thank you Betsy Sharfenstein for helping me on those days that I needed an extra hand!  And last but not least, as always, thank you Juli Miller Hart of Projects With Purpose for giving me advice, love and support!

Secondly, I want to thank Sue Martin of the Heath Evans Foundation and Lisa Ripp of the Lisa Ripp Foundation for being able to see my heart, passion and determination for striving to help!  Holding Harts goal is to create awareness, inspire and donate as much as we can to support the mission of preventing, healing and fighting sexual abuse!

Then there is Peer Partners who has selflesly lended their expertise because they truly believe in what Holding Harts is trying to accomplish.  With their help we will become who we are meant to become!

Oh, and I can't thank Maria Muro of New Orleans Living enough for inviting me on the show and making me feel so comfortable and loved.  The show will air later this month.  I will post when I have additional details.

In addition to everyone above, I feel there is a real movement beginning.  On Sunday, March 25th from 1:00 to 4:00pm, several local businesses are getting together to host Shopping for a Cause; Holding Harts, Jessica Canedo of Bella Bliss Salon & Spa, Sherri Fourcade-Hallner of Vault Denim, Stephanie Daigrepont of Theres No Place Like Home and Brown-Forman. And in honor of Child Abuse Awareness Month in April so many are joining us in the fight against sexual abuse!  Holding Harts is collaborating with Mardi Gras World, Rita Tequilas Restaurant & Bar and The Silver Plum Children's Boutique in Mandeville.  Details about these events will be provided in later posts. 

Then I have to thank Monica Grimaldi, a friend and family member, for coming on as my partner in this effort.  Monica has an international background in fashion & design and will help to bring Holding Harts to a different, new and exciting level!

And my George, you will always be my greatest support, so thank you for that, thank you for allowing me to see that I can accomplish anything!  Then there's my mom, Elaine DeLeon and my Momma Duck, Beverly Seamon...and my brother, dad and family...and of course the one above all, God!

I am sure I am leaving someone out, so please forgive me!  With every one's help we will make a difference in this world, we will create awareness and inititate healing, we will lift each other up, nurture each other and hold each other's hearts!

Certified Steward of Children

I am so excited!  I just completed the Stewards of Children certification course! What is that you ask?  Well, now I am well informed on all of the best practices of protecting children!  This comprehensive course is about 3 hours long and covers 7 Steps that outline the Darkness to Light core principles for preventing, recognizing, and reacting responsibly to child sexual abuse and form the framework for the adult training program.  The 7 steps are as followed:

1. Learn The Facts
2. Minimize Opportunity
3. Talk About It
4. Stay Alert
5. Make A Plan
6. Act on Suspicions
7. Get Involved

To join the movement of ending child sexual abuse, go to www.d2l.org/

Holding Harts Versus Holding Hearts

Several of my close friends are asking, "Why did you spell Holding Harts with an "A" versus "EA"?  I knew if these questions were coming up that many others would probably have the same question.  There are several reasons.  Firstly, Holding Harts, to me  means that we need to lift each other up, nurture each other and hold each other's hearts.  The vision of the image I had fit perfectly between the H and the R.  The other reason being the most meaningful is "A" stands for the anonymous people who have not talked about what happened to them.  The others that have not begun to heal because they are keeping their pain locked on the inside for one reason or another.  Like I mentioned earlier 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls will be sexually abused before the age of 18.  This is a statistic based on people who have come forward.  The true numbers are yet to be discovered.   Just think about all of the people who are out there hurting.  True healing starts when you are able to release.  My thoughts are that Holding Harts will empower those who are hurting to have voice so they can begin to feel better. "A" is for anonymous and also for the person I am doing this for! 

The Heath Evans Foundation

OK, so I have been following the work of the Heath Evans Foundation for several years now.  I have to say, I am astonished by the passion exerted by this group!  This is an organization that you know really cares about its mission and helping others heal.  To read their heartfelt story and learn more about their efforts, click on the HEF photo and/or keep up with the HH Blog - future posts to come!

Darkness To Light

Darkness to Light means many things to a person who has been sexually abused.  For one thing, this is where healing begins.  Although it can be scary, it takes talking about what happened to really begin to mend a broken and abused heart. Darkness to Light is an organization  that believes this and works hard to help others heal!  In addition, D2L empowers  people to prevent child sexual abuse with its various programs. In the Greater New Orleans area, D2L is offered by a multitude of outlets. For a listing of locations and to learn more about Darkness to Light please click on the D2L photo above.

Relentless Drive

The passion in my heart affected me greatly - I was relentless! For one full month, I spent hours every day looking for just the right canvas (shirts).  They had to be fun, colorful, fashion forward, and soft, very soft!  I knew what I was looking for and I wasn't going to give up until I found them.  I must have looked at the shirts I finally ordered for a couple of weeks until my George said, "Just get them, they are great!"  I guess I needed a little nudge.  The day they came in, it was like Christmas, I was so excited and extremely pleased with the quality.

HH Development

Lucky for me, the love of my life, my George, loves to go to the country.  This is where we spend a lot of our time.  After the day I was inspired, Monday, November 21st, 2011, my George and I spent most weekends and one full week there.  This was great because it gave me time to develop my vision further.  Our time there was peaceful, so I was able to really dig deep.  During this time I sketched, painted, designed, wrote and took a Stewards of Children certification course - I will fill you in about the course in a later post. 

An Inspirational Trip

On a trip to Park City, Utah I was inspired! Walking in and out of shops on Main Street, we walked into a little store filled with love. I met a wonderful lady named Annie and little did I know that speaking with her would lead me on a new and exciting path!  After walking out of her store, I knew in my heart that I had to do something to aid in fighting childhood sexual abuse.     Shortly after leaving Main Street we were off to the Salt Lake City Airport to head back home to New Orleans.  The entire plane ride home my mind was running rapid with ideas! I had  visions of hands holding hearts with bright colors & purple and blue protective hands.  The images were very similar but also very different.  I kept thinking I need to help people find their voice!

Penn State Case Opens The Door

In the childhood sexual abuse case against former Assistant Penn State Coach, Jerry Sandusky, myself like many others have had a hard time taking in allegations.  Every time I hear updates on the case, tears flow to my eyes! This terrible tragedy has affected our nation tremendously.  The one good thing that has resulted in light of the crime is that it has given others the strength to speak up, children are becoming aware of what to look for, families are being educated on how to avoid these situations and parents are learning how to respond.

Childhood Sexual Abuse

I have always wanted to be an advocate of fighting childhood sexual abuse.  This issue is a common thread in all communities and affects not only the child but the community as a whole.  Before a child turns 18 years old, one in six boys and one in four girls will experience some form of sexual abuse.  The majority of the time the offender is a family friend or someone the child trusts. In my family alone I know of more than one person who was affected by  sexual abuse.  This is what drives me, this is why I am so concerned because I know how bad it hurts people - its why I began Holding Harts.

A Passion for Helping Others

My passion for helping others consumes me.  I love my  work at Projects With Purpose.  Every day we search for organizations who have the resources to give back to our New Orleans community, communities nationwide and even globally.  I wake up every morning happy to go to work because I know I will have the opportunity to make a difference in someone's life.  Our team at Projects With Purpose have played a part in  rebuilding communities, revitalizing schools, backpack programs to end child hunger, clothing drives to benefit low socio-economic women trying to get back into the workforce and much much more.