October 15-17, 2004
Dallas County, Texas Omni Mandalay Hotel
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THE INVITATION:
The Gather the Women Congress is an opportunity to envision a future that resonates with our minds, bodies and souls so clearly it inspires us each day to make it a reality. The goal of the 2004 Congress is to provide participants with concrete principles and strategies to take back to their communities to create a new, peaceful future.
We are expecting over 600 women from 50 countries to attend this incredible, interactive, learning event. Building on the success of the first Congress held in San Francisco, California in October of 2003, we will provide participants with tools and concrete ideas to implement peace in their communities and in the world.
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Building on the success of the inaugural Gather the Women Congress held in San Francisco, CA in October of 2003, we are expecting between 600-1000 women from 50 countries to attend this collaborative, interactive, learning event at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas, a suburb of Dallas.
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The program will include inspirational keynote presentations, informative panel presentations, interactive workshops based around the 12 sectors of the WOVA Wheel of Transformation, outstanding films and heart-opening music. Each participant will go home with the tools and concrete ideas to support her passion to create a new, peaceful future.
We are looking for women to step into leadership positions in the area of their greatest joy, passion, and skill to volunteer, inspire and help organize the Congress. If you are in Texas, our planning meetings are the first Wednesday of every month at: The La Cima Club, Suite 2600,5215 North O'Connor Road, Las Colinas, Texas!
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We are also looking for women's organizations to partner with us and to host workshops. If your organization is interested in being a partner, please contact our Conference Coordinator, DonnaCollins[at]WOVA.org.
Donna Collins
Conference Coordinator
Linda Gray, well-known actress, women's health and rights activist, UNFPA* Goodwill Ambassador and Chairperson of UNFPA’s Face to Face Campaign, which seeks to raise awareness of the plight of women who have been denied basic human-rights including reproductive health care and family planning. Visit her website at: www.lindagray.com
*UNFPA was established in 1969 as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities. In 1987, the Economic and Social Council decided to rename it the United Nations Population Fund, but to retain the original abbreviation-acronym.
Barbara Marx Hubbard is a noted author, futurist, citizen diplomat, and social architect at the forefront of an emergent 'post-conventional' worldview that is unleashing evolutionary forces embodying intensified creativity, deepening spirituality, and environmental systems awareness. Barbara calls this worldview 'Conscious Evolution', and unlike futurists' usually grandiose visions, is actually codifying it into a cohesive social potential movement. She is a founding board member of the World Future Society, the Society for the Universal Human and co-founder of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution. Her books include: The Revelation, The Hunger of Eve, The Evolutionary Journey, and Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential. For more information, visit www.evolve.org/
Patricia Smith Melton has spent the last decade dedicated to the creation of nonprofit organizations that foster international education and cultural exchange. In 1990 she co-founded The Melton International Education Foundation, which brought together university students in India, China, Chile, Germany, and the U.S. in the earliest large-scale international "experiment" in cross-cultural bonding for young people through the Internet. In 2002, she founded PEACE X PEACE, a nonprofit organization that uses the Internet to support the peace-building work of women locally and globally, through connection, recognition, and education and is the Executive Producer and co-Director of the documentary, PEACE BY PEACE: Women on the Frontlines, which highlights the often invisible work of women around the world to build the conditions necessary for sustainable peace. Visit www.peacexpeace.org for more information
Dr. Lillian Carson is a nationally renowned authority on child development, parenting and grandparenting and is the author of The Essential Grandparent, winner of the 1996 Parent's Choice Award. She is the national spokeswoman for the Healthy Aging™ Campaign, sponsored by the United States Postal Service, McGrandMom for the McDonald's publication Parent Source Magazine, national spokesperson for America's Promise, Grandparent Moderator for the United Nations Global Meeting of Generations project and a lecturer. Her numerous television appearances include The Today Show, CBS Evening News, CNN, MSNBC and CNBC. Dr. Carson lives in Montecito, California with her husband and enjoys grandparenting ten grandchildren. Visit her website at: www.essentialgrandparent.com/
Author Laura Day first began her career as an intuitive and healer by mistake.when she allowed Italian and French researchers to use her as the subject in an intuition study. Amazed at the results, she went on to administer these same tests on other people that she met discovering that everyone had this same intuitive and healing ability. Laura decided to write her first book while watching psychic hotline commercials on late night television. Appalled at the thought that people would pay for something they already possessed, she wrote the NY Times bestseller, Practical Intuition, based on the theory that intuition would enable people to create choices and changes in their lives. Laura has also authored Practical Intuitive for Success, Practical Intuition for Love, and The Circle: How the Power of a Single Wish Can Change Your Life. She lives in New York City. Find out more at www.practicalintuition.com/
Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, psychiatrist, author of The Millionth Circle, The Tao of Psychology, Goddesses in Everywoman, Gods in Everyman, Ring of Power, Crossing to Avalon, Close to the Bone, Goddesses in Older Women, and Crones Don't Whine. She is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California Medical Center, an internationally known lecturer. She founded and co-chaired Psychiatrists for ERA, which was a major influence within psychiatry in the early 1980's, that evolved into the Association for Women in Psychiatry. The Millionth Circle, an international volunteer organization was inspired by her book. (www.millionthcircle.org). You can also visit her website at www.jeanshinodabolen.com
Professor Ada Aharoni, Ph.D. is a culture sociologist and author who has published 25 books. She believes that culture and communication can help to heal the urgent ailments of our global village and that women are the best ally of peace. She has been awarded several international prizes and awards, and has been elected one of the 100 Global Heroines (Rochester, N .Y.), for her creative work and books. She is the founder and president of IFLAC: The International Forum for the Culture of Peace, and its wing: Lena - The Bridge: Jewish and Arab Women for Peace in the Middle East. Her latest book is: Women Creating A World Beyond War and Violence (Haifa: Lachman, 2002). And her latest Anthology is: GALIM 10 - WAVES 10: New Horizons (2003). She is also the Founder and Editor of the online HORIZON PAVE PEACE Magazine: New-Horizon.upco.il Also visit her website at: www.ada.up.co.il
Susyn Reeve describes herself as America's Stress Solution -- a Peace & Happiness Guide. She is an author (Choose Peace & Happiness: A 52 - Week Guide), speaker, Interfaith Minister, executive coach, Peace & Happiness Angel, management consultant, Peacemaker, Dreamer, Goddess, Step-mom and grandmother. She is the co-founder of www.CelebrateSomebody.com and www.CelebrateAHero. Providing consulting services to major corporations and medical centers, she lives in East Hampton, New York.
Kathe Schaaf served as president of the Board of Directors of Women of Vision and Action (WOVA) and was one of the many WOVA members who held the vision for the Gather the Women Congress: Weaving a World that Works that took place in October 2003. She has a Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy and is founder of Wise Woman Workshops, a vehicle through which she provides workshops and seminars to empower women. She has served as the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Positive Youth Development Initiative, the Wisconsin Child Welfare Advisory Committee, served on many nonprofit boards and convened numerous state and national conferences.
Helene Leonetti, MD is a board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Holistic Medical doctor, accredited herbalist, and author of Menopause: A Spiritual Renaissance. After 20 years as a nurse, Helene decided to apply to medical school at the age of 36. Defying all odds and discouragement, Helene was determined to fulfil her life-time dream of becoming a physician. She was finally accepted to medical school in Mexico which required her to move residence, learn another language and double her academic load. Helene specializes in menopause. Currently, Helene is conducting the only clinical trials on the use of natural transdermal progesterone cream for hormonal balance.
Sherrill Sellman began to experience, a decade ago while in her mid-40's, the throes of a debilitating perimenopause. Her life was in disarray from night sweats, anxiety attacks, fatigue, brain fog, weight gain and low libido. Desperate to find an answer, she sought natural solutions. Her investigations led her to undercover the deceit and betrayal of the menopause industry. Her book, Hormone Heresy: What Women MUST Know About Their Hormones has become an international best seller. She continues to research, write and lecture worldwide educating women of all ages about the myths , misuse and misinformation of synthetic hormones and other women's health issues. Sherrill is also a contributing writer to holistic publications world-wide as well as a holistic psychotherapist. Sherrill's web site: www.ssellman.com
Workshops were held throughout the 3 day conference based around WOVA's Wheel of Transformation. Shown in the graphic below are the names and photos of the women who facilitated the workshops.
