Parents Committee Grant Winners
Name: Caitryn McCallum
School: A&S
Major: French and Foreign Affairs
Graduation Year: 2010
Caitryn is interning this summer with Beyond the 11th in Needham, MA.
Notes on the first week
I’ve been interning with Beyond the 11th for a little more than a week now, but the beginning part of my internship was really learning about the organization itself before I started my work here. Now, with a better idea of how this non-profit runs, I am so excited for this summer!
To first introduce my internship, Beyond the 11th is a non-profit organization located in Needham , Massachusetts that was founded in 2003 by Susan Retik (my supervisor for the summer) and Patti Quiqley. Susan lost her husband in the September 11th attacks of 2001 when she was pregnant with her third child. Despite her loss, Susan was able to move beyond her grief and recognize the drastic difference between the support she received as a recent widow, and the plight of widows in Afghanistan . She could not imagine having suffered the same loss in a country where upon the death of her husband, a woman is not entitled to her husband’s finances, and she is left with barely any resources to even feed her children. Since 2003, Beyond the 11th has raised over $400,000 towards programs that not only provide relief to widows in Afghanistan , but provide them with the means to generate their own income and create a sustainable future for themselves and their children. Susan and Patti traveled to Afghanistan in 2006 to visit the women engaged in the programs they are funding, and the film, Beyond Belief, documents the women’s journey (I highly recommend this documentary! It’s really incredible and has won a number of awards; you can get it on Netflix!).
I have learned so much from this internship so far, though it has only been a few weeks of my work with Susan. I learned a great deal even in my first meeting with her at her home. She appears to lead a very ‘normal’ (but busy!) life of raising her children in Needham, but it’s amazing how much she does in addition to this! The very same day that we were meeting, she was organizing thoughts for a speech she would give later that night, to a women’s group of a Jewish temple in Needham that would follow a screening of Beyond Belief. She told me that she usually gets emotional when talking about the founding of Beyond the 11th, as it is so tied to such a tragedy for her. It is amazing to me what she has done since her husband’s death. In Beyond Belief, Susan mentions that after her husband’s death, she read in a book on grief that “we can’t always choose the roles we are assigned in life, but we can change the way we play those roles.” Susan and Patti took their roles as 9/11 widows, and created lasting change in the lives of women the felt deeply connected with halfway around the world.
Beyond the 11th works by raising money for programs that support the empowerment of widows in Afghanistan, whose situation is so vulnerable that they are frequently forced into begging or prostitution to feed their families. So far, I’ve not only learned a great deal about the situation of these women, but also about how Beyond the 11th has helped to ease their plight. The organization’s funds, in the form of grants, go to Care International, BPeace, and Arzu—organizations that are implementing programs for these women. For example, in the past, Beyond the 11th has raised funds from Susan and Patti’s bike ride from Ground Zero to their homes in Boston . This money has funded, for example, the poultry-rearing and livestock-raising programs of Care International. The poultry-rearing project provides chicks to widows, and the necessary training in raising these chicks, so that they may sell them and generate income for their families in a way that is culturally acceptable within Afghanistan.
Thus far, my projects with Beyond the 11th have been geared towards some of the fundraising projects of this year. Because Susan has decided not to train for another bike ride this September, she will instead be organizing one for others to do. The money from this event will go towards a Dragon Valley Community Center for widows, in an extremely poor region of Afghanistan , the Bamiyan Valley . I’ve also been working on a ‘fundraising kit’ to be sent out to anyone interested in helping to fundraise and raise awareness of Beyond the 11th. Following Susan’s appearance on Oprah, there were a number of donations made from people all over the world, but there were also a number of people contacting her about how they could help her efforts. The kit that I’ve worked on helps explain how any person can hold a screening of Beyond Belief in their home or community, information about Beyond the 11th, the situation of women in Afghanistan, etc. I’ve also worked on breaking down just how far a donor’s dollar can go in Afghanistan (for example, $30 buys an Afghan widow 5 chicks for her family). I’ve been working on a number of other projects that I will explain in entries to come…
So far, this internship has been such a great learning experience. I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve also learned the kind of initiative I have to take in order to get the most out of this internship. There have been days when I’m not necessarily ‘assigned’ a specific task to work on. During these times, I’ve learned to discipline myself in by brainstorming new ideas for the various projects, or reading up on the current situation of women in Afghanistan . I’m very excited for what the rest of the summer will bring!
Midway
A lot of what I've been doing lately for my internship with Beyond the 11th involves working on various fundraisers. When I first met Susan Retik earlier this summer, she told me that the next project that Beyond the 11th will fund is a Dragon Valley Community Center in the Bamyan region of Afghanistan , which is extremely poor, and especially difficult for widows of this area. The women there must do their laundry outside, in the freezing winter water, with no heat. The community center, to be built by the organization Arzu, will not only provide women with a warm room in which to do their laundry, but will also give the women a place to work on weaving together as a community, and furthermore, a tea room in which to engage in conversation with others and socialize. The community aspect of this center is what really drew Susan into funding it, as when Afghan women become widowed, they are literally treated as sub-human within society. They must resort to begging, and even prostitution, just to feed their children.
Susan told me that she hoped to do one fundraiser involving the yoga community in Massachusetts . This would involve yoga studios across the state putting raising awareness about Beyond the 11th in the form of a fundraiser. After coining the name ‘Beyond the Mat' for this yoga fundraiser, I got to work emailing and calling yoga studios across the state to make them aware of this fundraiser and to try and garner some interest in the project. The fundraiser works in a number of different ways, according to whichever works best for the studio participating. One avenue the yoga studio could take, for example, is allowing students to "pass a class" so that the student could take one of their classes (maybe worth $10 or $12) and instead of using that class themselves, would donate the price to Beyond the 11th. The other option is to have a specific class during the week of September 11th, or on that Friday, in which all the drop-in class money would be donated to Beyond the 11th. I've learned a lot in the beginning stages of this fundraiser, especially in the area of being patient and persistent in creating interest about a cause. Some yoga studios were so eager and interested to help, while others never got back to me about it, despite my follow-ups.
The second fundraiser that will be taking place on September 12th is a fundraiser bike ride for Beyond the 11th. Bike-riding as a means of fund-raising has been with Beyond the 11th since Patti and Susan first founded the organization. For a number of years after the September 11th attacks, following the founding of Beyond the 11th in 2003, Susan Retik and Patti Quigley completed a bike ride from Ground Zero to their homes in Boston . When I first met Susan Retik, she told me that she would not be doing this bike ride this coming year, on the anniversary of September 11th, as she doesn't have the time this year to train. Therefore, this September, Susan plans to hold ‘Beyond the Bike' from her own home in Needham . So far, we have a number of riders, who each have a pledge to raise at least $500 towards their metric-century ride (which is 62 miles). I've been recently working on getting donations from local stores so that Susan can provide a post-race party for all riders and their families. We also need more riders for this ride, so I'll be working on getting more interested in this fund-raiser as well.
What's really taking a lot of my time up is a fund-raiser that I started myself. Earlier this summer, Susan went away on a (much-needed!) vacation. I didn't know what to do with these two weeks, and so I began my own fundraising event in my home town. There is a documentary, directed by a woman named Beth Murphy under Principle Pictures, called Beyond Belief that traces Susan and Patti's journey from the day of September 11th, 2001 to their visit to Afghanistan in 2006. The film is really amazing, and quite moving, and has already won a number of film awards (it's available on Netflix, I highly recommend it!). I asked the Loring Hall in my hometown about having a one-night movie screening of this film. I spoke with the woman who organizes group screenings at the theater, and she said that the price for these is $500, and gave me August 19th as a date that would work for them. I began to write around 50 letters to local businesses and organizations, asking for cash donations (tax-deductible) so that I will be able to cover the rental fee of the theater. As of just this weekend, I found out that I gathered enough donations to cover the rental fee! I was so excited about this. Furthermore, in writing my letters, I received an email back from a woman who owns a boutique in my town, called Camilley's Closet. This woman, Denise Bruce, has gone above and beyond for my project so far, and agreed to have a "Girls' Night Out" at her store. This coming Thursday, July 30th, she will donate 25% of her store's profits to Beyond the 11th. That night, she will offer drinks and refreshments to all shoppers. I really can't believe her generosity in hosting this fundraiser, and can't wait to see how it turns out.
Organizing this movie screening has really kept me busy, and I still have a lot to work on for it. All the ticket proceeds from this night will go to Beyond the 11th, and because tickets are $10, I'm hoping to get as many people as I can to this showing. What's awesome is that following the movie screening, Susan Retik will be at the theatre to lead a question-and-answer session. After seeing the film, I really would've loved to ask her all the questions I had about her experience in Afghanistan! I hope the night turns out to be a success.
Final Reflections
My internship with Beyond the 11th was a learning experience that both gave me great perspective while teaching me valuable lessons in community engagement. Not only did I learn a great deal about the severe plight of Afghan widows while completing this work, but I was able to learn how NGOs receive the help that they need to fund their projects, the obstacles they encounter in implementing their projects, and the improvements they make in their plans so that the greatest humanitarian result is achieved.
All throughout the summer, I had been working on various projects for Susan that Beyond the 11th needed. This involved compiling a "Home Film Screening Kit," which includes all of the information needed for those who would like to help Beyond the 11th, but don't necessarily have the money themselves to donate. This kit explained the ways in which volunteers could host a movie screening of Beyond Belief (the documentary film that traces the work of Susan Retik and Patti Quigley, founders of Beyond the 11th, from September 11th, 2001 to the year 2006, when they visited Afghanistan and the widows they are aiding). Hosts could then ask their guests, whether it is at a coffee/tea brunch, a wine and cheese night, or potluck, if they could make donations on behalf of Beyond the 11th. This kit contained all of the necessary information needed, including facts on Afghan widows, and discussion prompts for after the film.
There were other projects that I worked on for Beyond the 11th this summer, and the one I am most proud of is the one that I started myself, which was a fundraiser film screening of Beyond Belief in my hometown of Hingham (south of Boston). When I first proposed the idea that Susan lead a Q & A following the film, she asked me if I thought enough people would show to make it a really great turnout. I remember telling her that I would do my very best to get everyone I could there. I called our local town theater, the Loring Hall, and they told me that it would be $500 to rent their theater for a 90 minute film showing. I knew that I would have to raise that money on my own so that all ticket proceeds ($10/ticket), no matter how many we sold, would go straight to benefit Beyond the 11th. I began by writing a lot (a lot!) of letters to local businesses around my community, to ask for cash donations that would fund the film screening. Furthermore, I emailed many groups in my town and the surrounding town, to help me promote film screening with their email databases. The response that I got from stores and businesses wasn't very promising (due to the economy), however there was one store-owner, Denise Bruce, who owns ‘Camilley's Closet' (a fun and affordable boutique in my town) who gave me faith in what I was trying to accomplish. She decided to host a "Girls' Night Out" for us, and on this night of July 30th, she donated 25% of all Camilley's Closet profits from that day to Beyond the 11th. She hung posters for me in her store, she gave me tips on how to promote the event, and I am so grateful for her support throughout organizing the screening. That night at Camilley's Closet raised about $125, and between that money, donations from local businesses, and personal donations (from people who heard about the film, but maybe weren't available for the screening night), I was able to collect over $800 by the beginning of August. This far surpassed the $500 that the Loring Hall was charging me, and I realized that even if we sold 10 tickets the night of the film screening, all of that $10 would go right to Beyond the 11th.
My grandmother was an invaluable help to me throughout my planning. Her good friend, Michael Duggan, owns a printing press called Garrison House Press, and was incredibly generous in helping me promote the event. I made film posters, with all of the necessary information printed on them, and he was generous enough to print them (in color!) free of charge. He also printed the 300 tickets that needed to be made (the max seating capacity of the Loring Hall is 300). Once the donations were collected, the tickets printed, and the movie posters created, I set to work really promoting the event. I must have emailed every organization I could—including ‘No Place for Hate in Hingham', the Hingham Democratic Town Committee, the Hingham Republican Town Committee, the Mother's Club, the AAUW Hingham Chapter, and the Rotary Club, to name a few. I contacted every church and temple in our area so that they could paste the info blurb that I'd written in their weekly bulletins. The response was incredible, I later picked up church bulletins around my town, and nearly all of them had a good paragraph explaining the meaningful fundraiser! In July, I asked the Hingham Public Library about the possibility of setting up a display to promote the event. They allowed me to rent the display case, beginning August 1st, and I set to work creating brief write-ups with facts on Beyond the 11th, the harsh realities of Afghan widows, and the fundraiser film screening. I mounted these documents, and along with other photos from the movie (generously printed by Michael Duggan), I created an informative display case. Beginning in the very first weeks, I was receiving calls from people around town that they would like to reserve tickets. What got me even further interest in the screening was when I wrote an article for our town newspaper. They were kind enough to include my whole article, complete with color photograph!, so that our town would know about this event. Furthermore, I emailed my former high school principal, and she sent my email that explains all of the information on the fundraiser film screening, to every high school parent in her database! My cell phone began ringing all throughout August for ticket reservations, and I was receiving a lot of emails as well! Things really seemed to be shaping up.
A week before the movie screening (which was scheduled for Wednesday, August 19th), I received a call from my supervisor, Susan. I was at the library adding more brochures to the display case (they'd run out!) when she called to tell me that the Loring Hall had just called her to cancel the event. I couldn't believe it, but then I checked my own voicemail, and sure enough, the owner of Loring Hall had left me a voicemail saying that they had double-booked and that there was no way for the Loring Hall to accommodate us. I was dumbfounded, and could only think about all this work, all these donations collected, and now nothing was to come of it. So I got on the phone. Between my phone calls of begging and pleading, and my grandmother's phone calls (she also happens to know the owners of the Loring Hall, for they own surrounding theaters in our community as well), we were able to move the film screening to a nearby theater. This theater, owned by the same company, is newer and definitely more comfortable, however seats only 250 people. I was overjoyed that they could accommodate us there, but had a lot of work to do in promoting this change of location (and time, for the movie was now to begin at 7:30 pm, to allow for all those who showed up to the Loring Hall for the 7 pm showing to drive six minutes to the other theater!). I printed out directions sheets for the Loring Hall to pass out that night, I changed the time and location of every poster I'd put around town, and I emailed all of those who had previously purchased tickets or reserved them. I was just in time for the deadline of our town newspaper, so the Hingham Journal was great to do a "Change of Location and Time" article, complete with all the further information on the film screening. By the Monday before the film screening, I was getting excited for the response. I, along with the help of other friends and family members who began to talk it up for me, had sold or reserved around 150 tickets. Everyone I spoke with was very excited and spreading the word. The few days before the screening, I began working on ‘thank you' notes for all of our donors, as well as working on the program for the film screening night. This program had information on the Dragon Valley Women's Community Center that Beyond the 11th is funding, a page on "The Truth about Widows in Afghanistan" and on the back, contained a list of all of our sponsors, and people who had truly helped with the event.
The day of the event, I couldn't believe how many calls were coming in, and how many emails I was receiving. I had sold or reserved around 190 tickets by that afternoon! That night was incredibly overwhelming. By 7 pm, we'd sold out of tickets. Susan arrived at the theater to a lobby of around 100 people, standing and waiting for tickets! We began a waiting list of all of these people, so that by 7:30 pm, the tickets of those who had reservations and did not show went to the next person on the waiting list. Susan stood up on a chair to thank everyone for coming out, and thank me for gathering all these people for the event. She promised to come back to Hingham for another night for all of those who were unable to fit into the theater. People began making donations, even if they couldn't even get into the theater to see the movie! The cinema also showed the film from the flat screen in the lobby of the theater, and to my surprise there were a good 50 other people who stayed (with me, Susan, and my family—as there was no room in the theater!) to view the film, sitting in a few chairs, but mostly on the floor! The screening was a huge, overwhelming success, and the Q & A that Susan led after was very informative. People had a lot of questions after watching Beyond Belief (a film, by the way, that I still cry at for parts, no matter how well I know the story!). Between tickets proceeds, and donations made before and after the film showing, the event raised $5,600. Susan emailed me just yesterday to tell me that she had, in just this past week, received an additional $390 from donors in Hingham online. I was completely blown away by the success of the event, and by just how much I had learned about community involvement in such a short summer. I truly believe that there are people who want to do good in the world, but sometimes it takes people like Susan Retik, who turned her grief into incredible good, to inspire others that they too can help a cause. I've since kept in touch with Susan, as well as the Beyond the 11th board, and will continue to work on various projects for them throughout the school year. Susan also told me to keep track of how I made the Hingham screening such a success, because as she says, we're multiplying that to hit Washington DC in the future!
