LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER
My sisters, I’m the first to admit that I was an odd child. In addition to being the youngest, the shyest, and the most socially awkward (having started first grade when I was barely 5); I was also incredibly sensitive. I was the girl who cried about everything that was wrong in the world, as I wondered why people had to struggle with illness, or poverty, or abuse. The one who bawled as I read Little Women and Helen Keller – and as I watched those 70s commercials showing kids who didn’t have access to fresh food and water. The one who pushed my mom to buy random things off the street corner that we didn’t need, because I was convinced it made a difference to someone’s life. As I said, I was odd. :) So, it should come as no shock that I thought I could personally heal the world. Each week I’d come up with new ideas that I’d beg my mom to consider. What if we all just gave one dollar? If we all gave, wouldn’t everyone have enough to eat? I don’t remember how my mom explained that it wasn’t that simple. But whatever words she lacked were covered by life lessons that made me stop believing as I grew older. We couldn’t solve world hunger with a dollar per person. And, I — well, I started to believe that I couldn’t do much of anything to really make a difference. Then one day, I planted this little seed with a book called You Are Not Alone. And then I watered that seed with my first women’s retreat. And, over time, the little seed started to grow until one woman turned into more than 20,000 yanasisters. I wasn’t solving world hunger, but in my own little way I started to believe just maybe my “little” wasn’t so off base with thinking “she” could make 4
