With Mother’s Day just around the corner, JWI’s Mother’s Day Flower Project has begun its annual bloom.

For 11 years the Flower Project has raised awareness about domestic violence and funded anti-abuse initiatives, while sending bouquets to 150 battered women’s shelters across the United States on Mother’s Day. This year JWI is joined by a coalition of more than 100 organizations and synagogues, as well as a Flower Project Leadership Circle of women dedicated to our year-round work to educate communities, empower women, heal families and break the cycle of abuse.

For each donation of $25 or more, JWI will send a beautiful Mother’s Day card to a designated honoree to let her know a contribution was made in her name. Please get involved and help us publicize the issue of domestic violence, support abuse prevention programs, and show women spending Mother’s Day in shelters that they are not forgotten. Abuse victims and the shelters that house them need aid and resources more urgently than ever, as the declining economy brings an increase in homelessness and domestic violence.

“Every year we look forward to the Mother’s Day Flower Project,” said Marcia Weinberg of Washington Hebrew Congregation, one of the Flower Project’s most involved partners. “This is a wonderful cause and a great fundraiser for the sisterhood, and it’s become a tradition for us to rally around the project and sell hundreds of cards.” Weinberg added that all the money earned for the sisterhood goes to further social action projects supported by the organization, including the Carrie Simon House, which provides a safe and supportive home for homeless women and their babies.

Weinberg said that Washington Hebrew Congregation promotes the Flower Project at all its events, through its schools, at services, and this year, at the Women of Reform Judaism Mid-Atlantic District Convention as well.

The warmth of this compassionate gesture can be felt across the U.S. on Mother’s Day – by the honorees who receive Flower Project tribute cards, and the thousands of battered women who receive an unexpected lift on an otherwise bittersweet holiday. As Paige Maters, community outreach manager at Women and Children First in Little Rock, Ark., told JWI one year ago, “It is hard for any of us to imagine spending holidays away from those we love. Thanks to you, the mothers living in our shelter felt special and appreciated on a day just for them.”