Oster, 52, turned a domestic-violence experience into something positive by creating a nonprofit called Courage is Change. The goal: Help end the cycle of violence by opening up communication and creating stronger communities.

Since we last talked to Oster, Courage is Change has launched after-school “Red Tent” gatherings for girls at four local high schools. The meetings feature classes on all kinds of topics — from self-defense to meditation to interviewing skills — to help empower girls to make healthy choices.

Oster hopes to soon have Red Tent clubs at all Boulder Valley high schools and launch a middle school program. She also dreams of starting a Red Tent center for women of all ages and backgrounds, where women can find various offerings, such as coaching, yoga and dance classes, cooking classes and massage. To learn more, visit www.courgeischange.org.

“Women don’t have that sense of community in our lives anymore,” Oster says. “We need each other for survival.”

We asked Oster a few more questions, to get a glimpse inside her busy brain:

What is the best advice you can offer other female activists right now?
Follow your passion. I’ve had many challenges, but I look at them as something I need to learn from and move forward.

What is your life’s motto?
It’s all good. My girlfriends and I will complain to each other for hours, be in tears and end it all with, “But it’s all good.”

What inspires you?
I don’t listen to negativity. If anybody says I can’t do it, I say, “Yes, I can.” And I’ve proven that. I know I’m going to pull this off, and I know it’s going to be incredible.

— By Aimee Heckel

According to the U.S. Census, more than 140,000 women live in Boulder County, meaning more than 20 thousand of them may potentially face breast cancer in their lifetimes.

When diagnosed with breast cancer, a multitude of questions arise — questions breast health navigator Gretchen Framel, 50, of Boulder, dedicated her career to answer.

The term “breast health navigator” may be unfamiliar, but it shouldn’t be. Framel’s position at the Boulder Community Hospital includes offering educational resources concentrating on the patient’s specific diagnosis, providing information about types of treatment, and pointing direction toward financial and emotional resources — all at no cost. The program is funded by the Boulder Community Hospital.

“People with a diagnosis often feel overwhelmed,” Framel says. “They feel lost. They feel scared … the navigator can step in and help them figure out what do they need as far as resources.”

Framel started her 14-year career as a nurse after witnessing her mother-in-law suffer and pass away from breast cancer. Nine years ago, Framel received her oncology certification, and since has worked directly with patients’ needs and also in oncology research.

“She’s very educated in this field,” says Angela Swilpa, 50, of Boulder who volunteers for Framel. “She’s very compassionate, she has a lot of information and she’s a great listener, which is a lot of help to women going through this. She’s a great resource.”

Swilpa was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago. When she found out, there was no breast health navigator.

“I felt like, boy, I really wish I had someone like that when I found out I had cancer,” Swilpa says. Someone who could teach her the language of cancer, understanding words like “radiology” or “genetic counseling.”

Someone who could inform her about the Susan G. Komen funding and other financial aid options. Someone who would be there before surgery, in the waiting room with family members during surgery and at the bedside after surgery.

Framel wears a patient pager every hour of every day.

“I realize life can be really short, and when I see people around me with a diagnosis of cancer, I just want to take time to be with them,” Framel says.

In 2006, Framel started a support group, Breast Cancer and Beyond, that offers emotional support and a discussion forum for women with breast cancer and their spouses. Understanding the necessity for mental health services, Framel also guides patients toward counseling opportunities and integrated care at the hospital, such as yoga and massages.

“We try not to make them feel like a number, but that an important person just came in the door,” Framel says. “And if it were your mother, or your father, or your daughter, you would want them to have that kind of treatment.”

— By Caroline Seib

Elturk creates classes that serve the local community, especially marginalized members, like refugees and immigrants. All of the classes are free and range from Conversations in English to an Arabic Literature Discussion group.

“The program is very helpful,” says Cintia Ventura, originally from Brazil. “I’ve been improving my English a lot since I came to Boulder in 2007. Also, it is a great opportunity to make friends.”

The library should be the meeting place for different cultures, Elturk says. It exists to advocate civic participation and encourage diversity through information.

“The library is the natural place people from all walks of life to be valued,” Eltruk says. “The library belongs to the community.”

When Elturk moved to the United States from Lebanon in 1985, she was surprised by the extent to which people were segregated from each other.

This is unfortunate, she says, because there is an inherent value in learning about other cultures. When you listen to other’s experiences and ideas, you open your mind and challenge racism. And you find yourself through others.

“I think the most important thing is that we are open to learning, instead of being entrenched in who we are and trying to make the other change like us,” Elturk says.

To learn more about the Boulder Public Library’s Multicultural Outreach Program, including how to donate or volunteer, call Ghada Elturk at 303-441-4941, or e-mail her at elturkg@boulderlibrary.org.
For a list of classes, visit www.boulder.lib.co.us/services/multicultural.

— By Jessica Warnock

Rather, she and more than 100 other people marched down Pearl Street in a parade of decorated strollers and mothers on stilts.

The reason? It was the official launch date of Mothers Acting Up, a Boulder nonprofit Raderstorf created with three other local women. For their first official act, the mothers “reclaimed” Mother’s Day on behalf of the world’s children. This means they didn’t plan on relaxing, but instead were going to celebrate a mother’s power to speak out on issues that affect all the world’s children.

And the stilts weren’t just for show, Raderstorf says. They were a metaphor for what her organization stands for. Raderstorf calls for all mothers to rise up and be visible. On stilts, you can’t stand still, you must always move forward.

“We really need more mothers advocating for children,” Raderstorf says. “Mothers seem like the perfect voice because we have care and concern for children, not just for our own, but all children. Our children’s well-being is inextricably linked for those around the world.”

What started as a small parade down Pearl has turned into an organization of more than 10,000 women in all 50 states and in 25 countries. Mothers Acting Up is an entry-level activist organization for mothers.

“We felt that there was real need for a positive entry for mothers into activism,” Raderstorf says, noting that the traditional forms of activism don’t fit the lifestyle of most parents. “Mothers aren’t going to get arrested or riot or anything.”

The group gives mothers a special invitation to become active, and create connections in various movements. Although they focus mainly on children, mothers can learn about a wide range of issues at www.mothersactingup.com. Mothers Acting Up teaches mothers how to be a spokesperson in the community and how to create legislative change.

It’s important to be conscious about the world’s problems, Raderstorf says. Mothers have the potential to create a more just world through unity and awareness of what the government is doing.

“Everybody needs to know their bra size and what the federal dollars go to,” Raderstorf says.

Mothers Acting Up focuses on changing legislation through campaigns, letters to the editor in newspapers, and letters to state representatives. The group’s ultimate goal is to raise the priority level of children’s well-being by building a network of one million mothers who advocate on their behalf.

Raderstorf says the beauty of her group’s mentality is that change can be a really tiny sample of what we do each day. Choosing to buy fair trade products or writing one letter each month to Congress makes a difference.

And then there’s the impact on the mothers themselves, who are finding their voices. Take the mom who, after days of practicing nervously in front of her mirror, finally called her member of Congress for the first time. She then called the Mothers Acting Up home office to say how proud she was.

“We get excited about the smallest of occurrences,” says Raderstorf. “This is a movement we want to be owned by every mother involved. We are planting seeds that are going to last for generations.”

How to help

At www.mothersactingup.org, join the movement, find a Mothers Acting Up community near you or learn how to write a letter to your local newspaper (or Women’s Magazine, ahem: speakup@womensmag.com). You’ll even find instructions on how to build your own pair of stilts.

Also, watch for Mothers Acting Up’s six-part television series “The Moment,” airing every day at a different time. For more information on times, check out www.themomentshow.org.

— By Jessica Warnock

Today Gill, 33, of Erie, is doing just that.
Gill and her father, Sam Gill, opened Bantaba World Dance and Music in 1999.

Although Bantaba closed its doors in April 2007, Jenny and Sam Gill have moved on to another exciting venture: teaching Boulder County teens about self-esteem and teamwork in the form of Rueda de Casino via their nonprofit, SalsAmigos.

Rueda de Casino is the Cuban style of salsa dancing. Done in a circle a la square dancing, but cooler —the moves of Rueda are called and participants switch partners. The classes are funded by a grant through the Boulder County Youth Opportunity Advisory Board.

The Gills teach in local high schools, either for credit or as an after-school program. What makes the Gills’ method different is that both the males and females are taught to lead and follow.

The Gills believe that this method promotes teamwork and equality of the sexes, while fostering the ability to be both a leader and follower. Sam Gill, through research, has found that learning both parts is good for brain development. It also gives undecided teens the ability to explore their sexuality in a safe place that allows them to be themselves — no body is singled out.

“Everybody gets in a circle and just dances,” Jenny Gill says.

What started in 2006 as a way to teach teens will be spreading to classes for people of all ages, from 5 to 85.

“We’ve seen the benefits in teens,” Jenny Gill says. “The brain can re-learn; it can become more juicy.”

Part of the effort to bring Rueda to all people includes a new grant proposal they’re working on.
With the money, the Gills want to train others how to teach Rueda.

They hope to host a free 10-part downloadable lecture series on their Web site that others can use to learn the Gills’ methods. The lecture series will start rolling out this summer.

“I never thought I would teach, ever,” Jenny Gill says. “Doing this and teaching with my dad has been very satisfying. We just laugh and have a great time.”

To learn more about SalsAmigos and the Gills, visit www.salsamigos.org.

— By Annie Brokaw

Nationally, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community smokes cigarettes at a rate of 40 to 70 percent higher than the straight community. Kirsten Spielmann is trying to put out that statistic.

As the community center coordinator and program director for Boulder Pride, Spielmann focuses on building community activities and educational and social events for the GLBT community.

With the rate of smoking three times higher among queer women than with straight women, her current campaign is life-saving.

“We worked on the statewide GLBT tobacco based needs assessment in 2006, and it is now proven that the GLBT community smokes more than any other community in the state of Colorado,” Spielmann says.

The real epiphany came out of a Boulder County tobacco-based needs assessment study, which discovered tobacco cannot be treated as a one-size-fits-all problem with a one-size-fits-all solution, Spielmann says.

She encourages smokers in the GLBT community to take their last drag by participating in a program aptly called The Last Drag. Modeled off of a program started in San Francisco, The Last Drag is a free smoking cessation class for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV smokers. This will be Boulder Pride’s second Last Drag event. Spielmann says the program currently boasts a 100 percent success rate.

“A testament why I think it works is because we had a GLBT facilitator, and we created a friendship network in a safe and supportive environment,” Spielmann says.

Boulder Pride is hosting The Last Drag now through Sept. 23.

How you can help

up and quit smoking by contacting Kirsten Spielmann at 303-499-fashion7, ext. 2, or visit www.boulderpride.org or www.smokefreeglbt.org.

Become a community educator as an ally — Celebrate the region’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied communities at the Pridefest Block Party 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13. Boulder Pride will host a Smoke Free GLBT booth and is looking for people who can articulate the issue in a meaningful way.

“Fight for equality, live to appreciate it” — Share the names of medical providers they think would benefit from or be open to GLBT culturally sensitive medical provider training. The program is aimed toward improving GLBT access to medical care. Call Spielmann or e-mail speakoutboulder@yahoo.com to get your doctor in the know. Classes are scheduled for October.

As a stay-at-home mom whose youngest child was starting pre-school, Sue Anderson found herself with some time on her hands. She decided to become involved in the community.

More than 35 years later, she is still a member of the League of Women Voters and the current president of the Boulder County chapter.

The league is a grassroots, non-partisan organization that works toward voter education, voter registration, advocacy and policy changes. Anderson says, “We don’t discuss politics, we’re discussing issues.”

Group members discuss ballot issues, not candidates. Once they have a majority agreement about the issue and form a position, they report back to the national league that then uses those positions to lobby for change via state and national volunteer lobby corps.

Anderson says the local league is an interesting mix of women — and men (who are allowed to join). She says she will go into a meeting thinking she’s made up her mind, only to hear another side of the issue that she never thought of.

Anderson says the best thing about being involved in the league is “getting things changed in government, like campaign finance reform. It’s nice to know you can have an impact on the community.”

It was the Boulder County league that wrote an initiative for campaign finance reform, which then became a ballot issue that passed by 66 percent.

“We wanted people to be able to run who didn’t have a lot of money,” Anderson says.

The League of Women Voters was started in 1920 during the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, just six months before women were given the right to vote. Anderson says the purpose of the league was to prove that women could make informed decisions and not vote on emotion alone. In the 1980s, the organization opened up to men, however, the name remains the League of Women Voters because of the credibility and history of that name.

In April 2007, at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, Liz Oster, of Superior, became a victim of domestic violence.

One year later, 51-year-old Oster transformed that experience into something positive by starting Courage is Change, a Superior-based nonprofit designed to help end the cycle of violence and abuse by opening up lines of communication and fostering stronger communities.

“It happened for a greater purpose,” Oster says.

After her assault, Oster says she started thinking about violence as a learned behavior.

“You only learn about relationships in your house,” she says.

She also saw a need for women to talk about domestic violence and build a safe community. People arrive home, pull into their garages and close the doors. Who do they turn to in a crisis?

Courage is Change helps local women conduct Red Tent gatherings, a name taken from the book by Anita Diamant. Oster says the purpose of a Red Tent is to “open your home to your neighbors and get to know them,” to create a community that women can fall back on, as opposed to a larger network of friends and family scattered around the world. Oster hopes to see Red Tent gatherings on a national level in the future.

Current Red Tent gatherings are for women. A men’s club is in the works.

Courage is Change is also working on starting an after-school Red Tent club at Monarch High School in Louisville, to teach girls at a young age to be supportive instead of judgmental and cliquish.

“Women have been competing for so long that we don’t know how to support each other. We have to stop doing that,” Oster says.

Eventually, Courage is Change hopes to have similar programs in many area middle and high schools.

The nonprofit also hopes to create curriculum, such as an ethics course, for students, both boys and girls.

How to help

Courage is Change is funded by a grant from the town of Superior, as well as private donations. The nonprofit is looking for local donors, facilitators for the after-school clubs and volunteers for upcoming events. To learn more or to throw a Red Tent gathering, visit www.courgeischange.org.

Save the date

Courage is Change will be hosting a fundraiser 5 p.m. April 14 at the Red Fish in Boulder. Tickets will cost $100 with proceeds benefiting Courage is Change. The event will feature a live auction, a raffle and live music. To learn more, visit www.courageischange.org.

Elva Pellouchoud, of Boulder, thinks the little things add up to make a big impact, and she started a nonprofit to prove it.

This month marks the nonprofit’s 1-year anniversary. Through the Resort2Kindness nonprofit, anyone can log “random acts of kindness” on the Web site, www.resort2kindness.com. Today, the 1,900 entries span more than 27 states and seven countries. The number grows daily.

By the end of the year, Pellouchoud hopes to have at least one entry from every state. The nonprofit aims to have 10,000 acts logged.

One person held the elevator doors for a stranger. Another left her “honey” a love note. Others stepped up to help people in need, like cleaning the house for a new parent or buying a friend a pick-me-up dinner.

For every act of kindness logged, corporate sponsors agree to make monetary donations to the charity of their choice.

Right now the sponsors are resort real-estate developers, a group not typically lauded for its altruism, Pellouchoud says. But she says she has a different perspective. Pellouchoud runs a marketing firm for developers.

The acts of kindness logged in the last quarter of 2007 translated into $5,000 for charities. This year, the nonprofit has raised nearly $12,000 in charitable donations.

Pellouchoud says she started Resort2Kindness to honor her parents’ legacy of generosity. Pellouchoud has 14 siblings; nine are biological, and six, including Pellouchoud, were adopted.

“Just think what a difference could be made in every person’s life in this world if we each did one kind act for another human being — particularly someone that we don’t know — each day of the year,” she says.

– By Aimee Heckel

How you can help

This is the easiest volunteer work you’ve ever done. Simply log on to www.resort2kindness.com and enter something nice that someone did for you recently. Or reach out in kindness to others around you and share it here. Every act of kindness translates into money donated by the corporate sponsors for charity.

When Luana Rubin was 23 years old, she moved to Hong Kong where she designed silk textiles and dresses. Every week, her subway stop left her off in one of Hong Kong’s slums. Although she could have taken a taxi to the factory where she was working, she says she wanted to walk by the slum and see what is happening in the world. Eventually, Luana began to bring food for the residents as she got to know the different faces.

“How can somebody walk by this and not be affected?” she asks. “I saw that every week. It made a great impact on me.”

Since then, Luana has traveled, lived and worked in 17 countries. She has 29 years of experience in art, design and retail. She worked in New York as an import design specialist. After moving back to Boulder when their first child was born, in March of 1999 Luana and her husband Paul launched Equilter.com from the basement of their house. They exceeded their three-year-business plan in 60 days.

Now, Equilter.com is the largest online selection for quilting supplies in the world. They have more than 22,000 products online and in stock. Their 15,000 square-foot warehouse boasts rows and rows of quilt colors and patterns.

“It’s like a freight train of fabric,” she says.

Luana has been featured in several magazines and television shows. She continues to design specialty garments that are often featured in the Bernina fashion show in New York. Her husband, whom she describes as a “technical genius” and “amazing business man” builds and maintains the Equilter.com Web site. However, despite all of the success, Luana has never forgot about her experience with the slum. Luana has never forgotten about the people in need.

Two percent of every sale on Equilter.com goes to charity. When the customer makes an online purchase, before she concludes a sale she is directed to a page with seven charities listed. The customer picks the charity she wants to donate to. Just from these two percent in sales alone, Luana and Paul Rubin have donated $670,000 to different charities. Some of these charities include The National Breast Cancer Foundation and the most recently added Engineers without Borders.

The Equilter.com charity does not end there. Last summer they created an Ethiopian Quilt Project where they made 600 quilts for HIV-positive children in Ethiopia. In 2006, Luana visited an orphanage in China and after sharing the experience with her customers, Equilter.com raised $4,000 for the orphanage. The Rubin family sponsors children in Africa and the Philippines through Children International. They give about $5,000 a year.

“We feel really connected to the people who use our money,” she says.

In addition to her experience in Third World countries, much of Luana’s desire to give back came from her own personal tragedy. Luana once carried a pregnancy full term only to lose her daughter in the very end.

“I thought something good has to come from this. I wanted to do something in Hannah’s memory.”

Now the Rubins have three kids: Mason, 19, Sam, 12, and Sophie, 6. They adopted Sophie from China in April of 2003. Luana continues to travel the world and add more projects including a new French river cruise she is hosting in July. Equilter.com is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month. She says she has an energy and passion for life that inspires her to help others through her art and business.

“I have a lot of energy. This is how it comes out,” Luana says. “I try to do that, either touch people’s hearts of make them smile.”