Every day, over 160 women die in India from pregnancy and complications of child birth – the country’s maternal mortality rate makes up over 20% of total global maternal and child deaths. Despite successful efforts to decrease this number, many rural areas continue to experience over 500 deaths for every 100,000 live births. Save a Mother is a project dedicated to working directly with local communities and districts in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most effected areas in India, to help decrease infant and maternal mortality rates. Any preventable death is one too many.

This Saturday, May 20th, we had a really great turn-out at the Habitat for Humanity Charlotte Young Professionals build event, allowing us to finish the dry-walling most of the house by 12PM – sincerest thanks to all who came (especially the RedBull marketing team for providing the drinks and support), and I hope to see you all at the next event! Home ownership is one of the most essential aspects of a successful and enduring community and volunteers just like you help make working families realize this dream – great job!

“If the same number of people were killed for belonging to a certain ethnic group or special group, for being black, Jewish or indigenous, people would react differently. But they are women, and unfortunately people are desensitized,” stated Susan Chiarotty, coordinator of CEVI, in response to one of the questions at a Q&A regarding the womens rights movement in Latin America. According to CEVI, despite 30 years of extensive work in the Latin communities (where women-conscious changes are taking place, albeit very slowly), real progress will happen only when certain aspects of the ‘Hidden Genocide’ are finally publicly acknowledged.

As if you really needed an excuse to get your mom a gift! Mother’s Day is one of the happiest days of the year for mothers across the globe, a day dedicated specifically to honoring the giving, kindness, and compassion only a mom can possess. From Mother Goose to Mother Earth, Mother’s Day is a celebration of all those qualities that make our moms unique, strong, and beautiful. So what can you get the person that brought you into this world through sweat, tears, and 34 hours of labor (she …

“The iodine stung bitterly. It pooled in the divots of my neck where I remember the prongs of the fork broke skin; it’s orange tendrils soaked into locks of wavy hair and dripped down my back onto the cold, exquisitely pale marble floor. I looked in the mirror. A black eye; a couple of scratches; a puffy lip. I was irritated that I couldn’t find any peroxide, and made a mental note to replenish the first aid kit. I think I forgot to walk the dog. Shit. That might have to wait now… It was just another routine day in my life.”

This month’s Artists for Moms tags are dedicated to Sexual Assault Awareness (green/blue ribbon – President Obama Declares April to be Sexual Assault Awareness Month on April 8, 2009! See the official Presidential Proclamation here), Maternal Mortality awareness (white ribbon) , and the support of our troops (yellow ribbon). Do you have a tag request or need help with your own awareness campaign? Contact me for tips on how to get started with WordPress, Photoshop, Illustrator (and advice on CSS, HTML, MySQL, and Search Engine Optimization)!

Welcome to the Button Project! Every month I will come out with sets of fun buttons that can be easily posted on any blog or MySpace.com page. Currently, I am still working out the functionality of the text area (as it seems to be interfering with my Shadowbox plugin, and wreaking all kinds of weird havoc). Right now all buttons will automatically link back to PledgeForMoms.org so that any one who is interested can get their own. Of course, any user is welcome to change the link to one of their favorite Charity.