Media, Sponsorship & Solicitation Tools

Posted July 29, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Activist, Advocate, Esmeralda Williamson-Noble, Get Your Wellness On, Health Care Reform, Media, Mental Health, Suicide, Wellness, andrew williamson-noble, education, fencing, lobbying, suicide awareness & prevention, survivors
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Hello there,
Today I am posting two solicitation letters: one to the media, and one that can be used to solicit donations as well as the specific items listed. This is called volunteering made easy.
You’ll be amazed by how many contacts you have when you start thinking about it. And most importantly, please remember that every little bit helps!

I am flying to Italy today to be with my family. Other than when my mother and older brother who were able to come over when Andrew died, I haven’t seen the rest of the family since before Andrew died.
It will be strange I think, but it will be nice too.

I will have some internet access while I am away and will post as often as I can, please keep checking and please do what you can to make our first Suicide & Awareness Fair a success.

Let’s break the silence, let us help people survive & thrive!

Lots of love and thank you, thank you, thank you, from Andrew and me, our wonderful volunteers, those who have gone and those who are being saved.

Esmeralda

TO THE MEDIA

Dear _________,

Please allow this letter to introduce you to the Get Your Wellness On movement for which we
are seeking your support. In partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Esmeralda Williamson-Noble, a suicide survivor, activist and writer, is organizing the first Get Your Wellness On – Suicide Awareness & Prevention Fair. The Fair’s purpose is to break and end the silence that surrounds the topic of suicide. This inspiring event will be held on September 18th, 2010 in Manhattan, New York at Washington Square Park with volunteers from across the country helping to make this historic occasion a resounding success.

Get Your Wellness On is a grass roots movement to promote health and save lives. Encouraging dialogue and education to reduce incidence of mental illnesses that can lead to suicide, Get Your Wellness On promotes Eastern and Western approaches to mind and body health. The movement advances a general understanding of wellness that will empower individuals to take charge of their overall health. The Fair will include programs such as:
• Yoga classes in the square
• Meditation inquiry table
• Panel discussion with mental health workers and suicide researchers
• Workshop on “Collecting Memories,” with film maker Dempsey Rice
• Basic emergency training to help recognize when “suicide is in the room”
• Training in basic stress reduction techniques such as:
o Demonstration by Hoopnotica, how to use Hula Hoops to reduce stress
o A fencing demonstration – Sports for Stress Reduction
• Memorial area and Send Silence Packing travel exhibit organized by Active Minds
• Musical performances by various artists from around the country
• (please note that we are still working on the Fair program)

All programs will be free to the public, but we do need media support/attention/cooperation.
We are hoping that _________ will be able to take advantage of this opportunity to help us bring this important issue to the American public and the world. We are looking for media support in the following areas:
• Radio air time announcing the Fair
• Newspaper, magazine or blog space about the Fair
• Television air time
• Coverage of the Get Your Wellness On Fair on September 18, 2010.

In addition, the founder, activist and writer Esmeralda Williamson-Noble, whose twenty-year-old son Andrew died of suicide on November 3, 2009—along with volunteers of Get Your Wellness On—are available for interviews, workshops and panel and discussion forums. For more information about Esmeralda Williamson-Noble’s work, see the articles in The Huffington Post, the petition to the media below and her blog about her personal experience being a suicide survivor in the links at the bottom of the page.
Should you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Committee Member in your area. We very much appreciate your time and consideration and look forward to coordinating with you soon.

Kindest Personal Regards,

The Get Your Wellness On Committee

http://foreverinvictus.com/ ● http://www.petitiononline.com/andrew20/petition.html
● http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esmeralda-williamsonnoble

GENERAL DONATION SPONSORSHIP LETTER

Dear _________,

Please allow this letter to introduce you to the Get Your Wellness On movement for which we
are seeking your support. In partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Esmeralda Williamson-Noble, a suicide survivor, activist and writer, is organizing the first Get Your Wellness On – Suicide Awareness & Prevention Fair. The Fair’s purpose is to break and end the silence that surrounds the topic of suicide. This inspiring event will be held on September 18th, 2010 in Manhattan, New York at Washington Square Park with volunteers from across the country helping to make this historic occasion a resonding success.

Get Your Wellness On is a grass roots movement to promote health and save lives. Encouraging dialogue and education to reduce incidence of mental illnesses that can lead to suicide, Get Your Wellness On promotes Eastern and Western approaches to mind and body health. The movement advances a general understanding of wellness that will empower individuals to take charge of their overall health. The Fair will include programs such as:
• Yoga classes in the square
• Meditation inquiry table
• Panel discussion with mental health workers and suicide researchers
• Workshop on “Collecting Memories,” with film maker Dempsey Rice
• Basic emergency training to help recognize when “suicide is in the room”
• Training in basic stress reduction techniques such as:
o Demonstration by Hoopnotica how to use Hula Hoops to reduce stress
o A fencing demonstration as part of Sports for Stress Reduction
• Memorial area and Send Silence Packing travel exhibit organized by Active Minds
• Musical performances by various artists from around the country

All programs will be free to the public, but we do need sponsors and we have a few sponsorship opportunities. We are hoping that _________ will be able to take advantage of this opportunity to help us bring this important issue to the American public and the world. We are looking for corporate and private sponsorship to help with the following:
• Underwrite 500 t-shirts with the Get Your Wellness On logo (attached)
• Donate 500 bags with logo for educational material
• Underwrite the rental of one or more of the following: tables and chair, sound system, stage and tent for yoga classes
• Donate 20 yoga mats.
*(All donations are tax deductible)

In addition, the founder, activist and writer Esmeralda Williamson-Noble, whose twenty-year-old son Andrew died of suicide on November 3, 2009—along with volunteers of Get Your Wellness On—are available for interviews, workshops and panel and discussion forums. For more information about Esmeralda Williamson-Noble’s work, see the articles in The Huffington Post, the petition to the media below and her blog about her personal experience being a suicide survivor in the links at the bottom of the page.
Should you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Team Member in your area. We very much appreciate your time and consideration and look forward to coordinating with you soon.

Kindest Personal Regards,

The Get Your Wellness On Committee

http://foreverinvictus.com/ ● http://www.petitiononline.com/andrew20/petition.html

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Happy Birthday Florentina

Posted July 28, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Activist, Restaurant Week, Suicide, andrew williamson-noble, grief, grieving
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Florentina receiving the Cavalcanti award prior to her graduation in 2008

Florentina receiving the Cavalcanti award prior to her graduation in 2008

Today is Florentina’s birthday.

She is the last in the family to celebrate her birthday since Andrew died.
The first was Robert, then me, then Hugh and now her.

We are a very close family, we do everything together, and to not have one of us at such important times is painful. It is a reminder, if one was needed, that Andrew is no longer on this plane of existence.

To cheer us up yesterday, (I have a questionable sense of humor) I told Hugh and Florentina how I had heard death explained somewhere.

It goes like this:
Imagine you go to see a movie. When you get there you sit down like everybody else. But after watching for a while you realize that you don’t like this movie and you get up and leave. Now the other people in the movie theatre see you leave and they get upset. And they organize a funeral for you.

Now that would be really funny, wouldn’t it?

Anyway, I don’t know about you, but Hugh and Florentina laughed. They didn’t bend over laughing, but they did laugh.

It is restaurant week in New York and to celebrate Florentina’s birthday, today we are going to have lunch at Spice Market in downtown Manhattan. The food is absolutely glorious and the restaurant itself is a nice place to be in and relax.

But as it always happens on occasions such as this, we can’t help think and say:

“Andrew would have loved this.”

Yes he would have loved it, and so will we.

Happy Birthday Florentina

We All Love You

Comments: 6 Comments

Would You Like To Help?

Posted July 27, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Activist, Get Your Wellness On, Wellness, andrew williamson-noble, education, suicide awareness & prevention, survivors
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Here’s how. Please consider making a donation and please pass the sponsorship & donation form around.
Also, we’ll need help on the day, please come if you can and tell others to come too.
Thanks,
Esmeralda

“Get Your Wellness On”
Suicide Awareness and Prevention Fair

"Get Your Wellness On!

Get Your Wellness On!

September 18, 2010
Washington Square Park, New York, NY
Noon – 5 PM

“Get Your Wellness On” (GYWO) is a grass roots movement spearheaded by Esmeralda Williamson-Noble (see her BLOG: http://foreverinvictus.com/) encouraging dialogue regarding suicide and its prevention, as well as an initiative to bring awareness about suicide out of the closet (sign the petition today: http://www.petitiononline.com/andrew20/petition.html). In partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, GYWO is hosting its first Suicide Prevention and Awareness Fair. For more details about the fair, see the sponsorship request letter. Please consider a monetary or gift donation today to support the Fair and its cause. Thank You!

Sponsor Name (Individual or Business):

Contact Person:

Phone Number: Email:

Address:
Street Number & Name City State Zip

Sponsor Description:

How did you hear about the fair?

Amount of your Tax-Deductible Contribution:

And/or, cash value of materials or goods you are donating:

Please make checks payable to:

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)
52 Hausman Street, #3
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Please specify “Get Your Wellness On” in the memo or note section of your check and mail it (preferably by September 8th), with this completed form, to the AFSP address – Attention: Meredith Henning.

On-line Donation Option: You can make a secure on-line donation through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention website. http://www.afsp.org/ Click on the link then click on “Support AFSP”. Be sure to specify “Get Your Wellness On” as the recipient.

Have questions? Feel free to contact Meredith Henning at AFSP – mhenning@afsp.org or Melissa Warwood with GYWO at: lissa_marie3@yahoo.com

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization – Tax ID: 13-3393329

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The Fair

Posted July 26, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Activist, Get Your Wellness On, Living, Suicide, Wellness, andrew williamson-noble, education, memoir, memories, suicide awareness & prevention, survivors
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My first step in suicide activism - Speaking at the Ippazzi Memorial Concert for Andrew

My first step in suicide activism - Speaking at the Ippazzi Memorial Concert for Andrew

When I first thought about it, the Fair wasn’t a fair, it was a Memorial.

It was a way and a place for those of us who lost a loved one to suicide to remember our loved ones together.
A place where we could show their photographs, marvel at how good-looking they were and talk about them with similarly wounded people.

The September 18 – Get Your Wellness On Fair – has now developed into a fairly major project-event, and as the name implies, it is all about Wellness, Prevention and Awareness.

But there will be music, some especially written for the Fair, written to pay tribute to our lost-loved ones.

As for photographs, I will certainly bring one of Andrew, and I will have a t-shirt made with a picture of his handsome face.
We are also now starting to think about making a video with names and pictures to show at the Fair.

Wow, it’s a lot of work you know. These things have a way of developing faster than a baby in the womb.

Help is still needed and welcome. Please volunteer, spread the word. Whatever you can do is welcome.

Thanks everyone,

Esmeralda

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Update

Posted July 24, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

I came back from Toronto late last night
On the way there we had a serious accident, but thanks to a miracle nobody got hurt.

I realized that if it wasn’t for my two children and my husband who need me, I am not afraid to die. While the accident happened I was not afraid, I just hoped it wouldn’t hurt. I do wish I had seen my Andrew though.

I am very tired, will write more soon.
Love,
Esmeralda

Comments: 6 Comments

So Much To Do

Posted July 20, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Activist, Dr. Weng, Get Your Wellness On, SIDS, Suicide, Yoga, andrew williamson-noble, emotional outlet, grief, grieving, memoir, memories, suicide awareness & prevention, survivors
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"Robert & Andrew in Sicily, on the terrace at my Uncle's House - August 2007"

Robert & Andrew in Sicily, on the terrace at my Uncle's House - August 2007

So much to do.

Having been away a week, I have a bunch of ironing to do.
Tons of emails and follow ups about the Fair which… Oh my God, is coming up soon. September 18 is… less than two months away.
And, if anyone is listening, we are still looking for donations of yoga mats and a sponsor for the
t-shirts – Thank you

Poor Bruno, the book somehow always ends up at the bottom of the list.
I often start the day telling myself that I will write first and move on to other things, only after I’ve written at least five pages of the book.
I think the secret is not to give in to the temptation of having a “quick” look at emails that arrived overnight.

Another thing on the calendar is the SIDS Ball that I started thirteen years ago. This year it will be on October 28. Dressed in a Tux, Andrew had been coming to the ball ever since he was nine years-old. He and his sister, Florentina, wouldn’t miss it for the world. Then, when Robert was old enough, he too came with us every year.
I remember when they were little, while the grown ups drank wine, they drank Shirley Temples.

At last year’s ball, on October 22, I had no idea that like a bomb, the clock was ticking. There were only eleven days left to Andrew’s life and the world as we knew it.
After the night of the ball, I saw Andrew alive one more time.
After that… the hospital… the coffin…

Suddenly I am not feeling very well, my throat hurts and I feel as though I have a fever. I hope I don’t have the nasty bug that got my friend Elizabeth tied to her bed for several days.

Also, we are going to Italy at the end of the month. My family has been wanting us to go ever since Andrew died. My sweet Uncle bought us all tickets to Sicily.
I am looking forward to it, I am looking forward to seeing my mother, my brothers, my Aunt and Uncle, and friends.
But… what about Andrew?
Oh God…
But as Doctor Weng said:

“Don’t go there. Sing your sadness out. Tell yourself: Being sad does not help my son.”

I have to let Andrew go, I cannot hold on to him. In this world or the next, there comes a time when we have to let our children go. But it is so hard, oh Lord, it is so hard.

I love you Tigs
Mummy

IF YOU ARE FEELING SUICIDAL OR NEED TO TALK CALL THE NATIONAL LIFELINE
1-800- 273-8255

Comments: 3 Comments

Andrew Looked Well

Posted July 19, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: ADC, Activist, After Death Communications, Suicide, andrew williamson-noble, education, emotional outlet, grief, memoir, memories, survivors
Tags: , , , , , , ,
"Andrew and my friend Nova" - October 2008

Andrew and my friend Nova - October 2008

“Now that you are back you are not going to do it again are you?” I asked Andrew while hugging him.
He smiled at my question and I felt reassured.

“You know,” I explained, pleased to have this chance. “Everyone feels down at some point, this is an important thing to know. Sometime you feel down, but then you’ll feel well.”

Andrew looked well.

The skin on his face wasn’t cold like the last time I saw him, it was warm and soft.
His eyes weren’t closed like the last time I saw him, they were open, warm, smiley and full of love.
He wasn’t laying down like the last time I saw him, he was sitting amongst us.
He was allowing me to hug him and kiss him.

I stopped at a water fountain for a drink before going inside.
People walking past, looked at me. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was dressed in white Indian clothes, “That’s why people are looking at me,” I thought.
The thin white sweater I wore under my top, kept me sufficiently warm even though the wind was cold and smelled of winter and snow.

“A nice cake and tea, that’s what we need,” I told myself as I walked inside this big shop.
I couldn’t see anything that Andrew or I would like. There was nothing exciting other than the lemon cake, but that would do for me, not him. Andrew didn’t like that lemon cake.
What about those cookies over there?

“Can I try a piece of piece of that one?” I asked the man behind the counter. He gave me a bigger piece than I expected.
A woman looked at me while I took a bite, “What a strange taste. I’ve never tasted a cookie like this. Would you like to try?” I asked, offering the woman the side of the cookie that I had not bitten into. But she was no longer looking or listening.

Then I woke up.

Thank you Andrew for the warm hugs and kisses.
Love ya, a do ;)

IF YOU ARE FEELING SUICIDAL OR NEED TO TALK CALL THE NATIONAL LIFELINE
1-800 273-8255

Comments: 4 Comments

Your Place In Heaven

Posted July 18, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Activist, Acupuncture, Amma, Darshan, Dr. Weng, Living, Suicide, andrew williamson-noble, grief, grieving, meditation, memoir, memories
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
"Florentina & Andrew smiling happily - Tribeca - Manhattan October 22, 2009"

Florentina & Andrew smiling happily - Tribeca - Manhattan October 22, 2009

Amma has gone to Toronto and I am back home.

Being with her and so many of my friends for the last few days has been healing.

The daily meditations with Amma and the Swamis, the daily Darshan… and more… have made me stronger.
I cried a lot as well, at one point I felt as though I would die from the pain of grief. Andrew’s loss is as immense as it was before and yet… I felt moments of Peace, real Peace.
I felt Andrew’s smile like a gentle ray of sun warming my heart, dancing on my skin.

Grief needs to be grieved. Like a baby who has to go through the birth canal to be born, so too grief has to “come out.”
Anything that disturbs our Peace has to come out. Holding on to it is detrimental to everyone.

“Sing your sadness out,” Doctor Weng said to me at the end of the retreat.

With many others I sang along with Swami Amritaswarupananda, then I started to cry.

“Don’t go there,” Doctor Weng said tapping me on my back. “Sing, sing… louder… raise your arms… open your heart, let it come out… yes… yes…”

For over an hour Mei Weng kept me singing, dancing and eventually I smiled, from my heart.
I danced with joy.
I felt Andrew’s loving smiles and giggles seeing his mother make a spectacle of herself waiving her arms about, jumping, singing her heart out… I felt his sadness and concern for me lift.

Dearest Andrew, my beloved child, hurry up to your place in Heaven.

Now that you have gone, leave this world fully behind.

My beautiful son, as I did when you were here, I want nothing but the best for you.

Don’t let my sorrow delay your journey, but please do keep a place for me near Alexander and you and keep shining your beautiful smile on me.

My darling Tigger smile for me until we see each other in Heaven,
Your loving Mummy for ever.

IF YOU ARE FEELING SUICIDAL OR NEED TO TALK CALL THE NATIONAL LIFELINE
1-800-273-8255

Comments: 2 Comments

Acupuncture Session

Posted July 15, 2010 by loaenterprise
Categories: Activist, Acupuncture, Amma, Darshan, Dr. Weng, Get Your Wellness On, Living, Suicide, andrew williamson-noble, grief, grieving, memoir, memories
Tags: , , , , , , ,

"Acupuncture" - Image courtesy google images

Acupuncture - Image courtesy google images


People are waiting to use the computer, so I can’t write much.

Last night I had a session with Dr. Weng, the Chinese acupuncture Doctor that I had mentioned earlier.

I don’t know how it works or what she does, but when she starts inserting the needles, it is as though the needles press on all the suppressed emotions and sorrow that have accumulated within and like roiling thunder, they explode out of the same small exit.
I “cried,” a lot.
People want the computer I have to go.
Love
Esmeralda

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