On April 12^th and 13^th, the Asheville chapter of No More Victims held a fundraising weekend for Rusul. We were joined by Ann Cothran, National Community Coordinator, and Cole Miller, Founder and Director of No More Victims. Early Saturday morning, there was a guided meditation and a meditation walk in remembrance of Rusul. This was held at the Baha’i Center in Asheville.

That evening, we had a wonderful fundraising dinner at Asheville Arts Center on Merrimon Avenue. Entertainment was provided by Don Pedi, Bruce Green, Kore Loy McWhirter, Stephen Canner, Stack Kenny, and Left of Center. There were donations of food items from many local restaurants, such as Picnics, Mellow Mushroom, City Bakery, Ali Baba’s, French Broad Food Co-op, West End Bakery, Applebee’s, Rosetta’s, and M&J Food Mart. Plus there were delicious homemade items donated! We also had donation of paper supplies from Ingles.

In keeping with our theme, “Roses for Rusul,” we had roses available for donations, and the picture above is of Oona, a daughter of one of our members, holding the basket of roses. The roses were given to us at cost from Enka Forest. The food was wonderful and the entertainment was terrific. We had a presentation by Cole Miller of No More Victims during our fundraiser. Cole showed Salee’s video of her treatment in South Carolina, and talked about how that experience changed her and her family. We also had a raffle of fine gifts from Celo Inn, Doc Chey’s, the Bistro 1896, Theology Spa, Sunnybank in Hot Springs, and various other businesses. We are so thankful for the Asheville Arts Center, all those who donated food and raffle items, and the musicians and other talented people who donated their time.

The following morning, we had a forum on the work of No More Victims for All Souls Episcopal Church in Asheville. This was well received, and the members of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship were there along with 40+ members of the congregation. All told, we raised almost $1,000 this weekend, with pledges of more donations to be sent in directly to No More Victims.

We would like to also thank the Baha’i Center, Asheville Arts Center, and All Souls Church for the use of their facilities. And a thank you to American Speedy Printing for their donations.

We are looking forward to meeting Rusul in person, and the latest we heard is that she will arrive sometime in mid- to late June. We are continuing our outreach to various community groups and churches in order to raise more funds and to raise awareness of the true cost of war for children in the war zone.