Dear CODEPINKer,

While we are best known for our audacious, colorful actions, CODEPINK is proud of the quieter work we do supporting women and mothers worldwide. Thanks to you, we saved a grieving mother's home from foreclosure in New York. Thanks to you, we assisted Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria. And this holiday season, we are asking you to help us assist Iraqi women who have remained inside Iraq, but have seen their homes, livelihoods and families destroyed as a result of our occupation and the violence it unleashed.

Last year, we sent $10,000 to the Women & Knowledge Society in Iraq. Our dear sister Rashad sent us a report on the projects they had undertaken with our support, helping over 30 dispossessed widows set up small businesses in their homes. Whether it was by providing a sewing machine, fabric and thread that allowed a woman to become a seamstress, or a bread oven and a gas cylinder that created a home bakery, our donations gave these women, all of them the heads of their households, a way to feed themselves and their children (see full account here).

Rashad wrote, "The Women & Knowledge Society is grateful to CODEPINK Women for Peace and its members for raising the funds that made these projects possible. We are only saddened by our inability to help the hundreds of thousands of impoverished Iraqi women who need assistance." This year, with your assistance, we will help more women financially as we work to end the occupation that has so devastated their lives.

When you give to CODEPINK, 25% of your donation will go to the Women & Knowledge Society in Iraq so they can continue their vital work. Click here to send your tax-deductible donation today.

Another way to spread the CODEPINK word is by sending our vibrant Hope cards or by donating to CODEPINK in friends' and loved ones' names.

This weekend you can also carry the peace agenda to an Obama party in your community. These "Change is Coming" parties, held 12/12-12/14, make it possible to reach out beyond your own circle and to make sure ending the occupation of Iraq is high on the list, as we push Obama to fulfill his campaign promises. Click here to find or create an event in your area.

Thank you for promoting peace and supporting women around the globe.

With gratitude,
Audrey, Dana, Deidra, Desiree, Farida, Gael, Gayle, Jean, Jodie, Liz, Lori, Medea, Nancy, Paris, and Rae

p.s.

• Obama Transition Team is "Open For Questions!" We are callling all CODEPINKers to vote for the following question we asked the team, making it the top-ranked question which is impossible for the Obama team to ignore (cut and paste "Afghanistan, sustainable economic development" in the search box):
  
  What will you do to find a viable, negotiated solution that ends the violence in Afghanistan and fosters sustainable economic development, women's rights, healthcare, education and civil society in the region?
  
  
• 10 inaugural tickets on our E-Bay auction! Click here to bid now!
  

   

• The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the Palestinian Territories. Show your support by contacting the Israeli Minister of Defense -- sign here now. Israeli peace activists will hand-deliver your message on December 18th, the Shministim Day of Action.