Salon 96 Gifts and Gifters of the Foundation for a Compassionate Society

The Foundation for a Compassionate Society (1986 to 2005) was founded by Genevieve Vaughan. It was a feminist organization working for social change according to "women’s values". It was created on the premise that the socio-economic system of patriarchal capitalism is responsible for the grievous problems that plague not only women, but society at large, locally, nationally and internationally. By accessing and implementing the values of other-orientation that are necessary for mothering, it is possible to create a shift of paradigms. A new economic order, The Maternal Gift Economy, and a new way of thinking, with an alternative method of philosophy, psychology and politics can issue from the perspective of those human beings who are socialized to care for life rather than to dominate and destroy it. The Foundation with its many woman-led projects was an attempt to practice the Maternal Gift Economy in a variety of ways.

Sally Jacques

Sally Jacques - Artistic Director and Founder of Blue Lapis Light, creates site-specific aerial dance works that transform urban spaces by blending architecture, movement, music, and nature as well as site works addressing homelessness, AIDS, and war for over 35 years.

Born in England with a multicultural background, she led an unconventional early life, hitchhiking across Europe and living with minimal resources while exploring diverse cultures. Her global travels and connections with activists deeply shaped her vision and inspiration for BLL. Jacques trained in dance and performance art in London and New York and performed internationally in cities including Munich, Barcelona, and Vienna and New York.

She has also been a dedicated activist for social justice work through the Foundation for a Compassionate Society, participating in United Nations conferences, peace talks, and humanitarian efforts across multiple countries, including aiding refugees in the former Yugoslavia.

Her artistic and civic contributions have earned numerous awards, grants, and recognition, that include the Susan B Anthony Award for Peace, YWCA Women of the Year in the Arts, numerous National for the Arts (NEA) as well as state and local arts funding.

Her work has been featured in major media outlets, festivals, museums, and publications worldwide. Committed to accessibility and community, Jacques has taught movement to underserved groups and continues mentoring at-risk youth through Blue Lapis Light’s Youth Taking Flight program.

More @ www.BlueLapisLight.org

Chiquie Estrada

Chiquie Estrada, owner of La Casa dei Bambini in Kyle, Texas.

Supporting children to reach their full potential in a holistic way is my passion; guiding children’s self development by linking them to the activities in a prepared classroom and outdoor environment is my calling.

I was born in Guatemala and moved to the USA in 1976 where I began my journey with Montessori as a teacher’s assistant in 1977. After training as a guide in 1978 with the Association Montessori International in Atlanta, Georgia, I worked at several Montessori schools in Austin, Texas.

It was there that met my good friend Genevieve Vaughan in 1986 and became acquainted with the Gift Economy. In 2002, because of Genevieve, I was able to open La Casa dei Bambini; which combines the philosophy and practice of Montessori with the Gift Economy.

Frieda Werden

Frieda Werden is co-founder and series producer of WINGS: Women’s International News Gathering Service, which provides women’s voices and issues coverage to noncommercial radio. The project started with the contact list from a radio women’s meeting called by Genevieve Vaughan at the 3rd World Conference on Women in Nairobi in 1985. The pilot was funded and distributed by US National Public Radio, but WINGS found a more receptive audience through the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC). Werden’s paper on community radio appears in the anthology Women and the Gift Economy.

More @ wingsradio.org

María Suárez Toro

María Suárez Toro is a feminist journalist, an activist in defense of human rights, and an educator. She was born in Puerto Rico and has been a resident of San José, Costa Rica for close to 50 years. She worked as an educator in literacy in many countries in Central America during the 1970s and 1980s. Since 1998 she has been an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Denver. Since 2011 she has been a correspondent for Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Costa Rica for the News Service for the Women of Latin America and the Caribbean (Servicio de Noticias de la Mujer de Latinoamérica y el Caribe), and since 2015 has been a coordinator of the Community Center Diving Ambassadors of the South Caribbean Sea (Centro comunitario de buceo Embajadores y Embajadoras del Mar del Caribe Sur), which is dedicated to archeological diving and recovery of the history of the afro-descendant population on the coast of Costa Rica.

Genevieve Vaughan

Genevieve Vaughan (b.1939) is an independent researcher who lives part time in Italy and part in Texas. She created the multicultural all-woman activist Foundation for a Compassionate Society (1987-2005) and the Temple of Sekhmet in the Nevada desert (1992 – ongoing) and she co-created the network: International Feminists for a Gift Economy (2001 – ongoing). Her books are For-Giving, a Feminist Criticism of Exchange (1997), Homo Donans (2006) and The Gift in the Heart of Language: the Maternal Source of Meaning (2015). She has edited Il Dono/The Gift (2004), Women and the Gift Economy (2007) and The Maternal Roots of the Gift Economy (2019). A volume of the Canadian Women’s Studies Journal dedicated to the maternal gift economy has just appeared (2020)

More information @ www.gift-economy.com.