Emerson Salon loves to support and contribute back to our community and as a part of this effort, one of our stylists (D’Arcy Harrison) will be performing in a charity benefit staged reading of the Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.

As some of you know, D’Arcy started off as a “theatre brat” before starting her hair career and welcomes the opportunity to apply her talent for a great cause! In addition to performing, Emerson Salon is donating 2 haircuts (with D’Arcy) and a product package for the silent auction.

This event will benefit two charities:

• Children of the Night, ” a privately funded non profit organization established in 1979 for the rescue of children from child prostitution.” (www.childrenofthenight.org).
• Refugee Women’s Alliance “a nonprofit, multi-ethnic organization that promotes inclusion, independence, personal leadership and strong communities by providing refugee and immigrant women and families with culturally and linguistically appropriate services. ReWA advocates for social justice, public policy changes, and equal access to services while respecting cultural values and the right to self determination.”(www.rewa.org)

While creating the Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler took many interviews with women about how they felt about their private anatomy and their individual experiences regarding the topic. She then turned the interviews into monologues that became a huge hit Off Broadway when she performed them in a one woman show. Now, the play is performed all over the world to help support women’s causes and nonprofits.

This is part of a national event called V-day and will be held Feb 14th and 20th at 7pm at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in West Seattle. The address is 4408 Delridge Way SW. For tickets go to: www.brownpapertickets.com. More info here.

I look forward to seeing you there!!!!

post by D’Arcy

With so much going on in the economy and the world its easy to forget about the many people in need in our community. December 1st is the annual World Aids Day a great opportunity to stop for a moment and consider the many people suffering from this terrible disease. Life Long Aids Alliance has a ton of resources on how you can get involved here on Capitol Hill and help make a difference.

We love to see when local organizations give back to the community, and one local organization, The Gates Foundation, is pioneering a new campaign to help community schools and local students. This Get Schooled partnership is with Viacom (owners of MTV and Comedy Central) and both organizations have committed 5 years to helping students achieve higher education.

With a focus on at risk youth in lower income brackets, this program will research what key impediments stand in the way of first generation college students from achieving their goals of attending and graduating from higher education programs and working to help students overcome those barriers. They recently kicked off the program with a video special featuring Kelly Clarkson, LeBron James, and President Obama that was simultaneously aired on all Viacom channels last week. You can currently watch the video and learn more about Get Schooled campaign at the Get Schooled website.

With all the amazing things happening in our neighborhood, its important to remember that many people on Capitol Hill need help. Lifelong Aids Alliance with is Chicken Soup Brigade and many other services is one of the organizations takings steps to provide that help. Join Emerson Salon and many other groups in the 23rd Annual Aids Walk on Saturday, September 26th. Check out the Lifelong website to sign up to walk. Also if you would like to support this great organization, Emerson Salon stylist Lancer is striving to raise $300 for his walk.

Catch the first annual East Pike Street Summer Sale!

July 17-19 2009 along East Pike Street on Capitol Hill.

Emerson Salon (10% off a cut and color..get an extra 10% off your service if you bring in non-perishable food for Northwest Harvest)

Here are all the info on the participating businesses:

Enjoy a slew of discounts and special offers from your favorite East Pike Street businesses. Enjoy 20% off at Babeland, B-Bam and Veridis Clothier, 15% off at Triple Crown, 10% off a cut and color at Emerson Salon, 20% off Dogwell Treats at the Feed Bag, and 20% off at Throwbacks Northwest plus a free limited edition T-shirt with purchases over $100. Retail Therapy will give you a 4^th item, of equal or lesser value, for free when you buy 3 items at regular price.

Earn bigger discounts and get special offers by bringing non-perishable food items to participating East Pike Street businesses for donation to Northwest Harvest. Merchants participating in the food drive are: Babeland, 8 Limbs Yoga Boutique, City Home Store, Emerson Salon, Lavender & Vine, Rosebud Restaurant & Bar, Stitches, Veridis, Kaladi Brothers Coffee, B-Bam!

Tonight is “Dining out for Life” to benefit LifeLong AIDS Alliance. Check out their website for a listing of what restaurants are contributing part of the night’s proceeds to help fight this disease!

We donated our services and some product to this year’s StrangerCrombie. Strangercrombie is a holiday auction put on every year by The Stranger, “This year’s good cause is Treehouse. Treehouse serves some of the most vulnerable people in Seattle—abused and neglected children. Founded in 1988 by a group of social workers frustrated by the lack of resources for kids in their care, Treehouse helps over 4,000 kids a year with clothing, school supplies, tutoring (only one-third of kids in foster care graduate from high school, and only 3 percent graduate from college), and other critical services.”(TheStranger)

We donated a years worth of haircuts and color and $150 in Kevin Murphy or Alterna hair products. You can bid on this package here