Last updated 5/4/03

Return Mother's Day to its original intention as a day to promote peace in the world

Boston group wants return of the holiday to its meaning

May 12, 2002
By PATTI MENGERS

When Marcia Hoffman Hutchinson was studying anthropology at Bryn Mawr College in the early '60s, activism was not foremost on her mind. Even while doing graduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, a hotbed of protest during the Vietnam era, Hutchinson was more concerned with her studies than with demonstrations.

More than 30 years later, in a sedate Boston suburb, Hutchinson has now found a cause that has sparked her sense of advocacy.

Along with about 20 other women in Sherborn, Mass., she is hoping to return Mother's Day to its original meaning: basically, a day dedicated to compassion and world peace.

"Even though what we're doing and what we're suggesting will not create world peace, we just wanted to do something," said Hutchinson.

Through the fledgling grassroots organization EveryMother's Day, the women are encouraging observers of Mother's Day to donate money usually spent on gifts to one of four humanitarian organizations that aid victims of violence around the world.

"We didn't want to focus on any one place. These organizations go where there is war and violence in the world and where damage has been done from that," noted Hutchinson.

After reviewing about 10 organizations, the women chose four which they deemed light on administrative costs, to ensure that most of the donated funds would serve their intended purpose.

The beneficiaries include Doctors without Borders USA, who provide immediate medical assistance to populations in crisis, and Halo USA, which clears landmines for the safe return of refugees.

The International Rescue Committee, which provides sanctuary and services to refugees uprooted by war, and the American Friends Service Committee, which provides relief and reconstruction and works with local organizations to provide food and medical supplies, are also beneficiaries.

Donors can link directly to the groups through www.everymothersday.org, a Web site designed by Hutchinson who also included a pledge card that can be printed out and given to mothers in place of or in addition to the usual Mother's Day gifts.

"A little 'subagenda' is that mothers can teach children the value of philanthropy and the importance of giving to those less fortunate, along with the chocolate and flowers," explained Hutchinson.

EveryMother's Day was founded barely a month ago when social worker Ridgely Fuller invited some friends to her house to discuss the state of a world wracked by violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan and overshadowed by the terrorism of Sept. 11.

Those who attended ranged in age from 30 to 60 and were of various faiths and political ideology. They included business executives, health care practitioners and people like Hutchinson who is a clinical psychologist, Web designer, author and artist.

"Ridgely found material that talked about the origin of Mother's Day," said Hutchinson.

Webster's New World Encyclopedia credits Anna Jarvis, a West Virginia transplant living in Philadelphia, with starting Mother's Day in 1908 when she observed the anniversary of her mother's death. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1907 and officially recognized by the U.S. Congress in 1914.

But, according to Ridgely's research, Mother's Day was started by abolitionist and feminist Julia Ward Howe who, in 1862, wrote the lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She reportedly suggested a day be set aside for mothers to both mourn men they loved who were lost in the Civil War, and join together to build a safer world for future generations.

"Hardly anybody knew that. We were sort of intrigued by it," said Hutchinson.

They put politics aside and agreed that they all were appalled at the loss of life due to violence in the world. They also agreed that Mother's Day was a great vehicle for addressing the issue.

"We wanted to do something for a holiday that has deeper meaning than what it has come to be in a very commercialized world. That was our very clear intention," said Hutchinson.

They also hope to show children a way of life without violence.

"We are really trying to celebrate the values of womanhood, motherhood. Nurturing and compassion and caring goes into the socialization of a woman," she noted.

Hutchinson and her fellow advocates are aware that EveryMother's Day won'tsolve all the world's problems.

"All of us are intelligent enough to know the complexity of the world situation. Nothing is black and white," she said. "We wanted to focus on one small piece."

©The Daily Times 2003

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