Welcome to 2005! It's difficult to wholeheartedly say Happy New Year this time around due to the devastating tragedy in South Asia. Our uplifting thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been effected, both to those who have survived and those who have perished.

As you know, one of the best ways to help out is to make a donation to one of the many organizations providing relief to the situation. Because of the wide-spread destruction, and thus overwhelming reconstruction that needs to take place, TWM would like to consider doing something down the road for this cause. If you have any suggestions, or if you would like to organize this, please let us know. It's unfortunate that it is often only at times like this that borders and other differences are easily erased, where clarity of the interconnectedness of humanity as a whole is felt. This is an awareness that TWM seeks to keep everpresent, and we are glad that you are a part of, and interested in that effort.

Last month's holiday gathering was fun and festive and you can read about it below. We hope you enjoyed the holiday season and were able to spend time with yourself in addition to family and friends, and were able to relfect on what you've done in 2004 and how you would like to see yourself in 2005. Well, we think that participating in TWM events can help get you to where you want to be, and then some! This month we are offering you such a way by presenting our popular annual ESP Conference: Empower, Support & Promote Each Other and Ourselves - it's a great opportunity to meet other ladies of TWM and learn about the various things we have to offer each other! You can read all about it below, and you will be receiving a separate announcement and invitation for it shortly. If you are interested in presenting, information will be noted there as well, so please take a look and let us know ASAP if you are interested in participating in that capacity.

Thanks to all of you who recently became members, or renewed your membership! However, we are still far short of our budgetary needs, so we want to again ask the rest of you to consider becoming a member or making a donation to The Women's Mosaic in any amount - either way it's tax-deductible and will ensure our continued work providing opportunities for you to enrich your life as well as the lives of those around you. See below for more information.

In addition to our continued Membership drive, we will be having our semi-annual fundraiser in February - this one a little different than others we've done in the past as we are going to offer a special pre-Valentine's Day treat a la Chocolat style (as in the movie of the same name) to get you in the mood for love....we'll be doing chocolate tastings as well as finding out about the history of chocolate all at Marie Belle in SOHO. It'll be a great event for you and your honey to do together, or if not, just come on down and see what passions the intoxicating chocolate stirs up among strangers! And the best part is that you'll be supporting TWM while enticing your taste buds!

In every newsletter we ecourage you to get more involved, so this time we've given you some specific ways how...see below for more details. And we have not yet sent the mailing of our new printed newsletter, so you still have time to give us your snail mail address for this and other mailings we will do from time to time. Just go to the Update Profile/Email Address link at the bottom of this newsletter to do so.

And of course, as always, please feel free to contact us with your comments and suggestions about anything we are doing!

Here's to an energizing, exciting and empowering 2005 for us all!

One of the best ways to show your appreciation for what we are doing is to support The Women's Mosaic by becoming a member! We want to expand and grow our organization to become a powerful voice for women, but we cannot do so without your help. A strong Membership base also allows us to garner additional financial support from foundations and corporations; the more members we have, the more we can do for you! Please join at the highest level possible today!