New TWLOHA chapter inspires, encourages
The GCSU chapter of To Write Love On Her Arms, also commonly known as TWLOHA, recently became an official registered student organization in October and has just been allocated $700 by SGA. The money is going to be used to provide shirts for the TWLOHA chapter since this organization is more specifically known for their shirts, and the chapter wants to make sure they have them for its members and events.
“TWLOHA’s main purpose and goal is dedicated to presenting hope for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide,” said Abby Gibson, president of the GCSU chapter of TWLOHA. “The chapter exists to inspire, encourage and invest directly into treatment both locally and around the world.”
TWLOHA is a national organization and movement growing stronger across the country. Started by Jamie Tworkowski in Spring 2006 when he started raising money to help his friend, TWLOHA came about to tell a story and a goal of believing that a better life was possible, according to the TWLOHA website. It represents pain, addiction and regret with the idea of striving for a better life of hope, sobriety and freedom. Tworkowski raised awareness and money for his friend by selling the well-known “To Write Love On Her Arms” T-shirts.
The national organization consists of a section called the University Chapter in which different colleges are selected to participate. GCSU is the only college in Georgia to have a University Chapter. The idea began after Gibson attended a TWLOHA conference called M.O.V.E. over the summer and came back to interview people to fill the officer spots.
“To become an RSO, we had a meeting with different members of the Georgia College staff to present the idea of the chapter on campus,” Gibson said. “Then we had to go through the registration process, find an advisor, Amy Pinney and Kendall Stiles, and then wait for approval.”
SGA just passed a bill for TWLOHA to receive $700 for their chapter.
“Senators Katie Dunn and Trey Smith wrote this bill,” said Meg Harth, SGA press secretary. “The bill was first presented Oct. 20, 2010 to allocate $1,450 and was sent to the Appropriations Committee, which is led by Senator Stephen Hundley. Appropriations voted unanimously 5-0-0 to change the bill to $700.”
According to Harth, when the bill was presented to the senate again all but one member of SGA voted for the bill.
“Being able to provide shirts will promote awareness and give people a chance to share their story,” Gibson said. “It was amazing and we appreciate the support from SGA.”
On campus, TWLOHA has meetings in Chappell Hall. They also organized a project in October called the 6 Word Memoir Project, in which they displayed six word sentences submitted by students on leaves of the Tree of Hope, displayed both at CampusFest and a program at Adams Hall. Pictures were take of the Tree of Hope and have been feathers on the Smith Magazine website, TWLOHA’s official Facebook page, and has a good chance of being put into the Smith Magazine, according to Gibson.
Off campus, the organization is sponsoring acoustic night at Blackbird Coffee on Nov. 16. The night will have a theme of love and hope and TWLOHA will be selling merchandise to raise money that will be given to a local treatment center.
“We invite everyone to attend”, Gibson said.
Posted by CourtneyCoile
on Nov 11 2010. Filed under News.
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