Jenne Alderks, M.Ed., is the stay at home mother of two, a convert of eight years to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and serves as a ward missionary in Seattle, WA. She is Project Coordinator of Solace For Mothers, a non-profit organization providing support to mothers who have been traumatized by their childbearing experiences. Jenne also is an advocate for mother friendly maternity care, sustainable living and family friendly public policy.
First, I want to start by saying that the WAVE Women’s Service Mission a dream come true. For years I have been looking to join with fellow Latter-day Saints in advocating for women and families around the world and I am so excited to have this platform to work with other faithful Latter-day Saints on issues that affect us, our neighbors and our sisters and brothers around the world.
A little bit of background on me: I am a convert to the church coming from a religious upbringing in the socially conscious and actively engaged Unitarian Universalist Church. After joining the church in 2001, I went to BYU where I studied family studies and human development. I feel my education at BYU prepared me to be an activist in the non-profit and community based organization sector working for healthier communities through healthier families. In working with professors and other students on The National Healthy Marriage Resource Center, I saw the interplay between education, family dynamics, poverty, health and thriving communities. I can say that my views on community involvement were very much shaped by my studies at BYU.
Since graduating from BYU in 2005, I have been able to continue progressing in my education journey. I spent some time working for a non-profit organizations with low-income populations and then went onto to receive my master’s from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2008. My master’s also exposed me to societal issues facing families. I gained a passion for advocating for family-friendly public policies. It was through my studies at UH Manoa that I came to realize that the way to protect children from poverty is not through extending services to children, but instead, services must also be directed to children’s mothers. This coincided with my own first overtly negative experience with patriarchy and the violation of my rights as a woman. Thus started my awareness to women’s issues.
Because that disempowering experience centered on the birth of my first child, I turned my attention to finding healing and support. In my search, I joined with the organization Solace for Mothers to create a discussion board for women who have experienced trauma and/or violation in their labor and birth experiences. In my work as a birth activist and blogger, I became exposed to the idea that childbirth in our society is a feminist issue—a fundamental struggle for women to have the informed choice to birth as they feel is appropriate for them as mothers and individuals. This experience also compounded my belief that women have a unique set of struggles yet to be overcome as they seek to find respect in our world.
As I became immersed in mother’s issues via the Internet, I became connected with a network of advocacy organizations that provide everyday busy people (like us!) the ease and convenience of being involved in advocacy efforts on a range of issues and particular interests. Through involvement with organizations such as these, I’ve had enough experience feeling like I can do something to be civically engaged and advocate for the areas in which I have decided to dedicate my efforts that I’ve learned a little something of benefit.
As WAVE’s Women’s Service Mission continues, I will be sharing some of the lessons I’ve learned as an activist. You will likely find that my posts and advocacy offerings in the beginning with tell you more about me and my interests than what advocacy efforts are available and important for women around the world. I will try to provide a broad range of opportunities, but will need participation from WAVE readers to help guide the efforts of the Women’s Service Mission. I readily admit that my efforts and interests are narrow and focused. I find that to be a good thing in some regards but I must call upon the women and men reading to volunteer up the causes that are important and meaningful to you—the ones that you believe will bless, strengthen and provide comfort to women in need.
If you don’t find what you are looking for or care about, email me at service@ldswave.org and tell me what you want to see covered here. If you’d like, I will do what I can to help you locate an organization working on the cause that is meaningful to you. If you are involved with an organization, cause, or effort or you want to get in contact with like-minded concerned individuals, write into the Women’s Service Mission and I will post your call to action.
I look forward to learning from and working with you!
“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead
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