V-Day Bay Ridge leaders pick charity recipients

January 24, 2018 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

V-Day Bay Ridge organizers Elizabeth Donohue (left) and Stephanie Spangler have set a fundraising goal of $3,000 for this year’s event. Photo courtesy of David Spangler

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V-Day Bay Ridge is coming and organizers are ready.

The women putting together V-Day Bay Ridge, an event featuring staged readings of the famous Eve Ensler play “The Vagina Monologues” that will take place on Feb. 10-11, have selected the charities to which they will donate the proceeds from the two-day event.

Stephanie Spangler and Elizabeth Donohue announced that the funds will be donated to Planned Parenthood and to the nonprofit group Sanctuary for Families.

“Any donations made through these links will count towards our fundraising goal,” the organizers told the Brooklyn Eagle via email.

“The Vagina Monologues,” an award-winning 1998 play that has led millions of women around the world to take a fresh look at their bodies and find their inner strength, will be the centerpiece of a fundraising event aimed at empowering women.

As the Brooklyn Eagle previously reported, V-Day Bay Ridge will take place at the Owl’s Head Bar at 479 74th St.

The Bay Ridge reading is part of V-Day, a worldwide happening in which women gather in their communities to read “The Vagina Monologues” aloud. This year marks the 20th year of V-Day. During the past two decades, organizers have raised money for rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters and have worked to change laws to protect women from discrimination.

In 2017, Spangler put a Bay Ridge event together, Donohue served as one of the readers and the live readings raised $1,200. The money was donated to Planned Parenthood of NYC.

Spangler and Donohue have set an ambitious fundraising goal of $3,000 this time around.

Spangler said she came up with the idea for a V-Day Bay Ridge happening after taking part in the New York City version of the Women’s March on Washington, which took place on Jan. 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the U.S.

Spangler recalled how she was inspired by the people she met as she marched through the streets of Manhattan that day. She decided to organize an event for V-Day on a local level.

Both Spangler and Donohue are familiar with “The Vagina Monologues.”

Spangler, who called the play “a really moving piece,” produced “The Vagina Monologues” when she was in college. The play resonates with women because it encourages them to find their inner strength, she said.

Donohue first encountered “The Vagina Monologues” when she was a student at Fordham University. “For me, it gives meaning to the struggles women go through. It’s a play that is funny and a little uncomfortable. It forces us to get out of our comfort zones,” she said.

For more information on V-Day Bay Ridge, email [email protected].