Service
“Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.”
~Shirley Chisholm
Service
Projects & Causes
In service for others, we uplift and heal.
From the inside out I understand very well how taking a break from one’s own cares to tend to the wellbeing of others can jump the battery of our heart into a place of essential humanity and healing.
After rest, good therapy, and doing our own homework in self-care and active prayer, tossing one’s soul into service is one of the best things we can do to place the mind, body, heart, and soul back in center of harmony and exercise our greatest muscle – love.
While dancing with people all around the world of various needs is my main form of service these days, even during the pandemic, my heart still gives in other ways, too.
I am survivor of intimate violence and for many years my beloved 1736 Family Crisis Center, was the center of my focus. While I no longer live near enough to help up close you are always welcome to join with me to support this spectacularly impactful organization helping women, children, runaway teens and Veterans get back on their feet after tremendous trauma.
Read below for more information on projects close to Jane’s heart…
1736 Family Crisis Center
As a survivor, Jane continues to advocate for survivors of intimate violence everywhere, hoping to instill hope and healing for all beings to thrive peacefully and eventually even joyfully on this planet.
Believing compassion through service is integral to the ongoing healing necessary to keep each one of us in harmony and heart, Jane is dedicated to helping others find their voice after she struggled to heal after being drugged, kidnapped, and raped in W. Hollywood when she was a coed at UCLA. Due to the phenomenal help of gifted therapists at the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center and later through many years of private therapy with Darby Long, LMFT, Jane vowed to pay it forward.
Below is the PSA Jane wrote and directed for her beloved 1736 Family Crisis Center encouraging all survivors to talk about their experience in safe environments like 1736 Family Crisis Center, the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center, and more.
About
1736 Family Crisis Center
Since 1972, 1736 Family Crisis Center has responded to the growing needs of victims of domestic violence, runaway and homeless youth, victims of human trafficking, homeless families, homeless and at-risk Veterans, unemployed adults and youth, and other low-income community members in need of assistance. We are dedicated to providing comprehensive rehabilitative programs that are managed by licensed therapists, social workers, attorneys and other professional staff. Men, women, children, and families can access life-saving support 24 hours a day through five shelters, five community service centers, various community-based offices, and co-locations and five crisis and suicide hotlines. We are ready to help kids, families, and Veterans so that they can permanently escape the worst possible conditions of poverty, homelessness, and violence.
SERVICE
The Vagina Monologues
Jane is proud and honored to have directed and acted alongside a phenomenal cast from the Big Island of Hawai’i to sell out audiences for The Vagina Monologues, especially at a time when the 490-seat Kahilu Theatre had gone dark due to financial and administrative woes. With one magical swoop of service to help two situations in need, Jane asked the Board of Directors of the Kahilu if she could not only direct and act with a cast from her home on Hawai’i Island, but if they would donate 100% of the proceeds to women’s programs on the island dedicated to safeguarding women survivors of intimate violence. It was a crazy ask when the theater had no money, had gone dark, and could really use it, but they took the gamble and people everywhere volunteered their time for this mighty cause.
The success of the show not only moved audiences to their feet with hope, but brought acting back to the theater which had in recent years neglected its theatrical roots. Moreover, it generated much needed funds and necessary education to women’s protective services as well as instilled financial confidence the theater could finally be successful integrating community from all backgrounds in the theater and on the island.
Women turn out in record numbers and the dialogue to rise together and help was given greater voice and traction. Huge kudos to the Board of Directors at the Kahilu Theatre who cleaned the bathrooms, painted the walls, manned the box office and sold the tickets. Not only was the theater saved, but many women continue to reap the benefits of their ongoing work through the Light On Foundation and other women’s programs earmarked by the proceeds, but continue in dedicated helping to any survivors who are in need.
About
Kahilu Theatre
Kahilu Theatre has recommitted itself to the goal of serving the entire Hawai’i Island community. Grounded in the belief that the creative arts are an essential part of a thriving community, the Kahilu Theatre Foundation is working to establish itself as a cultural hub where generations of families can gather together to celebrate and experience the arts. Through our outreach and education programs the board hopes to expand the Kahilu Theatre Ohana, making the theatre more accessible to individuals and families who have not traditionally come to the theatre.
The Board of Directors has worked hard to develop broad-based support for the theatre – through grants, memberships, donations, fundraising events and show sponsorships – to provide 70% of the Kahilu’s annual operating budget. The health of the theatre is reliant upon the continued generosity and commitment of its community.
As public schools have faced continued cuts in funding arts education, Kahilu Theatre serves the largest number of children possible. Arts Ed @ Kahilu programs include the Performances for Young Audiences Series, Kahilu Arts with Waimea Middle School (K-Arts), and our Kahilu Performing Arts Classes (KPAC). Each year, thousands of keiki ages 5 and above, are introduced to world-class art from our stage and in our galleries.
Through its diverse programming, Kahilu Theatre is committed to its mission of “Making a place where community, creativity and inspiration thrive.”
Listen to more on The Vagina Monologues as Jane is interviewed by Roseanne Barr on Roseanne’s podcast.
It was in this interview and first year of TVM when Jane asked Roseanne to join her on stage if the show returned and year two when Roseanne agreed. The entire cast of TVM was phenomenally talented, but Roseanne brought extra juice helping sell out the house again and adding more support for women in need with her brilliant turn.
“I know – the title put me off from seeing this play for years, but then I met a mama bear CEO discreetly helping women all over the world. She’d heard my secret and convinced me I could help not just my own healing by directing the play, but help others, too, if I could just put our collective courage to heal onto the stage. She was right. Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues is a potent catalyst for women to rise up everywhere and become braver about reclaiming our right to have peace and live in a safer world.”
