Jeanine Payer Launches Special Jewelry Collection for 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day

SAN FRANCISCO, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Jewelry designer, Jeanine Payer, has launched a new collection that is dedicated to gender equity, opportunity and education for the women and girls of Afghanistan.  The collection features five limited edition pieces that are inscribed with poetry about resiliency and courage.  Each piece is handmade and engraved in Payer's San Francisco studio.

The collection may be purchased online at JeaninePayer.com and in the Jeanine Payer retail store in San Francisco at 762 Market Street (415-788-2417).

Payer launched the line today to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day.  50 percent of all sales will benefit Mountain2Mountain, a nonprofit organization working to empower women and girls in Afghanistan.  Current projects are focused on girls' education, vocational training, life skills, rural midwifery, and imprisoned women and children.

Payer's jewelry has been featured in People Magazine, O Magazine, Town and Country and Elle and has a following among movie stars and artists including Mark Ruffalo, Reese Witherspoon, Susan Sarandon, Mick Jagger, and Orlando Bloom. She has designed custom pieces for Meg Ryan, Seal, Sheryl Crow, and Debra Messing.  

"Mountain2Mountain's founder, Shannon Galpin, called and told me her amazing story.  She has worn a pair of my earrings under her headscarf on all of her journeys across Afghanistan.  She told me how the earrings and one of my silver rings have inspired her and given her strength," said Payer. "I was so moved by her incredible work and life story that I knew immediately I wanted to be involved.  I created a small collection using the poetry she has on her ring as well as other poems about resiliency and courage.  These pieces are for women to wear to show solidarity with women all over the globe who are fighting for equality and their rightful place in society."

Galpin founded Mountain2Mountain in 2006.  A rape survivor and a single mother from Breckenridge, Colorado, she realized she couldn't sit on the sidelines in a world where so many women and girls are denied opportunities, treated as commodities and live most of their lives in fear.   She sold her home and has since devoted all of her energies to working with women and girls in Afghanistan.

"I believe that investing in women and girls is the most effective way to achieve stability and economic prosperity, especially in warzones like Afghanistan where sexual assault, and oppression are so prevalent and opportunity has been denied to women and girls for so long," said Galpin.  Gifts from her family, Galpin wears Payer's ring and earrings as on all of her trips to Afghanistan.

About Mountain2Mountain

Mountain2Mountain is a nonprofit organization working to help empower the people of Afghanistan, with a focus on women and girls and gender equity. M2M advances its mission through education, training, job creation, and efforts to save the lives of Afghan women in childbirth and their babies.  Mountain2Mountain is committed to long-term, sustainable solutions that are created in-country from the ground up, in partnership with other NGOs and the Afghan people.  www.mountain2mountain.org

About Jeanine Payer

Payer has been designing jewelry for 21 years using poetry by some of the most famous poets, both current and ancient.  Her collection may be purchased online at www.jeaninepayer.com, at Barneys New York, and at more than 100 specialty stores around the world, including her own store in San Francisco at 762 Market Street.  

SOURCE Jeanine Payer