This year, instead of asking you to don your fancies and march through the cold to yet another year-end fundraiser, we invite you to cozy up to your own life for an evening.

Try our recipes, take some time for yourself, and experience some warm fuzzies by supporting abortion rights in your community. The Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund helps people living in or traveling to eastern Massachusetts get the abortions they need. Over 1,000 people a year reach out to us for assistance.

Because of you, we’re here to answer the phone when they call.

Because of you, we’ll be here next year, too.

Please, enjoy your evening at home.

And please…give generously.

Recipes

Apple Cherry Pie Bread

Yields: Two large loaves

From the kitchen of: EMA Fund volunteer Erin Kate’s mom

Ingredients:

• 3 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 1-1/3 c applesauce
• 1/2 c. cooking oil
• 1 c. chopped dried tart cherries
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans
• 1/4 c. snipped dried apples.

Instructions:

Grease bottom & sides of loaf pans. In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices, salt, and baking soda. Make a well in center. Set aside. In another bowl, beat eggs lightly. Whisk in brown sugar, applesauce, cooking oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir until just moist and lumpy. Fold in dried cherries. Spoon batter into loaf pans. Sprinkle with pecans and dried apples. Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 min.

Santa Fe Chicken Chili

Yields: Four servings

From the kitchen of: Karina Allrich, the Gluten Free Goddess (a favorite of EMA Fund volunteer Dustin Kight)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste
• 1/4-1 teaspoon ground cayenne or chipotle pepper, to taste
• 1 sweet potato, peeled, diced
• 2 15-oz. cans pinto or white beans, rinsed, drained
• 1 28-oz. can Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes , with juice
• 8-oz. (1 cup) chopped roasted green chilies- mild or hot
• 2 cups chicken broth, more if needed
• 1 tablespoon balsamic or apple cider vinegar
• A small drizzle of agave
• 2 heaping cups cooked chicken pieces- hand torn looks nice
• Juice of 1 lime, or to taste

Get instructions for how to prepare Karina’s chili on her website.

Julekake: Norwegian Christmas Bread

Yields: Two loaves

From the kitchen of: EMA Fund volunteer Sarah Morton

Ingredients:

• 1.5 liters of flour
• 250 grams of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons of cardamom
• 2 deciliters of raisins
• 1 deciliter of candied citrus peel (lemon and/or orange)
• 2 packets dry yeast
• 400 grams of melted butter (about 3 and a half sticks)
• 5 deciliters of milk

Instructions:

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cardamom) together in a very large bowl. Prepare your yeast by mixing two packets of dry yeast with 1 deciliter of lukewarm water and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Let sit for two minutes. Mix wet ingredients (butter, milk, yeast mixture) together in a bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients. Knead with your hands for about ten minutes or using the dough hook on your standmixer. Keep extra flour and milk nearby if you need to adjust the texture of your dough. It’s ready when it comes together in a ball without leaving bits of itself behind in the bowl. Cover the ball of dough in the ball and let it rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. Put 2 deciliters of raisins and 1 deciliter of candied citrus peel (lemon and/or orange) chopped to about the same size as raisins aside. When the dough ball has risen by at least 50%, knead the raisins and candied citrus peel into the dough until it is thoroughly incorporated. Then cut the dough in half and shape it into two round balls. Set the balls on a buttered baking sheet in a warm place (on top of your preheating oven, perhaps?) and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for 45 more minutes. Brush each loaf with egg white or milk. Leave the loaves on the cookie sheet and put into preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until quite brown. Remove from oven and immediately set loaves on to cooling racks. Don’t cut into them until they are completely cooled!

Over the past year and a half, Massachusetts three abortion funds — the EMA Fund, the Jane Fund of Central Massachusetts, and the Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts — supported by two advocacy grants from the National Network of Abortion Funds, designed and conducted an evaluation of our callers’ experiences enrolling in MassHealth.

In April 2011, the three funds released a report of their findings. Click here to read the full report.

ABOUT THE REPORT

We followed up with women 1-2 months after they contacted us for abortion funding and received a MassHealth referral from us. We found that only 10 out of 32 women who applied for subsidized insurance were able to secure coverage for abortion care. 26 women either paid out of pocket entirely or had supplemental funding from an abortion fund for their procedure. 12 women were still uninsured at the time of follow-up.

Some of the barriers to insurance coverage for abortion care included lack of knowledge of insurance information and enrollment delays. These delays caused women considerable stress, increased costs, and for one woman, it was the reason that she continued her pregnancy because it became too late for her to obtain an abortion.

“My hero/ines of reproductive and sexual justice, rights, health, and dignity for 2010 are the volunteers of the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund. In the face of an economic slump that has been devastating to many people seeking to pay for their abortions, a political climate that has encouraged progressives and radicals to move to the middle as a “compromise,” the assassination of Dr. Tiller, and the continued devaluation of women, girls, trans people, and our reproductive rights during the attempt to pass a universal health care bill; the EMA Fund has grown, transformed, and continued to reinvent itself with passion and dignity.”

Read the rest of Sarah’s submission and check out who else RH Reality Check is featuring for 2010 on their website. Interested in volunteering with the EMA Fund? Click here for info.

This year, instead of asking you to don your fancies and march through the cold to yet another year-end fundraiser, we invite you to cozy up to your own life for an evening.

Try our recipes, take some time for yourself, and experience some warm fuzzies by supporting abortion rights in your community. The Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund helps people living in or traveling to eastern Massachusetts get the abortions they need. Over 1,000 people a year reach out to us for assistance.

Because of you, we’re here to answer the phone when they call.
Because of you, we’ll be here next year, too.
Please, enjoy your evening at home.
And please…give generously.

Recipes

Apple Cherry Pie Bread

Yields: Two large loaves
From the kitchen of: EMA Fund volunteer Erin Kate’s mom

Ingredients:

• 3 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/3 c. packed brown sugar
• 1-1/3 c applesauce
• 1/2 c. cooking oil
• 1 c. chopped dried tart cherries
• 1/4 c. chopped pecans
• 1/4 c. snipped dried apples.

Instructions:

Grease bottom & sides of loaf pans. In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices, salt, and baking soda. Make a well in center. Set aside. In another bowl, beat eggs lightly. Whisk in brown sugar, applesauce, cooking oil. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir until just moist and lumpy. Fold in dried cherries. Spoon batter into loaf pans. Sprinkle with pecans and dried apples. Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 min.

Santa Fe Chicken Chili

Yields: Four servings
From the kitchen of: Karina Allrich, the Gluten Free Goddess (a favorite of EMA Fund volunteer Dustin Kight)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium sweet onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2-1 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste
• 1/4-1 teaspoon ground cayenne or chipotle pepper, to taste
• 1 sweet potato, peeled, diced
• 2 15-oz. cans pinto or white beans, rinsed, drained
• 1 28-oz. can Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes , with juice
• 8-oz. (1 cup) chopped roasted green chilies- mild or hot
• 2 cups chicken broth, more if needed
• 1 tablespoon balsamic or apple cider vinegar
• A small drizzle of agave
• 2 heaping cups cooked chicken pieces- hand torn looks nice
• Juice of 1 lime, or to taste

Get instructions for how to prepare Karina’s chili on her website.

Julekake: Norwegian Christmas Bread

Yields: Two loaves
From the kitchen of: EMA Fund volunteer Sarah Morton

Ingredients:

• 1.5 liters of flour
• 250 grams of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons of cardamom
• 2 deciliters of raisins
• 1 deciliter of candied citrus peel (lemon and/or orange)
• 2 packets dry yeast
• 400 grams of melted butter (about 3 and a half sticks)
• 5 deciliters of milk

Instructions:

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cardamom) together in a very large bowl. Prepare your yeast by mixing two packets of dry yeast with 1 deciliter of lukewarm water and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Let sit for two minutes. Mix wet ingredients (butter, milk, yeast mixture) together in a bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients. Knead with your hands for about ten minutes or using the dough hook on your standmixer. Keep extra flour and milk nearby if you need to adjust the texture of your dough. It’s ready when it comes together in a ball without leaving bits of itself behind in the bowl. Cover the ball of dough in the ball and let it rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes. Put 2 deciliters of raisins and 1 deciliter of candied citrus peel (lemon and/or orange) chopped to about the same size as raisins aside. When the dough ball has risen by at least 50%, knead the raisins and candied citrus peel into the dough until it is thoroughly incorporated. Then cut the dough in half and shape it into two round balls. Set the balls on a buttered baking sheet in a warm place (on top of your preheating oven, perhaps?) and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise for 45 more minutes. Brush each loaf with egg white or milk. Leave the loaves on the cookie sheet and put into preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until quite brown. Remove from oven and immediately set loaves on to cooling racks. Don’t cut into them until they are completely cooled!

Applications are being accepted through August 15, 2011.

Please download the Application