Team Thoma

The picture you see representing this team is my dad’s favorite picture of his two daughters taken many years ago.
It’s a picture of myself and my sister Rory, the Thoma sisters 
My sister and I were similar in a lot of ways. Passionate, bossy, opinionated, liberal, independent... but probably best of all was our ability to be so weird, goofy, and funny to each other, laughing so hard tears would be streaming down our faces, usually at something extremely embarrassing our dad would do. Even though distance sometimes separated us, whenever we did get to spend time together, it was evident to us both how grateful we each were to have each other as a sister.
However, my sister Rory passed away from an extremely painful battle with cancer February 2, 2012. It’s been 9 months since my sister has been gone and each day it still feels like a painful dagger lodged in the middle of my heart. So I have been trying to think of a way to bring family and friends together to remember my sister for a couple months now; a way to honor and love her, to give to something in her name that would change the lives of other sisters and families around the world.
I want to honor her memory in a very active way since her life was taken away from her at such a young age, like so many of the young women that would be supported in these projects on Catapult. Rory worked in law, she loved justice, she was extremely intelligent, she loved her family tremendously, and she loved our generations so called “girl power”.
Besides her awesome roaring laugh that I will never forget, there is one thing that always stood out about Rory… whenever we got in arguments, it usually had to do with something we both thought we were very right about but had differing opinions on. Rory did not like to be told what to think- she was her own women and from a young age she always made her own choices. And so, when I was trying to pick a project on here specifically to ask people to support in memory of Rory, it was very difficult, because so many of these projects remind me of things that I think Rory believed in like womens rights to choose, to get an education, justice, and equality. After thinking about it for a while, I don’t know if she would have wanted me to choose one cause to represent her on this team, but rather allow people to choose what they are passionate about and what they would want to support, on behalf of her memory or in support of their own loved ones.
So, I encourage you to look at the different projects on here and donate to one that you think would honor Rory, or one that would support what you care about… one that would support all sisters around the world.
I miss my sister dearly and I truly believe deep down that what the projects on here are doing would help many other sisters, mothers, and daughters, especially in the most vulnerable areas around the world.
Please join me in supporting one of these causes to actively honor the memory of my passionate, opinionated, hilarious, caring sister, Rory Thoma.