Writing love on arms, and hope in hearts at HPU
By Jodi Guglielmi
To Write Love On Her Arms is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and thoughts of suicide. Commonly referred to as “TWLOHA,” To Write Love On Her Arms exists as the middleman between finding help and pointing people in the right direction towards getting treatment.
To Write Love On Her Arms originated in 2006 in Orlando, Fla. when the founders of the organization decided to help their friend, know only as “Renee,” find treatment. Renee was 19 at the time, suffering from drug addictions and constant suicidal thoughts. When she was taken to treatment the center uncovered wounds on her arms – self-degrading words carved into her arms from the night before. They named her too great of a risk and did not accept her into the treatment facility.
When turned down, the two men took her under their wing. After five days of being with her and entertaining while she sobered up, they took her back to treatment where she was finally accepted. The money for Renee’s treatment was raised through donations on MySpace and awareness due to bands wearing t-shirts with the “To Write Love On Her Arms” logo during concerts.
After seeing the effect that they were able to have on Renee’s life, the men didn’t want to stop there. Almost five years later they have raised more than $700,000 for the organization. They have a large staff based out of Melbourne Beach, and with this staff they travel all over the world spreading their message of hope and love.
Jordan Elmore, a junior at High Point, heard about To Write Love On Her Arms and immediately got involved.
“I was able to relate to the message that the organization was trying to spread,” said Elmore. “I suffered from depression after moving away from home. It really helped knowing that there was an outlet that wanted to help people with these kind of issues.”
Elmore was so inspired by what the organization was trying to do that he thought it would be something that people on the HPU campus would be interested in.
“It all started with a Facebook interest group, and when that began to become popular and basically explode, I knew I could do more,” said Elmore.
With the help of four friends, Elmore was able to establish a chapter of the organization on campus. This is now To Write Love On Her Arms’ first active semester on campus.
The organization has already had one event this past October and has more planned for the future.
“We are trying to build a following on campus,” said Elmore. “We hope that next semester we will be able to escalade it to a higher level, and be more interactive with the student body.”
Elmore’s main goal is in letting the student body know that if they are suffering, that they are not alone.
“I want people to know that there is a place on campus that can help them get through their struggles; they don’t have to do this alone,” said Elmore. “Sometimes it can be hard to admit their problem and approach someone about it, but hopefully they will find ease in that we are their same age and we too have been where they are.”
If you would like to get involved, meetings are held on Monday nights in Congdon Hall, room 147.