Jodi Mulder and her husband have traveled worldwide sometimes even with two small children, and their travels (to Everest base camp, India, South America, and Middle East) have informed them of some of the most pressing social issues.
She is committed to global social change starting in her home and neighborhood. The most recent example is her commitment to hosting a “Trade As One” fair trade home party to raise awareness and commitment among friends/neighbors to the humanitarian issues of fair trade and the unfortunate violation of human rights in the absence of it.
She is also an approved SAFE FAMILY through Chicago’s Lydia Homes, to be a safe home for children when their parents need a break from the responsibilities of parenting in order to deal with life stress, addiction recovery, marital struggle, joblessness/job search.
This means she is willing to take in a child for a period of up to 3 months or to be a back up to another SAFE HOME family who might need sitting support.
She is also an advocate for International Justice Mission, a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation as well as victims of human trafficking that sometimes occurs in the production chain of common consumer products somewhere between raw material extraction to final sale. She is working with Willow Creek North Shore Church to bring the documentary “Call and Response,” about modern day slavery and human trafficking, to the North Shore in March 2010.
She is also the entrepreneur behind the sitterCONNECT events that occur on the North Shore to connect families with viable sitters through ‘mixer events’ that resemble ‘speed dating,’ social nights where parents and sitters can interview while enjoying a beverage and buffet.
Her most recent endeavor is organizing a group of North Shore moms to work together to build a school in rural Angola with Rise International, of Winnetka. Their goal is to raise enough money to build a school by June 2010. Find them online at www.meetup.com/educateafrica.
In addition to these efforts, she and her husband volunteer weekly with World Relief to tutor a refugee family from Iran. She is also an avid triathlete, placing 23rd overall in the Women’s division of the 2009 Olympic distance triathlon.
