Read more about 3 of our amazing, local women partners!
Ellen Cappard is the owner of Books & Bagels community bookstore in the heart of Wilmington, DE. At Books & Bagels you will find local brands highlighted as featured vendors. It’s a source of pride to provide a unique selection of books from well versed staff willing to share and support with your retail experience. It’s our mission at Books & Bagel to provide a safe space for all patrons to explore and feel welcome.
Ellen is an author illustrator creating diverse stories. She has a background in graphic design, painting, photography as well as experience with teaching and mentoring children and young adults. Ellen resides in Wilmington, DE with her daughter Sophia. She loves the natural attractions that inspire creativity.
Wilmington Alliance partnered with Ellen through an online book drive for our Lending Library, located at The Rock Lot, at 305 W. 8th St. The successful partnership resulted in over 250 new books added for children and youth, from diverse authors with diverse themes. As a result, Ellen has continued to curate reading lists and book drives for other organizations.
For more information visit: www.booksandbagelsllc.com
Kim Eppehimer is the Executive Director of Friendship House, a Delaware nonprofit uniting people facing homelessness with loving, supportive communities they can call home. She has been with the organization since 2014.
Kim cherishes the love, acceptance and compassion Friendship House staff shares with every person with whom they interact with every day. She is moved to action by the incredible injustice, stereotype and stigma experiences by those in poverty who are experiencing homelessness, suffering from poverty, or from being unhoused. She is committed to helping to make change in the social service system as well as how people perceive “homelessness.” While at Friendship House, Kim has helped the organization navigate through the COVID pandemic ensuring services never ceased. She has helped the organization thrive and grow as they continually respond to the gaps existing in the fabric of our community services. Her goal is to break down the barriers holding people back from achieving their goals, remove the existing injustice and stereotypes plaguing our community, and help anyone who wants to find their way home.
Kim has a Masters Degree in Financial Accounting from University Maryland University College, a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Delaware, and a certificate in Theology and Ministry from Princeton. Her immediate family includes two boys, a husband, and two dogs. When she’s not at Friendship House or with her family, Kim finds joy in running, listening to podcasts and reading.
Wilmington Alliance is proud of our recent partnership with Friendship House on a Fines and Fees Fund. Through the fund, financial assistance is provided for costs of various fines and fees that act as a barrier to obtaining job placement or moving out of poverty.
For more information visit: www.friendshiphousede.org
Amina Naru is the founder of Posh Yoga, Co-founder of Retreat to Spirit, a Usui reiki master, trauma sensitive yoga instructor, and chair of the Race and Equity Consortium in Yoga, with a specialty in providing yoga and mindfulness programs to incarcerated youth and adults. Amina is an active member on the board of directors for the international non-profit, Accessible Yoga Association, and also serves on the board of directors for Bmore Empowered Inc., a non-profit dedicated to empowering women and girls of color through mindfulness and entrepreneurship in Baltimore City, Maryland.
She is the former executive director of the national non-profit organization, Yoga Service Collective, and served three terms as secretary for the YSC Board of Directors. She is a contributing author to the books “Best Practices for Yoga with Veterans” (YSC/Omega, 2016) and “Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System” (YSC/Omega, 2017). She worked as the project manager and contributor for “Yoga and Resilience: Empowering Practices for Survivors of Sexual Trauma” (Handspring 2020), and the “Best Practices for Yoga with People in Addictions and Recovery Symposium” at the Omega Institute. She also served as Executive Director of the nonprofit Empowered Community in Wilmington, DE and is the first black woman to implement curriculum-based yoga and mindfulness programs for juvenile detention centers in the state of Delaware.
Amina has been featured in the books, Yoga Revolution by Jivana Heyman, Yoga Radicals by Allie Middleton, and Restorative Yoga for Ethnic and Race Based Stress and Trauma, by Dr. Gail Parker. She has also been featured in Yoga Journal, Yoga Therapy Today and on the J. Brown and Yoga Alliance podcasts. Amina Naru’s yoga service work is deeply informed by her studies with master teachers Johnny Gillespie of Empowered Yoga, James Fox of Prison Yoga Project, B.K. Bose of the Niroga Institute, Nikki Myers of Y12SR, and Jennifer Cohen Harper of Little Flower Yoga.
Wilmington Alliance is excited about our new partnership with Amina, as we prepare to offer yoga classes, free to the community, at our new Art O Mat, located on the corner of 7th & Washington St.
For more information visit: www.posh-yoga.com