Chantilly, VA, November 4, 2014 —HomeAid Northern Virginia, which builds and renovates facilities for the homeless, announced today that Terri Stagi, president and founder of the organization’s Women Giving Back (WGB) program, has been named a finalist in PANDORA Jewelry’s PANDORA Hearts of Today contest. The initiative celebrates women who are working to improve the lives of women and children in their communities and around the world.  As a finalist, WGB will receive $25,000 from PANDORA.

Since 2007 WGB has donated more than 300,000 items of clothing to nearly 23,000 women and children in crisis.  The program supplements HomeAid Northern Virginia’s work by providing women with the clothing they need to enter the workforce and to outfit their children.

PANDORA received more than 700 nominations for the inaugural PANDORA Hearts of Today program, which launched in July.  Once the submissions were narrowed down to 20 semi-finalists, the public voted to select the final eight honorees.

An esteemed panel of judges, including human rights advocate Penny Abeywardena; Emmy Award-winning journalist Shaun Robinson; philanthropist June Sarpong; sociologist and author Pepper Schwartz; and PANDORA board member Andrea Alvey, helped to identify the women with the strongest and most inspiring stories.

The PANDORA Hearts of Today program was created to honor everyday women who do extraordinary things to make a lasting difference in the lives of women and children. In 2014, the PANDORA Hearts of Today initiative focused on causes supporting the following areas: health and well-being, community development, and professional and social empowerment. For more information, visit www.pandoraheartsoftoday.com.