Half a century ago, meteorologist Edward Lorenz was running weather simulations when he noticed that a tiny alteration in a variable led to a stunning change in his results. He likened it to a butterfly flapping its wings and ultimately causing a tornado halfway across the world. This became known as the butterfly effect: small changes having far-reaching consequences.
Tijuana Fulford, founder of the Butterfly Effect Project, an organization that seeks to catch girls at a young age, empower them and help them achieve emotional stability and self confidence, embraces this concept in the work she does with girls on the East End.
“For each girl we touch with a positive effect, that one girl will touch many other girls,” says Fulford.
Growing up in Riverside, Fulford knew what it was like to be underprivileged. But it was an experience with Girl Scouts that planted the seed for what would eventually become the Butterfly Effect Project.
“When I was younger, my mom put me in Girl Scouts and I couldn’t afford the vest. I had to get the sash, because it was cheaper,” said Fulford in a previous interview. “Dues were $1 — four quarters, ten dimes, 100 pennies — but my parents couldn’t afford it. I never got to go on trips because I couldn’t afford it. I never got the badges.”
Fulford didn’t want to see that happening to anyone and so three years ago she and several volunteers gathered a group of eight girls from the Riverhead and Flanders area and began the Butterfly Effect Project with the intention of providing free opportunities for the underserved. Today the group, which charges no fees or dues, has 108 members between the ages of three and 19 in several Long Island communities, and there are 40 girls on a waiting list to join.
Now Fulford wants to bring the project to Southold Town.
“When I visit Southold Town I see a lot of great people,” she says. “But I see a lacking in opportunities for girls being able to try different things without the stigma of being considered underprivileged or, for example, coming from a troubled family.”
Fulford talks about the lack of diversity in Southold Town and stresses that she’s not just referring to race.
“It’s the landscape out there – the cultural differences,” she says. “You have some girls who come from underprivileged communities and you have some girls who come from privileged households who may be socially awkward and feel like they don’t fit in.”
Girls who come from similar backgrounds may tend to stick together and shy away from those who have had a different upbringing, says Fulford.
It’s Fulford’s mission to bring those girls together. She wants to hold an open forum in Southold Town to introduce the project to people and ask for suggestions on activities North Fork girls would like to do.
“I want girls of different backgrounds to get to know each other, to have fun and laugh. I want to build bridges, not walls,” she says.
At a Southold Town Hall meeting this week, Butterfly Effect Project volunteer Karen McDonald requested funding from the town to bring the organization out to the North Fork.
“We reach out to girls in all socio-economic and ethnic areas. We think there is a need here, we think there are underserved girls and other girls that maybe are just being missed in school or for whatever reason,” said McDonald.
In addition to funding, the group requires a place to hold their twice-monthly meetings and host events throughout the year. They are also looking for devoted volunteers.
“There are many ways to volunteer,” says Fulford. “If you feel like you have something you can impart onto these girls and can put in a few hours a month, we need you. Even if you reach just one girl, it will be a success.”
In addition to attending regular meetings, the Butterflies have visited the Long Island Game Farm, spent a day learning about plants at Trimble’s Nursery in Cutchogue and handed out Easter baskets to women and children at a homeless shelter. Each year they attend a Butterfly Ball, a safe, chaperoned event where kids can make new friends and have fun.
Recently the Butterfly Effect Project received the 2017 Human Rights Community-Based Organization Award; the group was nominated for the award by County Legislator Al Krupski.
“When I met with Tijuana Fulford earlier in the year, I was so impressed with what she and the Butterfly Effect Project were accomplishing in Riverhead and in other communities,” said Krupski. “Giving young women the tools to face life’s challenges is so important and I know the organization’s presence in Southold would be very positive and an asset to the community.”
Fulford relies on the support of the community to make the group possible and is “hugely grateful” for everything people have done for her girls.
The Butterfly Effect Project will soon be moving to brand new headquarters, compliments of Jill Schroeder of JABS fitness studio. Schroeder donated office space behind her new location on Old Country Road in Riverhead.
“This space is rent free, so it will allow us to expand, work on grant applications and plan more events for the future,” she says. “It’s a beautiful space and we are so thankful.”
If you would like to become involved in the Butterfly Effect Project, you can contact Tijuana Fulford through the Butterfly Effect website.
