the friendship stone

connecting friends

The Friendship Stone Team

Article Index
The Friendship Stone Team
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4

Page 1 of 4

We are a group of women who have a dream to see the friendship stone travel around the globe. Come meet the friendship stone team!

Cathy Raff
President
Jill Raff
Business Development
Lauré Warren
Business Development
Shari Wright Pilo
Web Producer

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it - General Manager

I was born in Ocala, Florida and moved to Georgia at the age of two and a half. I am the middle child of three girls. I grew up in Columbus, Georgia with a small town atmosphere where it felt like we all knew each other – a real sense of community. We were five “Kathy’s” in my high school class, so each of us had a nickname. Mine was “Raffi”. I am still in touch with many of my girlfriends from that period and am always happy for the cards I get every holiday season, and the get-together’s when I can make it to that part of the world.

I then studied at the University of Texas, graduating with a BA with honors in Journalism with the emphasis in Photojournalism. Feeling like I was not prepared to go out into the real world, I continued my studies at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in commercial photography. That is where I learned “the law of light”, a term used consistently in the classes as the basis for our photography education. It was here that I met my best girlfriend, Lauré Warren. She has been an instrumental and an essential part of this project developing the friendship stone.

From the hills of Pasadena, I finally acted on a life long dream to move to Israel. I was 25, full of excitement, expectations and dreams. On a trip to Kenya a few years before moving to Israel, I was fortunate to have met an amazing Israeli man. When I arrived in Israel, his daughter welcomed me into her home and helped me understand ‘what was what’ in my new country. She and her family were a central reason for my successful immigration.

I studied Hebrew the first year (so I would understand what everyone was saying to me, and/or about me). I have been here 23 years but still hear about my “wonderful” (southern) accent.

I initially began working in photography from the apartment I rented. I was extremely lucky to have been introduced to the top designers in Israel, and was therefore able to work on some fantastic projects. I quickly grew out of my apartment and decided to build my own studio. My parents were always behind me in all of my endeavors and they once again stepped up to the plate. My studio opening was December 15, 1988, my Dad’s birthday. A good friend of mine did the catering and we had great jazz musicians singing in the background. What a night!

In the beginning, I took any work that came my way. As time went on, I realized I mostly enjoyed photographing people and food. And guess what? As with everything, the things you love doing, you usually do best. In time, this is where I concentrated all my efforts and I developed a reputation for expertise in food and portrait photography.

It wasn’t until I was 31 that I finally met the man with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life. When I did not fall asleep during a date and actually couldn’t wait to see and talk to him the next day, I knew he was the right man for me. After five weeks of knowing each other, we decided to travel to the States and meet my family. His sister also lives in the States, so we made the rounds. After three weeks of 24/7, we pretty much knew this was it. Nine months after meeting, we tied the knot. He is my "Rock".

It took us four years and twelve unsuccessful in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments to start our family. In the end we realized we were lucky to have an alternative; surrogacy. The following years we worked with three amazing women who were each incredible and responsible for helping bring us our three healthy children!

With the addition of each child, (we have a daughter from my husband’s previous marriage, then a son and two more daughters) my work week became shorter and shorter. My husband began working with a high tech company, which meant long hours and many trips abroad, so I decided to put my career on the back burner and spend my time with the kids.

I have faced a few medical difficulties throughout my life. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitus when I was a freshman in college. On my 21st birthday, I had a total Colectomy (total removal of the large intestine) . I knew this was really my birthday, as I felt re-born on the day after I awoke from surgery.

Because I had been medically challenged so many times, I realized the disease I dealt with on a daily basis was actually a gift. I spent quite a lot of time thinking about life and what was important to me. Before my surgery, I had forgotten what life was without pain. I could not imagine what it was like to have energy or even the desire to get up in the morning. Several months after the surgery, all of a sudden, I realized I did not think about my stomach for over an hour! I started crying tears of disbelief. From that moment on, there has not been a day that I am not aware of the feeling of being pain free; I feel amazing and love this life!

In 2004, I began my journey with the friendship stone. It all started when I was in South Africa on a business trip with my husband. I found the most amazing stones I had ever seen. We had just reburied my father in Israel, may he rest in peace, and I decided to buy these stones to bring to his gravesite. I also bought more and kept them in a bowl on our buffet table. Every time I would pass the stones, I couldn't help but touch them and was in awe of their beauty.

This set into motion a series of ideas and I shared them with the people closest to me. The conclusion is that these stones would be a wonderful symbol to remind people of some of the things I think are most important in life, and which have gotten me through a lot of challenging times. I love the idea of the stone being passed along as a reminder of friendship, as a reminder of a positive attitude, and as a reminder of something good; giving. It is smooth, beautifully vibrant and lasting. It could go with you in your pocket, sit near your computer, or be tucked in some special place to be discovered again, leaving the person with a sense of well-being that this person who gave them the stone was important to them for all the reasons I mentioned above. This is when the friendship stone was born.

After much research, I discovered the stones are mined commercially only in South Africa. So I traveled to the place they are mined, in order to learn as much as I could about the mining and tumbling of these amazing stones. While there, I saw many homes in the area that did not have running water. I made a promise to myself that when the friendship stone took off and circled the globe, I would GIVE BACK to this community and help bring running water into their homes to tangibly improve their lives.

the friendship stone has evolved over the past three years. The best part of the entire process was having so many talented friends join me on the road, each offering their own expertise to help me fulfill my dream. I could never thank them enough, for without them this project never would have come to be.

Thank you Lauré, Jill, Sharone, Alon, Mom, Lori, Shari, Richard, Deani, Jill L., Merely, Ruti, Zev, Simone, Nomi, Seth N., Marie-Jose, Seth A., Benny, Frank, Doron, John, Bill, Tamar L., Raymundo, Julio, Harel C., Tina, Paco, Ron B. and Moshe for all your help and support and remembering to always look for the positive in everything and everyone! I am so grateful to have so many people to thank!

Prev - Next >>

Privacy Statement Site Map