DECEMBER 18, 2008 issue
Appalachian Women’s Fund Celebrates One Year
Story by Kathleen McFadden
Members of the Appalachian Women’s Fund gathered for a luncheon at Meadowbrook Inn on Friday, December 12, to celebrate the organization’s first anniversary and the recipients of its first grant awards. In addition, members continued a tradition begun at last year’s kickoff luncheon. They brought wrapped gifts—little luxuries—that will be distributed to women throughout the High Country who have no way of purchasing such items for themselves.
Formed in December 2007, the Appalachian Women’s Fund raised $65,000 this year that was distributed to nine agencies in Ashe, Avery, Alleghany and Watauga counties to address problems of domestic violence, hunger and poverty, homelessness, education, substance abuse and health. Among the agencies receiving funding are OASIS, A.S.H.E. (A Safe Home for Everyone in Ashe County), DANA in Alleghany County (an organization that provides transitional housing for victims of domestic abuse and their children), W.A.M.Y. Community Action, the Hunger and Health Coalition, Family Solutions, Hospitality House, the ACCESS program at ASU, and the Community Care Clinic.
Funding will help build the women and children’s facilities at the new Hospitality House shelter; assist single mothers with transportation, food and heating costs; educate single mothers on how to reduce their dependence on the food pantry at the Hunger and Health Coalition; support a confidential support group, a hotline and transitional housing for victims of domestic abuse; assist single mothers who are recovering from substance abuse with getting a new start after a period of long-term transitional housing; provide mammograms, dental restoration, eye exams and gynecological exams for low-income women; and help four women—the first in their families to attend college—to attend ASU.
At the grantee awards luncheon last week, AWF President Nancy Ashline discussed the year’s accomplishments, invited members to become even more involved and announced the New Beginnings project, a recent initiative in which members collect basic supplies—personal items and cleaning products—for women transitioning out of Hospitality House and the OASIS shelter and pack them into buckets. “Drop in a donation,” Ashline said, “and we’ll make more buckets with your money.”
Ashline announced that an anonymous donor, impressed by the work of the Appalachian Women’s Fund, recently donated $1,500 to help children on Beech Mountain. Because the Appalachian Women’s Fund works through social services agencies, Marnie Werth of W.A.M.Y. Community Action will “use the donation to make a difference for the children on Beech,” Ashline said.
W.A.M.Y. also received one of the Appalachian Women’s Fund’s initial grants, and Werth told a success story about one of the women assisted through the agency’s Total Family Development program. After her husband left her with two young children, ruined credit and a mortgage in arrears, the woman was referred to W.A.M.Y. by a community college counselor who was looking for a way to keep her in school. With financial assistance from W.A.M.Y. she managed to get current on her bills, and the emotional support she received helped her through difficult times. She graduated with an associate’s degree in nursing and now works at a local health department. “She’s earning a living wage and feeling that her future is secure,” Werth said.
“The grant from the Appalachian Women’s Fund will make it easier to reach these women,” Werth said, “by providing gas vouchers, heating fuel, food and household supplies. I understand that virtually no one is unaffected by the economy, and it is so very generous of the members of the Appalachian Women’s Fund to open their purse strings. I want to thank you for caring and for being concerned. Thank you for the time and energy you are devoting to the Appalachian Women’s Fund.”
For more information about the Appalachian Women’s Fund and to find out how to join, click to www.appalachianwomensfund.org or call 828-264-4002.
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