Thanksgiving, a season of mindful gratitude, is nearly here. At YWCA Northeast Indiana, we have a lot to be grateful for. Our board and staff are rock stars! Our volunteers and community partners are the best! And, YOU, our passionate and generous supporters, do more than keep the lights on and our services moving forward. YOU help us to cultivate growth and restore hope!
Because of you, we exceeded our $120,000 goal for our Circle event. Quite frankly, in the months leading up to our event, we were worried. Circle is our signature fundraising event, and we knew we could not afford to lose that revenue for our domestic violence programs. So, when COVID-19 hit and forced us to convert our 24th annual Circle event into a virtual one, we were concerned.
But we realized that we were not the only ones experiencing hard times. Many people throughout our community lost their jobs or were furloughed. Other nonprofit organizations were also trying to survive and had to convert their events to a virtual platform as well. Online auctions were plentiful. We worried that many of our dedicated supporters may not be able to stomach yet another virtual event. We knew it was imperative for our virtual event to be different.
As many businesses struggled with decreased revenues, we also worried some of our corporate sponsors might not be able to help this year. And we worried we wouldn’t be able to adequately share the informative message on hope provided by our keynote speaker, Casey Gwinn, with you in the COVID-19 chaos.
Turns out, we worried for nothing! COVID-19 definitely has taken its toll on our revenues, but our Circle event did not falter. As it turns out, our Circle event did stand out and was even nominated for the prestigious Telly award!! We will find out in the spring if we win – stay tuned for that! We are grateful, and offer a heartfelt thank you for standing by us, even when times are tough. It’s only because of you that we can continue to provide our life-changing services.
We thank you!
In this edition, we also want to share our Giving Tuesday event, highlight a remarkable volunteer, Kathy Lytal, and feature Faith Van Gilder in our Empowering Leaders video series. Lastly, we would like to ask you to nominate an empowered woman for our Power of Persimmon initiative. Power of Persimmon is a great way to honor someone you see doing great work in the community and empowering other women.
Also, please congratulate a couple of winning ladies! Councilwoman Michelle Chambers received her Peggy Hobbs award, and Kim Carpenter won our Purple Purse raffle.
Pictured left to right: Councilwoman Michelle Chambers and Kim Carpenter
Beyond excited, Kim shared, “Many families throughout our community are facing hardships, individuals struggling to find a safe place for themselves and their families. Having an organization like the YWCA to help navigate uncertainty can make all the difference. I am proud to support their dedication to positive change, and you can be confident your donation will provide individuals with the right to be safe.”
We gives thanks to the Allstate Foundation for their donation of the purple backpack, which enabled us to apply all of the raffle proceeds towards our domestic violence programs.
Nominate Someone for Power of Persimmon
YWCA Northeast Indiana’s Power of Persimmon initiative honors empowered women who diligently seek to help empower other women through mentorship, networking, and education.
Yes, a persimmon is a fruit, but we named this initiative the Power of Persimmon because persimmon is also the pantone color of our logo. Power of Persimmon recognizes the powerful women involved with YWCA Northeast Indiana. Empowering women is our mission!
Learn more about this initiative and find the nomination form on our website.
Kathy Lytal
Kathy Lytal has been on YWCA Northeast Indiana’s board for many years and has also served on our finance, governance, and executive committees. She is currently our board chair, though we are sad to say that her term ends this year. We want to take this moment to recognize her and thank her for her many years of leadership!
Giving Tuesday
Please consider donating to our fundraiser this #GivingTuesday to support our life-saving programs, and our efforts to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all!
Learn more on our website or donate through our Facebook fundraiser!
Faith Van Gilder
Featured in this month’s Empowering Leaders Video Series is Faith Van Gilder, Chief Officer of Fund Development and Marketing at Girls Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana.
Learn more about Faith here.
Thank you to Faith Van Gilder for being our featured empowering leader! We are also thankful for our corporate partner, Fort Wayne Metals, for sponsoring this initiative.
In-Kind Needs
Looking for ways to support us? Please consider our in-kind needs list. We are always in need of basic items to provide to our clients who are experiencing crisis. In addition to our basic needs, you have the opportunity to provide items for our Chic Boutique, as well as donating school supplies for the children living with us as remote learning continues.