Please bring a potential member and RVSP to our Prospective Member Event by January 19th

Issue: Winter 2024

Our Mission

Create an awareness of the needs of women and children in the CSRA.

Our Vision

Give hope to every woman and child for the future through

Collaboration
Connection and
Community

Upcoming Events

Prospective Member Event

Please bring a potential

member/guest

Membership & Guest Tour

Via Cognitive Health

formerly Judd C Hickey

Thurs. Feb. 15, 2024, 3:00pm

**Tour their new facility 105 Lutheran Dr. Augusta**

Your Vote Counts!

2024 Grant Ballots mailing February 1st and due back by noon February 27th to the Community Foundation.

Reserve the date for our Annual Luncheon

Friday March 22, 2024

Don't forget to go to

www.wipcsra.org/get-involved To pay contributions and complete or update the membership form.

Thank You to all who made Fall Forum 2023 a Success!

From Your Chair - Jackie Cohen

Greetings to all! As we turn the calendar to 2024, I want to wish everyone a productive year and focus with you on some of the events that support our working together on WIP’s mission.

Our program at the Fall Forum featured a Spotlight of all the 2023 WIP Grantees. Members and guests were deeply touched clearly seeing the breadth of good work WIP is supporting. The spotlights culminated with a moving presentation by Tracy Showman, Vice President and one of the

Founders of Project Refresh, a truly creative and unique service. We anticipate being similarly touched by a heartfelt presentation from Josephine Fuller, Founder and CEO of Cooper Ridge at our Annual Luncheon. Those of us able to attend the ribbon cutting for the special addition funded by WIP saw firsthand the power of that support.

It is not too early to make plans for the Annual Spring Luncheon – Friday, March 22nd, 2024. Not only will you meet and assist in the installation of our new WIP Board, but moreover, you will be truly inspired as we reprise our method of Spotlighting our new 2024 Grantees as they receive their awards. Please don’t miss it!

Kindly invite guests to the Annual Spring Luncheon, as well as to the Prospective Member Event on Thursday, January 25th! Let them know how meaningful and rewarding your experience is in interacting with like-minded individuals with whom you contribute time, energy, and resources to support the important work of WIP.

Together we are stronger! Together we can accomplish so much more!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Voting Day is Coming!!!

Women in Philanthropy 2023 Members will soon have the opportunity to play a crucial role in selecting the recipients of the 2024 Grants that will be awarded at the March 22nd Annual Meeting. Ballots will be mailed to WIP 2023 Members on February 1st, 2024, and responses must be received in the Community Foundation office by noon on Tuesday, February 27th, 2024. This gives the Grants Committee sufficient time to properly tabulate the ballots and complete the selection and notification process, so that the awards can be made at the Luncheon in March. The Grants committee works diligently to review and vet all the applications in order to provide the membership with deserving candidates from which to select the new recipients. This is an exciting but challenging task, for which we owe that committee a debt of gratitude and appreciation.

Since inception, WIP has supported efforts to improve literacy rates in our community. In the next articles, note how much WIP's support has meant to Reach Out & Read and RISE Augusta, two of our 2023 Grantees.

From Laurie L. Cook, Executive Director, RISE Augusta 2023 Grantee $20k

We do not always have the chance to provide this insight to donors like Women in Philanthropy, but we think that you need to know that you truly are making our community a better place for all in both big and small ways.

At RISE, we are committed to helping students with literacy, but we also do our best to provide support when things get chaotic or are creating barriers in children’s lives. When Samuel's tutor noticed he was distracted and had sores and bruises on his arms and neck.. We learned that they were dealing with bed bugs and were sleeping on the floor, while also struggling with food. We secured new beds and mattresses, and even stocked their pantry with groceries. The RISE program is a holistic approach to student success. Although we cannot solve every problem, we are proud to say that we not only helped Samuel improve his reading, but also helped his family overcome a very difficult situation so that this young man can focus on school and learning. Thank you Women in Philanthropy!

From Amy Erickson, Director Reach Out and Read GA

2023 Grantee $25K

The WIP grant helped integrate early literacy intervention for high-need children in Richmond County. Within Richmond County, ROR-GA partners with five hospitals, clinics, and medical practices while serving a population that is high-need and located in low-income communities. The organization leaves a lasting impact on women and children, as their goal is to ensure parents feel supported as they incorporate early language development into their daily routine. Parents, especially mothers, play a critical role in the development of their children, and ROR-GA provides access to literacy resources that make this possible. During well visit checkups pediatricians give young children a new book to keep and guidance to parents about the benefits of reading together. Books are a recurring expense and each site receives an in person visit at least once annually. Our Program Managers provide training, technical assistance and support to all of our Richmond county sites. This programmatic support would not be possible without the Women in Philanthropy, one of only a few local funding sources. This year we have also distributed 5,000 beautiful new children’s books with Women in Philanthropy funding. Thank you all for believing in our mission and serving the children in your community – the most valuable investment we can make!

Fall Forum 2023

During our Fall Forum, we welcomed 61 members and guests. The choice of the Hub location proved to be fantastic. Tracy Chapman, our guest speaker (pictured below), offered valuable insights into the individuals in our community whom Project Refresh supports by offering showers and essential hygiene supplies, delivering hope one shower at a time.

Your contribution of $20k allowed Project Refresh to distribute feminine products, underwear, laundry detergent, and free washing tokens for local laundry stores to Women and Girls in our community.

Board Chair Jackie Cohen updated WIP members on the impact WIP is having in our community.

Shell Berry explained the founding and design of The Hub. And the support The Hub facilities and staff provide to our community.

WIP’s visits to grantees – Arranged by Our Education Committee

When we visited Augusta Locally Grown, we learned about all its good work, especially its healthy food prescription program that WIP’s grant supported in 2023. We also were treated to a tour of the entire HUB for Community Innovation, a beautiful and creative structure that houses a range of impressive services for adult and childhood learning, wellness and health care, and nutrition education. Please plan to join us on February 15th, 2024 for our upcoming visit to a new facility for VIA Cognitive Health (previously Jud C. Hickey’s Center for Alzheimer’s Care) at 105 Lutheran Drive. Although it is not yet ready for patients, we will tour VIA’s amazing new quarters. Jennifer Pennington, the Director, greatly appreciates WIP’s 2023 $25,000 grant that supports a Brain Health Art Program for the patients. She is very excited about showing us the variety of art supplies, they have ready for their clients when they move to the new location. The projects are significantly therapeutic and enjoyable for the participants, adding meaning and satisfaction to their experience. We have much to be proud of as we see the many ways WIP’s funding is helping the women and children in our community.

The New website is live and ready to showcase the work of WIP!!

The underlying architecture/ platform has been updated to the latest WordPress release. WordPress is a web content management system and has been greatly enhanced since our original website development. The older website platform required someone with programming expertise to update/ maintain it. Other benefits include:

WIP is the owner of our site and all it's tools and administration.
Not only is the website easier to manage, we can take advantage of the latest WordPress tools. For example, we now have an on-line interactive membership application/ renewal form. Check it out by scanning the QR code on page one, column one.

Please visit the website (select the "get involved" tab) to apply for a membership, renew your membership, and update your service interests, all online. You can also set up your site membership personal login. Your personal login will allow you to access WIP members only information not available to the public.

From Hallett Badger, communications committee member

Women in Philanthropy is increasing our social media presence, starting with Facebook. In addition to our website and email notifications, the Facebook page will stay updated regularly with event reminders, updates, and pictures. The page will highlight grant recipients so that we can promote their causes, have access to their events and identify opportunities for further support. We share updates from the agencies that we have supported and spotlight opportunities to help in the community. Plus, Facebook is a great way to stay connected to other WIP members and to promote our group to prospective members and grantees.

If you are a Facebook member, please “like” and “follow” our Facebook page to stay updated. If you do not have Facebook, you can view the site without logging on. Please click the link to view and follow. https://www.facebook.com/WIPCSRA

Looking forward to seeing you at the Prospective Member Event and the Annual Spring Luncheon!