LWRWC Donates $82,000 to Charity
LWRWC, presented a $62,600 giant check to the Women’s Club’s adopted charities at their annual meeting held at LWR Townhall on Thursday, January 11, 2024. LWRWC also donated in-kind donations valued at over $20,000.
Pictured L-R: Ann Sledz, LWRWC 2023 President; Peggy Kerwin, Executive Director, Solve Maternity Homes; Svetlana Ivashchenko, Executive Director, Children’s Guardian Fund; Kayla Terrel, Director of Development, HOPE Family Services; and Mark Williams, SMART Board President.
L-R: Linda Stone, LWRWC 2024 President, Eileen Buzzard, Philanthropy Co-Chair, and Jane Husser, LWRWC Member. LWREC was the recipient of a “Making a Difference” award for sponsoring the Little Free Library.
The meeting featured presentations by the Executive Directors and their “Courageous Speaker”designees.
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- L-R: Kayla Terrel, Director of development, HOPE Family Services and Jennifer, HOPE’s Courageous Speaker. Jennifer credits HOPE with transforming her life.
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- Svetlana Ivashchenko, CEO of Children’s Guardian Fund (CGF) CGF is dedicated to providing funding for the immediate and ongoing needs of children removed from abusive or neglectful homes in Florida’s 12th Judicial Circuit. Svetlana showed a video featuring the story of a teenage boy with a successful outcome.
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- Back to Front: Peggy Kerwin, CEO of Solve Maternity Homes, Courageous Speaker, Ray, and her one year old baby girl named Hope. Ray credits Solve with changing her life, teaching her to be a good mother and saving her future.
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- L-R in Back row: Leslie Emery, SMART Board Vice President and Mark Williams, SMART Board President, Pictured in Front Row: SMART”s Courageous Speaker and client, Dan who is training dressage to compete in the next Paralympics.
To date, LWRWC has donated well over $500,000 to their adopted charities. In 2023, LWRWC won 3 philanthropic awards including the prestigious “Spirit of Manatee Award.” In Jan 2024, LWRWC was awarded a “Making a Difference Award” for sponsoring the Little Free Library.
Annual Business Meeting
Pictured L-R: Ann Sledz, : LWRWC 2023 President, passing the gavel to Linda Stone, LWRWC 2024 President.
The Annual business meeting was called to order by LWRWC 2003 President Ann Sledz. Ann introduced Linda Stone, 2024 President and passed the gavel. Linda introduced the 2024 LWRWC Board members and received yearly reports from all committees. With member credentials (contact corresponding secretary), details of the committee reports can be read online in the January minutes.