Another Happy Summer of High Hopes:
Several of the members of the 2003 YWCA RFAP High Hopes Steering
Committee take a break from event-planning to smile for the camera.
Standing, left to right: Melissa Hunt, Beth Bloch, Diane Doty,
Committee Chair Audrey Bernstein and Yvonne Moore. Seated, left
to right: Jan Mani, Thebe Jordan, Lois Crichton, Becky Jordon
and Karen Farmer. |
With everything from a classic-car road rally to a walk in the forest
on a cool summer morning, the annual summer schedule of “High
Hopes” parties to raise funds for the YWCA Resolve Family Abuse
Program (RFAP) gets off to a great start on Thursday, June 5 with
a “Bunco Babes” party.
“The “High Hopes” committee has worked very hard
to plan, sponsor and produce an exciting round of summer events to
benefit the YWCA’s RFAP program,” said RFAP Director Marsha
Ibos. “I can’t thank them enough for their enthusiasm,
generosity and incredible attention to every detail,” she said.
Ibos directs all of the RFAP operations and services that address
the needs of victims of domestic violence and abuse in Kanawha, Clay
and Boone counties: counseling, emergency shelter (“Hope House”
is a safe-haven shelter in an undisclosed location), advocacy and
community education.
“Statistics indicate that every 15 seconds in America, a woman
is battered, raped or terrorized by her husband, boyfriend or former
partner,” said Ibos. “Four million women are physically
abused by their husbands or boyfriends every year, and in West Virginia,
a domestic homicide occurs every 14 days with one of every three murders
in the state related to domestic violence,” she said. “Clearly,
the need for YWCA RFAP services is great, as is the need for funding
these services.”
And that’s just what the High Hopes committee aims to do each
year with its schedule of events: generate much-needed revenue to
the shelter for which it is named.
Led by committee chair Audrey Bernstein, the group has planned a wide
variety of parties, dinners, workshops, fashion shows, outings and
even a day at Charleston’s favorite in-town spa, VISIONS. The
price of admission to each event is a tax-deductible contribution
to a non-profit organization. To obtain a complete schedule of Summer
2003 High Hopes parties and a description of each, stop by the YWCA
of Charleston at 1114 Quarrier Street or call the YWCA RFAP Administrative
Office at (304) 340- 3573. To learn more about the YWCA RFAP roster
of services, visit the web site at www.rfap.org.
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