to change lives

to match my values

When I take people on tours of the new shelter, people often say “I could live here.” Or “this is nicer than my apartment.” I have not heard one person say that about our current shelter.

That is why I gave. You see, I believe that the clients we serve deserve the very best. They deserve the best services and the best environment to heal.

I knew when I came to the YWCA and saw our shelter that we could do better. I knew I was at the right place, at the right time, for the right reason when the board took the courageous step to move forward with the purchase.

So I talked to my husband and shared how this project aligned perfectly with our family value of equal opportunity for all people. Together, we decided to make the largest gift we will most likely ever make to a project we believe in. We included our children in the decision so they can learn by example that it is worth giving up a few things in order to stand in our values of giving to others.

I came here with the vision and dream of a better shelter. I backed it by making a stretch gift. And it feels so great to be aligning my values with my vision for a better living space for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

Miriam Barnett, YWCA Executive Director

to show i care

I know that my donation can change lives; I have seen it with my own eyes.

I am not a direct service provider, but my donationI recognizes and supports my fellow staff members who are providing that crucial direct service.

With every dollar we spend we are making a statement about what is important to us, what we care about. This is what I care about, so this is where I want to put my money.

When people find out that I am employed at the YW, they thank me for the work I do….people from all walks of life, who you wouldn’t think have any knowledge or connection with domestic violence.

How can I not support an organization that draws that response from the community?

Donna Levin, YWCA Director of Operations and Human Resources

to leave a legacy

I am a donor at the YWCA Pierce County. I began giving on a monthly basis a few years ago and have steadily increased the amount as I became more and more aware of the tremendous work they are doing to literally save the lives of the women and children they serve. This year I made the largest single pledge I have ever made to any organization for the campaign. I had made a signigicant pledge and was at the same time redoing my will. I made the decision to increase the amount out of selfishness I must admit. I feel it is a way to provide a living legacy that I will be able to see. I will know that in some small but meaningful way a child will have the opportunity to have hope, a future and witness caring they have not had the peace to receive. Thank you YW of Pierce County and the amazing staff there for giving so much of yourselves and allowing us to share in the changes you make everyday.

Helen McGovern, Emergency Food Network Executive Director

Shortly after my wife and I purchased our first home, our nieces gave us a welcoming gift of a tiny blue spruce tree in a coffee can. Their note said to plant this tree, and watch it grow. So we dug the hole, added the fertilizer and water, and cared for that little tree.

Thirty years and two houses later, my wife and I will occasionally drive by our first home. We take pride in seeing that magnificent tree now. It provides the neighborhood with beauty, shade, and a home for birds and squirrels.

My hope is that my small contribution to our building fund can be a little blue spruce in a coffee can.

Mark Jones, YWCA Maintenance

to provide healing

I give because I am a survivor and because I know from both a personal and professional level that what we do here is unique, amazing, and effective. When I recall the moment in time I knew that I needed to get out of an abusive marriage, it was because when I looked in the mirror, I did not know the person who was looking back at me; I didn't know who she was at all.

I didn't know that I would face several years of stalking, a long legal battle, betrayal of my friends and family, police reports, a death threat and at least a year in therapy. All I knew was that somehow I had completely lost myself, and that I missed me and wanted me back. 

I now know that you can't have healing without safety, and you can't have empowerment without healing. That is why there are no words for me to express how deeply I believe in our mission--it isn't just some words on a page, it is the totality and driving force of everything we do here, every minute of every day. It is more than a "charity," more than a "good cause." The YWCA Pierce County deeply and irreversibly changes peoples lives for the better.

That is why I stay; that is why I give.

Anonymous YWCA Staff Member

to do something big!

I feel good knowing I'm a part of something really big--working at the YWCA, being a part of a big project, giving a contribution to the big picture feels great. Everytime I see the new shelter, I can say I was part of something "big."

Anonymous YWCA Staff Member

to be a change agent

I am astonished at how often, when someone discovers where I work, that I hear a testimonial about how the YWCA’s services have changed lives.

At a neighborhood picnic two summers ago, I could tell my parents’ neighbor Jana was listening carefully to something I said about work. She disclosed she had lived in the shelter for 78 days in 1999, and attributes that stay with saving and changing her life.

Shopping for luncheon centerpieces at the Dollar Store two years ago, the woman behind me in line said, “Wow, that’s a lot of flower seed boxes!” I started explaining what I was buying them for, and she cut me off and told me she had stayed in the shelter with her mother in the late eighties, that they had no where else to go, and that her mom (and she) was always grateful to have had a safe place to go.

Every time I speak somewhere on behalf of the YWCA, at least one person shares their story about how we have changed their lives, or how domestic violence has impacted someone they know.

I often wonder how many people standing in line with me at Starbucks or Costco or in the drop off queue of cars at my daughter’s school have similar stories to tell.

The YWCA’s shelter services over the last three decades have been an agent of change—of healing, and of safety. The impact has rippled profoundly throughout the community, and I want to contribute to our important role as change agent.

Kelly McDonald, YWCA Marketing & Events Manager

to pay it forward

I pledged $250 to the Wilsonion in honor of my dear friend “The Reverend Annie” (actually really Annie Henkel….all her friends call her The Reverend Annie because she is such a wild, holy woman).

Annie and I have been friends for about 12 years. She has been a source of strength and inspiration and crazy joy over the years.

We’ve both gone through some parallel and amazingly tough times in the past, and we both were instrumental in making those tough times turn into steps to growth and wisdom.

We danced, chanted, laughed, and cried our way through and came out stronger and better for it…because of our friendship.

This pledge to the Wilsonion is a ‘pay it forward’ in honor of Annie.

Karen Hannegan, YWCA Development Director