YWCA campaign aims to boost agency awareness
The YWCA of Lake County has kicked off an awareness campaign called Show Us Your W, inviting women to share their stories of struggle and empowerment while raising awareness about the services the organization has offered to Lake County for over 80 years.
"We are one of the best-kept secrets in Lake County," said Debbie Larker, the YWCA's director of development and marketing.
Last year, the YWCA conducted a survey asking 4,000 Lake County women how much knew about the YWCA.
"Seventy-five percent of women that did respond were familiar with the YWCA, but only one in 10 realized there was one in Lake County," Larker said.
Larker said even fewer women knew about the programs the YWCA offers.
The nonprofit organization receives financial support from government funding and corporate donations to help serve more than 20,000 women and families each year. Much support also comes from individual donations.
"It's hard to build an individual donor base when the knowledge about the YWCA is minimal," she said.
Through the Web site the YWCA created for the campaign, showusyourw.org, visitors can share their stories and submit a photo of themselves using their arms to form a "W."
Angenetta Frison, a YWCA participant for five years, is one of them. For Frison, of Highland Park, child care was the biggest obstacle to pursuing higher education and a good job. As mother of two, Frison could not afford quality child care because she did not qualify for public aid and earned a part-time salary. She also struggled financially to make rent and car payments.
"I had these goals, things I wanted to do in my life, but I was at a point when I could not move forward," she said.
She was referred to the YWCA by a case worker at Catholic Charities and completed the paperwork to qualify for the YWCA's child-care subsidiary program. She was given a list of certified child-care providers to consider. Her child-care payments went from $175 a week to $45 a week. She also learned she could receive child-care assistance while attending school.
Frison called this a pivotal moment in her life because she could afford quality child care, pay rent and start saving. She also took classes through the YWCA to learn budgeting and nutrition tips.
She is the only one of five siblings to graduate from high school and the only to earn a college degree - a bachelor's degree with honors from DePaul University in 2005 and master's degree from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in 2008. She has worked with W.W. Grainger for nine years as a program coordinator.
"Without that child-care help, I would not be where I am today," she said.
Larker said stories like Frison's will be compiled in a book called "The W Reveal." The campaign also will culminate with a celebrity fashion show sometime next year at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort.