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Washington Women In Need agency wins
Bellevue Chamber of Commerce’s Nonprofit/Impact award
A year ago, Deborah Cushing had never heard of Washington Women In Need (WWIN). Then a recruiter contacted her about the agency’s vacant executive director position. Now Cushing is running the low-profile but high-impact organization. “I love this job,” said Cushing.
Founded in 1992, the Bellevue non-profit helps low-income women improve their lives by supporting their educational and health care needs. During the agency’s current fiscal year, it will award more than $740,000 in grants to over 300 women statewide.
“One of the most fun parts of my week is reading the thank-you notes we get all the time – thanks for the grants, thanks for the compassion, thanks for changing their lives”, said Cushing.
In addition to earning the thanks of its clients, WWIN is the winner of this year’s Bellevue Chamber of Commerce eastside Business Awards Nonprofit/Impact award.
WWIN offers assistance that otherwise might not be available – at least not in the form that WWIN offers it. Mental health counseling is a good example. Insurers typically offer only limited coverage, said Cushing, but WWIN will pay for 24 sessions with a licensed therapist of the client’s choice up to a maximum cost of $1,680.
Dental care is another critical need, especially since the state cut its dental care budget in 2003. “There’s really nothing like our dental program and it’s highly, highly oversubscribed,” said Cushing. Available on a first-come, first served basis until funding runs out, the program pays for up to $3,000 worth of dental care over a six-month period. The money can also be used to obtain vision and hearing care as the client chooses.
In addition, WWIN helps women pay for health insurance – up to $5,000 per client – and will cover up to $10,000 in educational expenses. The thread that ties it all together is a lift a grant from WWIN can give a woman – single or married, young or old, chronically poor or suddenly adrift – at a low point in her life.
WWIN founder Julia Pritt was once a woman in need of a lift. In short succession, her mother died, her husband left her and she was diagnosed with breast cancer. While she had the financial resources to weather the storm – she and her ex-husband had founded a successful software company – she wondered how less fortunate women managed to cope.
That’s why Pritt founded WWIN. And that’s why she has paid every dime of the organization’s operating expenses since day one. That way, donors know that every cent they contribute will go to help a woman in need.
WWIN recently held its major fund raising activity of the year – a pair of luncheons in Seattle and Bellevue that were attended by a combined 1,500 people who donated $730,000.
At the annual luncheons, guests see videos and hear speeches featuring grateful recipients of WWIN’s support. “It’s really humbling and it inspires (the guests) to be even more grateful about their own lives,” said Cushing. “They say, ‘I could see my self in that position. It could happen to me or a friend of mine. And I’m so happy WWIN is there.”
By Brad Broberg, Contributing Writer
Eastside Business Journal
Sponsored Supplement to Puget Sound Business Journal
May 18-24, 2007
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2285 116th Avenue NE, Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98004
Phone: 425-451-8838. Toll Free: 888-440-WWIN
Email: wwininfo@wawomeninneed.org
webmaster@wawomeninneed.org
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