AAWGT Creates "Sharing Our Vision" Grantee Photography Project with VisionWorkshops

AAWGT, in partnership with local nonprofit VisionWorkshops, and the support of the ESOL Department at Annapolis High School, has produced a photo essay project, Sharing Our Vision: Stories of Giving through the Eyes of Youth. AAWGT worked with VisionWorkshops to engage Annapolis High students to take photographs of program participants at several AAWGT grantee organizations.
 
ESOL students worked as both photographers and writers, alongside students from the school’s International Baccalaureate program. The result is an authentic view of the human face of these organizations, as seen through the camera’s lens and the perspectives of young people in our community. 
 
The behind-the-scenes photos that accompany this article, all taken by AAWGT’s Brenda Anderson, capture moments with the wonderful students who participated in this project. The student photos and essays that comprise Sharing Our Vision can be found in our photo gallery: Sharing our Vision Project: Student Essays and Photos

Pictured above: “Behind the Scene” photos of student photographers Sawdatou Drame with a Sarah’s House student;
Zahida Ferdaus with a student from FAVE; and Dimitry Maximov being helped by Piper Watson, a VisionWorkshops
instructor. Photos taken by AAWGT member Brenda Anderson.

GivingCircleConnector Workshop & Luncheon

March 14th was a beautiful day for an AAWGT “first”: we served as co-hosts for the annual GivingCircleConnector Workshop with the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers (ABAG).  85+ women from 18 giving circles in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania gathered to make connections, share our successes, best practices and greatest challenges.

Speakers included Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz, ABAG Communications Director, Laurie Sharp, President of AAWGT, ABAG President Betsy Nelson, Christie Coe, Co-Chair of the Baltimore Women’s Giving Circle, and Megan Bruno, Vice Chair of the Howard County Women’s Giving Circle.

The 3-hour session focused on how best to define and measure success, as well as efforts to foster a more cohesive regional giving circle network, new relationships among networks, and the sharing of new ideas.

“We need more ways of addressing the great needs in communities,” ABAG President Betsy Nelson commented. “Women really have power related to the pocketbook.  We are generous and have a strong belief in effective philanthropy.  Internal assessment is hard to do, but necessary because money is tighter and the needs are greater.” Read More>

Caregiving: The Silent Majority

Sixty-two million people in the United States are providing unpaid caregiving to family members and friends, offering support valued at $450 billion.  This “silent sorority” (although one-third of them are men now) were the focus of AAWGT’s latest education session, Caregiving and Caregivers, held Wednesday, Feb. 8 at the Moyer Community Recreation Center in Annapolis.  

A panel of three distinguished speakers fielded questions posed by moderator Maureen Cavaiola on who these caregivers are, how caregiving has changed in modern times, and the physical, emotional, and financial costs of caregiving.  The panelists were Lynn Friss Feinberg, senior strategic policy advisor at the AARP Public Policy Institute; Mary Chaput, program director for the Respite Care Referral & Family Caregiver Support Programs at the Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disabilities in Maryland; and Carol Marsiglia, an RN and director of the ACCESS Group for Consultative Services at The Coordinating Center, who coordinates care for individuals with disabilities and for older adults. Read more>

Photo: Panelists Lynn Friss Feinberg, Carol Marsiglia, and Mary Chaput with AAWGT President Laurie Sharp

AAWGT Receives Coretta Scott King Award

AAWGT was honored to receive the Coretta Scott King Award at the 24th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner.  The Coretta Scott King Award is presented annually to a community organization whose work uplifts the values of the late Coretta Scott King.  Our giving circle was nominated for this honor by Molly Knipe, Executive Director of the YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County and the award was accepted by AAWGT Founder, Sharon Stewart.   Dr. and Mrs. King’s youngest daughter, Dr. Bernice A. King, was the keynote speaker. Members of our giving circle (and their spouses) who joined Molly and Sharon to celebrate at this event included:  Sharon's husband, Bob Stewart, Laurie Sharp, Bronwyn Belling, Jenny Kottler, Judy Coughlin, Randi Hogan, Keren Dement, Lynne and Brad Davidson, Martha Blaxall, and Bud Billups (husband of Bea Billups).
See Award Citations [pdf].
Pictured: Sharon Stewart and Molly Knipe
Photo: Bruce Smallwood, Dana Woods Marketing & Communications

Arundel's House of Hope Medical Clinic Opens!

Congratulations were plentiful for Arundel House of Hope (AHOH) at a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house on January 26 at their new Medical Clinic in Glen Burnie.  AWGT's 2010 grant of $10,000 helped launch this effort that offers free medical services to low income and uninsured families in North Anne Arundel County.  Specifically, our grant covered prescription medications, lab tests, wellness services and startup costs. Executive Director Mario Berninzoni shared that the opening "would not have been possible without AAWGT's help." The clinic is conveniently located next to the main AHOH offices where homeless individuals gather to be sheltered at rotating churches that partner in their long-standing Winter Relief Program.  We wish Arundel House of Hope continued success in providing these essential and priceless services to those who need them most.

“He who has health has hope and he who has hope has everything” – Arabic Proverb

Pictured: AAWGT President Laurie Sharp and AHOH Executive Director Mario Berninzoni