“How wonderful it is that we need not wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
-Anne Frank
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Over 40 ladies dressed in festive attire enjoyed the evening in the beauty of Margaret McManus’s home on the harbor. Jim was our sommelier, making sure beverages were available, and Leah served a delicious assortment of hors d’oeuvres. All making for a lovely evening with friends! |
Our hostess for the evening, WIP member Margaret McManus, posing in front of her beautifully decorated Christmas tree. |
Leah McKinley, was the caterer for the event. She served up delicious hors d'oeuvres. |
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Hostess, Margaret McManus; WIP Chair, Elizabeth Loda; and WIP Events Chair, Rosalie VanDam, take a moment to pose in Margaret's beautiful home. |
WIP members Jean Henderson and Belinda Eichel |
Susan Hooker, our WIP Historian, and Martha Anne McDonald, our Membership Records Chair, enjoying the evening |
Jim Irwin was our sommelier for the evening! |
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November 2021 Grants Committee Site Visits: A Report from Our Grants Chair, Mary Stuart Alderman |
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Joseph Shanklin Elementary School - “Emerging Scholars” After-School Program
Mary Stuart Alderman, Sue Harter and Clare Seliger traveled to Joseph Shanklin Elementary School on Tuesday, November 26, 2021, to observe the “Emerging Scholars” after-school program. This is one of two schools selected by the Foundation for Educational Excellence to benefit from our 2021 grant of $25,000 to provide a program to improve the reading skills of students who are 2-3 grade levels behind in reading skills.
Carole Ingram from the Foundation for Educational Excellence joined us. Principal Liz Rivera gave us an overview of the program, which is held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 3:30-4:35. Thirty students were invited to join the “Emerging Scholars” program, and their parents were contacted personally to be told why their child was selected and how the program will help their child move forward.
Students are 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. The group is 40% African American, 30% Hispanic and 20% Caucasian. Each student was given a pre-test. The school counselor coordinates the program, and the 30 students are in five groups of six students each, taught by five classroom teachers, using a literacy program purchased from ReadWorks.org.
The three of us who visited were very impressed with the program and with the interaction between the teachers and the students we observed.
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Antioch Educational Center (AEC) - Antioch Express Bus Service
Mary Stuart Alderman and Vicki Olson traveled to the Antioch Educational Center (AEC) on Friday, November 19, 2021, to meet with executive director, Jackie O’Bannon and receive an update about the Antioch Express bus service.
We found out it had taken a while to get the number of riders up to their goal of 13, but they have now exceeded that number and there are now two buses running five days a week from AEC to Bluffton and Hilton Head – one at 6 AM; the other at 7 AM. The additional funds provided by the WIP grant have allowed free bus tickets to be provided through February. Jackie also gave an overview of the many other programs managed by AEC, including training programs for CNA, EKG and phlebotomy certifications. In addition, the facility houses offices for Hopeful Horizons, Lowcountry Legal Volunteers and SC Legal Services.
Jackie drove us to see the low-income housing projects near AEC in Ridgeland, demonstrating that the Antioch Express service is within walking distance or most of them. She also took us to see one of the four food pantries managed by AEC. Her impressive leadership and vision for helping AEC expand its services prompted her to purchase the entire block and will culminate in the expansion of the facility to include seven classrooms.
I’m very pleased to report that we were very impressed with the use of our funds and happy to share that with our membership!
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Photo 1, L-R: WIP Grants Committee Members Clare Seliger, Mary Stuart Alderman and Sue Harter with Foundation for Educational Excellence Board Member Carole Ingram and Joseph Shanklin Elementary School Principal Liz Rivera
Photo 2: Teacher interacting with students at Joseph Shanklin Elementary
Photo 3, L-R: Vicki Olson, Jackie O’Bannon and Mary Stuart Alderman at Antioch Educational Center in Ridgeland.
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A Warm Thank You for Warm Socks |
Many of you participated in our second annual sock drive. This year, we received so many socks that we were able to donate them to three different local organizations. This was the second year in a row we were able to donate to the Deep Well Project on Hilton Head Island. From your donations, they received 150 pairs of men's socks, 150 pairs of women's socks and 50 pairs of children's. In response to this, Sandy Gillis, CEO of Deep Well, sent us a warm thank-you. You can read her letter here. Thank you again for your generosity to this nonprofit - and to those in need in our community.
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Whale Branch Middle School Archeology Club |
Whale Branch Middle School’s Archeology Club received, by way of the Foundation for Educational Excellence, a grant from Women in Philanthropy in 2020. The purpose of the grant was to expand and support their artifact search and history awareness of the schools historical location. Whale Branch School is located on the old Roupelmond Plantation site, near a Revolutionary War battleground, and is close to recently discovered Freedman's village.
COVID put a halt to school activities for months. However, Deborah Colella, Foundation of Excellence past chair, is happy to report that the Museum of Artifacts and Donations is open at Whale Branch. As part of the project, drone photos of the property were taken. Dr. Battle, the archeologist who originally worked with the students at their digs, is planning on being at WBS in December (from New Mexico). He will be able to pinpoint, by using the drone imagery, exactly where students might be able to excavate right on the property of the school.
What a wonderful opportunity to uncover the history of this area and make personal connections for the students, where for many, their families are rooted in the history.
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Please enjoy this giving poem:
One river gives
Its journey to the next.
We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.
We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.
We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—
Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.
Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:
Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.
You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me
What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made
Something greater from the difference.
Alberto Rios
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As our contributions flow in during the months of December and January, let us remember and be proud of the changes we’ve helped create throughout Beaufort County. |
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Please remember Women in Philanthropy when you update your wills and estate planning documents. |
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Women in Philanthropy is a Fund of
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