Click here for COVID19 Announcement Blog Events Join Us Grants & Programs Latest Posts2021 Dare to Dream GranteesApril 15, 2021Sophie Eackles Sophie Eackles is currently a junior at George Mason University studying communication with a concentration in media production and criticism. She graduated with high honors from LFCC and was in the top of her class at Skyline High School. She achieved all these milestones while battling a chronic illness, ulcerated colitis, for 11 years. After having surgery in March of 2020, Sophie required an ostomy bag. She began sharing her recovery experience while still in the hospital on her Instagram account, The Stoma Life, with the goal of helping others through the process and showing an example of how they can live happily and fully with an ostomy bag. View Video Here The FRWRC is happy to support Sophie’s continuing studies at GMU with The Elaine Bromfield Memorial Scholarship of $1,500, presented annually to an outstanding Warren County woman pursuing higher education. Hannah Derflinger Hannah Derflinger is currently a sophomore studying psychology at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg. As a first-generation college student, she values her education and understands how it will help her achieve her goals. Hannah is passionate about helping women who have been victims of violence and children in the foster system. She is looking forward to being able to give back to her community. View Video Here The FRWRC is pleased to award $1,000 to Hannah to assist with tuition costs and her dream. Diane Garber Diane Garber has had the dream to be a hairdresser since she was a little girl. As a single mom, Diane put her dream on hold until her youngest child started school. She is now attending beauty school and is looking forward to starting her career as a cosmetologist. She is putting in long hours to finish a 14-month program in under 12 months. Her future goals include becoming an instructor and teaching a class of her own and creating lots of beauty in Front Royal. View Video Here The FRWRC is pleased to award $1,000 to Diane to assist with the cost of the cosmetology training. Brittnay Johnson Brittnay Johnson has a special love for her community and knows it well. She has worked for years at a local daycare center and currently works as a special education assistant in an elementary school. She also works part time for the Warren County Parks and Recreation Department as COVID-19 allows. Brittnay wants to continue her own learning and to start a podcast. The podcast will help her share her stories and those of others in the community. She wants to provide information and helpful tips about community services as well as provide a forum to discuss current issues. View Video Here The FRWRC is pleased to award $1,000 to Brittany to help with education and startup costs for the podcast. Viviane Knight Viviane Knight is always learning and reflecting on her life vision. She describes “re-inventing” her career over the years from being a scientific researcher at a major pharmaceutical company to a quality assurance supervisor for a local plastics manufacturer. She was an owner/instructor of a Jazzercise Franchise and is currently a senior personal trainer at Fitness Evolution. She has also provided free fitness classes for women in a program she started in 2018. Wanting to challenge herself again, Viviane enrolled in the Kresser Institute ADAPT Functional Health Coach Training program. Her plan is to own her own business and serve others with a special passion for coaching women in the ‘silver season” of their lives. View Video Here The FRWRC is pleased to award $1,000 to Viviane to help with tuition costs for her dream. Becky Lanham Becky Lanham is a Front Royal native who, after volunteering with Ameri-Corp in California and establishing a career in Chicago, came back home with her husband and son. She started her own massage therapy business in 2012. Through her continuing education courses, she found a new passion for holistic women’s health care and abdominal therapy. She currently offers abdominal therapy, womb centered health coaching and birth doula services. Becki is furthering her education to become a certified Reproductive and Sexual Health Educator and a Fertility Awareness Educator. She wants to be able to better serve women and offer local group workshops and classes. Becki is also writing a book about the menstrual cycle for teen girls and young adults. View Video Here The FRWRC is pleased to award $1,000 to Becky to help with tuition costs. Jillian Nemr Jillian Nemr is following her lifelong passion for science and a desire to help people as a doctor or nurse. She is on her way to achieving her dream as a nursing student at Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC) while also working as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Warren Memorial Hospital. As a Registered Nurse, Jillian wants to work in the emergency room or the ICU. She plans to never stop learning and improving her skills. In the future, she hopes to work with the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders and be able to give care and comfort to those greatly affected by a lack of health care. The FRWRC is pleased to award the $1,000 Linda Taylor Memorial Grant to Jillian to assist with tuition costs. View Video Here The Linda Taylor Memorial Grant is named for one of the FRWRC’s outstanding members and supporters who was a nurse in our community. Jasmirah Roland Jasmirah Roland‘s motto is “Tomorrow is a new day!” She is a single mom of two remarkable teen-age daughters who have inspired and motivated her to begin college again. Jasmirah is currently enrolled at LFCC in the Business Management Program while also pursuing her dream to become a successful writer. She is currently writing an autobiographical book in which she hopes to inspire women and help them understand their power to do anything they want. The FRWRC is pleased to award $1,000 to Jasmirah for the purchase of a computer and supplies to assist with her college work and her writing. Toni Sauder Toni Sauder and her husband own and operate the Bad Ass Pickle business. They currently sell their many flavored pickles at local farmers’ markets and events. Toni would like to see their business be able to expand into small stores. With growth, Toni knows she will need to keep better records and she plans to take a class on small business ownership and an accounting class. She would like to get an iPad to use for their POS system. View Video Here The FRWRC is pleased to award $600.00 to Toni towards the purchase of an iPad and the growth of her business. Jenny Statler Jenny Statler grew up visiting Front Royal on weekends at her family farm. After managing a bar and starting a natural, biodynamic wine program in Manhattan, Jenny relocated to Front Royal, because of the COVID 19 pandemic, and is now following her dream to start a vineyard on her family farm. Using her work experience, extensive travel experience in the wine regions of Spain and Argentina, and her partnership with a business associate with nine years of experience in vineyard management and winery operations across the U.S., Jenny is aligning her creativity with growing a quality product for others to enjoy and to contribute to her community in Front Royal. She is currently writing local and federal grants to help get the vineyard off the ground. View Video Here The FRWRC is pleased to award $1,000 to Jenny towards start-up costs for the vineyard... Read more...WomanGathering – April 15April 6, 2021Free Event - Virtual WomanGatherings are informational and inspirational evenings intended to nurture the womanspirit in each of us. CLICK HERE for link to attend. Thursday, April 15 6:00 PM Virtual/via Zoom Webinar (broadcast live to Facebook) Hostess: Eka Kapiotis Guest Speaker: Chris Anderson, Alliance For The Shenandoah Valley Topic: Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley - Our Work, Goals and Partnerships Topic: Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley - Our Work, Goals and Partnerships The vision of the Alliance is a Shenandoah Valley where our way of life is sustained by rural landscapes, clean streams and rivers, and thriving communities. Alliance for the Shenandoah Valley advocates, educates, and connects people to conserve the natural resources, cultural heritage, and rural character of our region. Join Chris Anderson, the Alliance's Page and Warren County coordinator, to hear about ongoing work. Website: https://shenandoahalliance.org/ Facebook link: (https://www.facebook.com/shenandoahalliance) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/shenandoahalliance/) Twitter (https://twitter.com/for_valley). More about Chris In the last twenty years, Chris served as the Page County environmental coordinator and as executive director of a nonprofit foundation working to protect natural resources and promote sound land use. She has focused on water and soil quality, forest health and strengthening our local ecology and communities. She serves on the Pure Water Forum board, the Shenandoah National Park Association Board and the Blue Ridge Committee for Shenandoah National Park Relations. She has held positions with the Virginia Association of Forest Health Professionals, the Shenandoah Valley Soil and Water Conservation District and the Shenandoah Valley Northern Regional Commission among other organizations. Chris is a photographer and watercolor artist, enjoying painting local historic buildings and native plants, butterflies, trees and other naturalist subjects of the Shenandoah Valley.... Read more...2021 April Book CommentaryApril 1, 2021Donated Book Now Available at Samuels Public Library Front Royal Women's Resource Center and Royal Oak Bookshop co-sponsor donations to Samuels Public Library that are by or about women. Nan Hathaway, Book Donation Sponsor & Coordinator, chooses our books each year. Thank You Nan! We highlight one of these books every third week each month. Our Book Reviews and Commentaries are provided by JoEllen McNeal. Thank you JoEllen! Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, Feisty, and All the Other Words That Are Used to Undermine Women Edited by Lizzie Skurnick, Introduction by Rebecca Traister “Funny, moving, breathtaking – the essays here remade a language that has been used so often to trap women so that it can free them instead. A prismatic look at the state of being a woman today, from some of our best living writers.” – Alexander Chee, author Words matter. They wound, they inflate, they define, they demean. Crazy. Angry. Bossy. Frumpy. Bitch. What subtle and not so subtle digs are conveyed when men describe women with words like these? Words can be covert weapons, bearing an oversized influence on women’s lives, career, and sense of self-worth. No one knows this better than Lizzie Skurnick, writer of the New York Times Magazine column, “That Should be a Word.” In Pretty Bitches, Skurnick has brought together a group of powerhouse women writers to take on the hidden meanings of these words and show how they can limit our worlds – or liberate them. Each writer uses a single word as a vehicle for memoir, cultural commentary, or all three. Spanning the street, the bedroom, the voting booth, and the workplace, these simple words have complicated stories behind them – stories it’s time to examine, reimagine, and change. Take the word, ‘too.” In the first powerful essay, Adaora Udoji, a recipient of many awards and honors as a reporter for ABC, NBC and public radio, writes how this little word, ”too,” has followed her through her life. She was often told that she was too loud, too talkative, asked too many questions, was too much. “Too” often feels as if it was created especially for women. Too emotional. Too curt. Too ambitious. Too nice. Hearing someone say, “She’s nice,” is a compliment. Hearing “She’s too nice,” a criticism. Or, “She’s pretty.” “She’s too pretty” takes on a whole other meaning. By the end of the essay, Udoji, reveals how as her standing in her profession increased, she began to see the “too” as her secret power. The too loud, too talkative, asking too many questions had made her an excellent reporter. In these 27 essays you will be surprised how words so commonly used such as professional, effortless, lucky, mature, disciplined, good, nurturing, small and funny can turn from compliment to insult all too easily. In the essay entitled “Sweet’ we learn about the history of sugar, how sugar took the place of honey and turned our country into the sweetest country in the world, consuming more sugar per capita than anywhere else in the world. To call a woman sweet is to compliment only a small part of who a woman is. She would be better served with words like competent, has integrity, or, more accurately, “person.” Lizzie Skurnick is the creator of the long-running New York Times Magazine word-coinage column That Should Be a Word and the founder of Lizzie Skurnick Books. Her wordsmithing has been featured in Entertainment Weekly, Slate, Atlantic Monthly, On NPR’s Weekend Edition, and more. She teaches at NYU and resides in Jersey City, NJ.... Read more...Women In Networking – April 28April 1, 2021FREE VIRTUAL EVENT “More than just another networking group”. FRWRC WIN is open to all the women in our community. It was founded on the concept of women lifting each other up, through meaningful connections, opportunities to learn from one another and shared interests. We hope you will join us. Women In Networking April 28 | 12 Noon Via Zoom* - Click here for link to attend. Guest: Cadyn Speziale, Immortal Mountain Topic: Incorporating Herbs Into Your Every Day: Infusions + Decoctions with 5 Herbal Allies *Event will also be Live on Facebook Short on time? Easily stressed? Want to enhance your wellness almost effortlessly? This discussion will be a very basic intro to the processes and benefits of hot water infusions, infused honeys, and hot water decoctions. These methods are both simple to learn and put into practice, without any fancy equipment at all! Five nourishing, family-friendly, locally grown herbs and mushrooms to be discussed for beginning (or furthering) your herbal journey will be Lemon Balm, Tulsi, Nettles, Shiitake, & Lion's Mane. Learn unique facts about, how to properly prepare, and where to find each of these amazing allies! www.immortalmountain.com Instagram handle: @immortalmountain YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ImmortalMountain Short Personal Bio: After moving to the Front Royal area in 2009 from Georgia -- where she received her B.F.A. and met her husband Drew -- Cadyn Speziale has woven her background in art & design with a lifelong passion for herbs and wellness into Immortal Mountain, the business she co-founded in 2012. Drawing from both her personal experience and formal education in herbalism, Cadyn revels in sharing with her daughter the joys of identifying, harvesting, and preparing herbs for everyday use. Together as a family they comprise Immortal Mountain, crafting distinctive herbal dark chocolates, botanical extracts, & herbal balms, and growing fresh vegetables, mushrooms, greens, and herbs for the CSA subscribers of their doorstep-delivered farmstead goods. (Their full Chocolate + Botanical lines are available on their website, as well as registration for their unique seasonal CSA.)... Read more...Full List of FRWRC Business Partners –March 29, 2021Changing women’s lives one dream at a time. We are excited that the following local businesses share our vision for and commitment to the women of our beautiful valley. Together we make a difference, empowering women to change their world. We thank you for joining with us to support women in our community through programs, information and education. Gold Partners What Matters – Beth Medved Waller (March 2016-2022) Franzi Lee Photography – Franzi Curry (October 2016-2022) Willowkeep – Weatherly Morgan (June 2017-2022) Jenspiration – Jen Avery (December 2017-2022) SonaBank – Tanya Rosenberry (February 2019-2022) Downtown Catering – Therese Brown (January 2019-2022) The House of Hope – Siggi Hepp-Day (February 2020-2022) Silver Partners Phoenix Project – Tammy Sharpe (November 2016-2021) Basic Partners Mindful Shenandoah – Shell Fischer (January 2016-2021) DreamWeaving Way – Eka Kapiotis (February 2016-2021) SOS Consulting – Susan Schall (February 2017-2022) The Laurel Center – Leslie Hardesty (November 2017 – 2021) Ramsey True Value Hardware – L.B. Bowen (April 2016-2021) Branded Impact (wordpress.com)– Lizi Lewis (March 2021-2022) Disclaimer of Endorsement and Liability. The Front Royal Women’s Resource Center (FRWRC) does not endorse or recommend any commercial product, processes, or services. ... Read more...2021 March Book CommentaryMarch 16, 2021Donated Book Now Available at Samuels Public Library Front Royal Women's Resource Center and Royal Oak Bookshop co-sponsor donations to Samuels Public Library that are by or about women. Nan Hathaway, Book Donation Sponsor & Coordinator, chooses our books each year. Thank You Nan! We highlight one of these books every third week each month. Our Book Reviews and Commentaries are provided by JoEllen McNeal. Thank you JoEllen! Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life By Lulu Miller “Riveting. Surprising. Shocking, even! This book will capture your heart, seize your imagination, smash your preconceptions, and rock your world.” - Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus David Starr Jordan was a taxonomist, a man possessed with bringing order to the natural world. In time, he would be credited with discovering nearly a fifth of the fish known to humans in his day. But the more of the hidden blueprint of life he uncovered, the harder the universe seemed to try to thwart him. His specimen collections were demolished by lightning, by fire, and eventually by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake which sent more than a thousand of his discoveries, housed in fragile glass jars, plummeting to the floor. In an instant, his life’s work was shattered. Many might have given up in despair. But Jordan? He surveyed the wreckage at his feet, found the first fish he recognized, and confidently began to rebuild his collection. And this time, he introduced one clever innovation that he believed would at last protect his work against the chaos of the world. When Lulu Miller, a science reporter for NPR, first heard this anecdote in passing, she took Jordan for a fool – a cautionary tale in hubris, or denial. But as her own world unraveled, she began to wonder about him. Perhaps instead he was a model for how to go on when all seemed lost. What she would unearth about his life would transform her understanding of history, morality, and the world beneath her feet. Why Fish Don’t Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, scientific obsession, chaos, and – possibly – even murder. Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, this book is a wondrous debut from an extraordinary new voice in nonfiction that you won’t want to put down. Why Fish Don’t Exist reads like a fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail. “Plus”, as Jon Mooallem, author of This is Chance! wrote, “by the end – I’m not joking – Lulu Miller may have actually cracked the secret to life.” Lulu Miller is a Peabody Award-winning science reporter who has been working in public radio for over fifteen years. She is the cofounder of NPR’s Invisibilia, a show about the invisible forces that shape human behavior. She is also a frequent contributor to Radiolab. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, VQR, Orion, Electric Literature, Catapult, and beyond. Kate Samworth is an award-winning artist and the author of Aviary Wonders Inc. She created fifteen stunning original illustrations for this book.... Read more...No Breakfast Breakfast – Mar 25 – 9 AMMarch 8, 2021Free Event Suggested Donation - $35 Donations support Future Grants Donate Here Online Auction Donated items from Previous Grantees Click Here to View & Bid Virtual Event via Zoom Webinar & Broadcast Live to Facebook Click Here for Link to Attend The 2021 Dare-to-Dream grants and Elaine Bromfield Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to Warren County women during this event. Please join us in supporting these phenomenal women. We invite the community, members, non-members and friends to attend. Guest Speaker: Mary Cook, microWave Project (2020 Dare to Dream Grant Recipient) The microWave Project strives to create small waves of change in the community through art. We work to connect the public with art and art experiences. We offer mobile art workshops so we can make art happen anywhere! We bring art and the art of making to the public in alternative venues through pop-up art exhibitions and art workshops for children and adults. Owner Mary Cook, has over 20 years of art experience as a curator, artist, and educator. She brings energy, resources, and a passion for making art accessible to as many people as possible. www.microwaveproject.com... Read more...2021 Dare to Dream Online AuctionMarch 2, 2021Click Here to View Auction & Bid From March 10 to March 26 ONLINE SILENT AUCTION Supporting Dare to Dream Grants Items donated by previous Dare to Dream Grant Winners... Read more...Women In Networking – March 24March 2, 2021FREE VIRTUAL EVENT “More than just another networking group”. FRWRC WIN is open to all the women in our community. It was founded on the concept of women lifting each other up, through meaningful connections, opportunities to learn from one another and shared interests. We hope you will join us. Women In Networking March 24 | 12 Noon Via Zoom - Click Here for link to attend. Guest: Michelle Ross, Director of Samuels Public Library www.samuelslibrary.net https://www.facebook.com/samuelspubliclibrary Michelle Ross is an experienced library professional. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences, Michelle comes to Samuels Public Library from Charleston, WV where she served as Manager of Kanawha County Public Library’s Sissonville Branch. Michelle was named the 2020 recipient of the Linda G. Wright Award for Excellence in Library Service. Topic: Library Resources During Pandemic & Beyond: COVID-19 has been an unprecedented time for us all. Samuels Public Library adapted swiftly to offer community members library services safely and in full compliance of all state and federal guidelines. The limitations of COVID-19 gave library staff the opportunity to be creative with our offerings, sparking many new services and initiatives. Michelle will discuss what’s new at the library and the exciting things we have in our forecast.... Read more...WomanGathering March 18March 2, 2021Free Event - Virtual WomanGatherings are informational and inspirational evenings intended to nurture the womanspirit in each of us. WomanGathering March 18 | 6 PM Via Zoom - This is a webinar - Only Host & Guest are Viewable & Live Chat for all attendees Click Here for Link to Attend Host: Eka Kapiotis Guest: Ginger Moran, Author Ginger Moran writer and life coach, teaches you how to tap into your creativity, find your authentic self, and replace your inertia with creative & joyful momentum. Topic: Tapping into Your Creativity for Professional Success and Personal Satisfaction Wondering where your mojo went and how to get it back? Looking for ways to move from burnout (reactive & resentful inertia) to mojo (creative & joyful momentum)? Creativity is accessible to everyone! You can develop a sense of creativity and play which leads to confidence, power and authenticity. You can have the joyful momentum that comes from creating a life you love. In this webinar, Ginger Moran will talk about why the things you’ve been doing to cultivate success - working harder, getting more organized, reading another self-help book, buying more clothes, getting a new house or job, trying to lose weight [again] - are probably missing a crucial component: inner direction. She will walk you through an exercise to tap into your creativity, find your authentic self, and reach your success. About Ginger Moran: Ginger is a writer as well as a life, creativity, and book coach. She has used the philosophy and tools in this webinar to create her own story of success and can't wait to show you how! She has a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston on top of her BA and MA in English from UVA. She has taught at the University of Houston, Spring Hill College, Fisk University, and UVA and her life took an exciting turn when she got her certifications as a Martha Beck Life Coach and as a KMCC creativity coach. Ginger has published fiction and memoir in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Feminist Studies, salon.com, Oxford American and other journals, and her first novel, The Algebra of Snow was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Ginger currently writes, coaches, and teaches classes in memoir, fiction writing, and publishing privately. Her new novel, American Queen, was published in November 2020. Website: http://gingermoran.com LinkedIn: Ginger Moran, Ph.D. FB: gingermoran.com Twitter: gingermoran... Read more...
