The Evening of Gratitude – Thank You JoEllen
More than 60 people met at the Flint Hill Public House and Inn in Flint Hill, VA on May 21 to celebrate the dedication and devotion of several members of the Front Royal Women’s Resource Center. The Public House provided an outstanding venue with wonderful food and service. We could not have asked for a better place for the celebration. Elaine Faucher decorated the tables with vases of beautiful peonies—as a bonus, many attendees were invited to take arrangements home to enjoy.
The best part of the occasion was that everyone could come together, visit with each other, and most importantly acknowledge the dedication of our volunteer board members who have provided so much of their time and life experience over the years. These members have completed their terms and are stepping down.
- Andi Robinson created several great events for us, including our yard sale and membership mixer, and also doubled as our event photographer. She took on important projects, made them happen and brought creative new ideas and thinking to those projects that were always surprising and fresh. She was unable to attend the dinner, but her contributions were acknowledged. We will really miss her and thank you, Andi.
- Jane Whitney has been our legal counsel for six years. She was instrumental in creating our Policies and Procedures, which assisted us in moving forward with our organizational structure to provide a strong foundation for the FRWRC. Thank you so much for your guidance, Jane.
- Barbara Greco was an original founding member of FRWRC. She returned to the Board after a number of years. She is responsible for one of our best fundraising ideas and still coordinates our book club activities. The latter helped us to win another Gold Medal at the Library Taste of Books event this year. Thank you for your great ideas and service, Barbara.
JoEllen McNeal is the founder of FRWRC. We want to acknowledge her devotion over the years. You need to know a bit about her history to appreciate her devotion and tremendous dedication.
In 1996, JoEllen, with her partner Judi Booe, had the idea to bring the fabulous women in our community together through
the FRWRC. Their goal was to provide a way for women to connect with each other, services, organizations and opportunities in the community. In addition, they wanted to provide a foundation for those services, organizations and opportunities to communicate with each other and to connect with people in need—allowing those people to know what was available. Thus, the “Resource” part of our name.
In 1999, JoEllen initiated what is now our signature program, our Dare to Dream Grant, with her own funds. So much has evolved from this small and humble beginning. Today our programs include our Girl Grant for young women and the Elaine Bromfield Memorial Scholarship. This scholarship was established to honor Elaine Bromfield, who was also a dedicated member of FRWRC. This endowed scholarship was enhanced this year by an anonymous donation of $1,000, donated in honor JoEllen for her work. This donation will help so many women in the future.
In 2000, Judi Booe moved across the country and JoEllen assumed the FRWRC leadership role. Along with a number of women who were in attendance at this celebration, JoEllen steered our organization to where it is today. This is truly an impressive accomplishment.
Around 2004, JoEllen asked Barbara Way to attend a Board of Directors meeting. Little by little, they were in this thing together and soon were coordinating the program together. After about 5 years, running out of steam, they were faced with the choice of calling it a day or passing the torch. After many lunches, coffee meetings and discussions, they chose to move into the future. Together they started the process to involve others and to build a real non-profit with policies, procedures and all the trappings. Now, after a tremendous amount of hard work on everyone’s part, this process is coming to fruition. Proof of this includes the recent naming of FRWRC as the United Way Agency of the Year and the announcement by Lee Osina, United Way President, that this year, for the first time, the FRWRC United Way Proposal will be fully funded.
This brings us to a very bittersweet place. This year, JoEllen decided to step down from the Board of Directors and remove herself from the day to day running of the organization. Due to her great devotion to her original idea and her work turning it into reality, she can now step back and watch her little “child” continue to grow. Well done, and thank you, JoEllen for all you have done and all you continue to do. We will miss you very much.
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