Downtown Women's Center eNewsletter

Happy New Year from DWC! The theme of this issue is community. Our community of Day Center participants, residents, Board of Directors, volunteers, supporters, partner agencies, and staff includes you! We value your interest in DWC. After reading the newsletter, be sure to please scroll down and take a moment to respond to our You are the Downtown Women’s Center! One-Question Survey.

2000+: women served annually in the Day Center
6362: number of people who financially support DWC
1723: number of people – including you! – who receive our eNewsletter
500+: active volunteers
655: number of people who donated necessary in-kind items and gifts in 2006
47: formerly homeless women who now live in the Residence and call DWC their home
5: number of organizations providing regular food/supplies to DWC for 29 years
18: volunteer members of the Board of Directors
21: fulltime program and administrative staff
2: maintenance staff
1: cat named Mr. Itty
1000s more: friends and family members whose lives are touched by DWC

Click to Meet Our Family

Fannie (left) and Lynda (right) are two of the thousands of women whose lives are touched each year by the Downtown Women’s Center. They shared their moving stories with KPCC 89.3 during a special edition of AirTalk with Larry Mantle – featuring experts on women’s homelessness, including Executive Director Lisa Watson – broadcast live from DWC’s Residence on December 15th.

Raised in Beverly Hills, Lynda G. “knew nothing of poverty, knew nothing of homelessness, knew nothing of women being hungry.” But when her adoptive parents passed away, a string of bad relationships followed until finally she walked away from an abuser. She ended up on Skid Row and has lived in the DWC Residence for over five years. She is grateful to have found a family at DWC and to have learned invaluable lessons about compassion and empathy. “Women here are the same as women in Beverly Hills,” she noted, “They want to be loved, they want to be pretty, they want to be respected.” Lynda closed with her message of hope: “Women on Skid Row are [treated as] throw-away people. But when you end up here, ... we get to see ourselves as women, ... as an intelligent individual.”

Fannie M. is a regular Day Center participant who wants the world to know that “love goes a long way around!” Originally from East Los Angeles, she grew up in housing projects with an abusive step-father, lost two sons to a genetic disorder, battled with drug addiction, and ended up on Skid Row – chronically homeless for decades. At DWC she has found peers and friends. “We all need housing,” she stated, “we all need food, we need to know that we’re loved.... When you walk through the Downtown Women’s Center door, you’ve got gratitude!”

Indeed, Fannie has much to be grateful for. Last year, she took advantage of a health screening offered at DWC. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and sought treatment – she is now cancer- free! The success of her treatment inspired her to seek assistance for her substance addiction, and she currently celebrates six months of sobriety. “Now I have a job... and a bank account. I never had a bank account before because of my drug and alcohol abuse.... Every dime that I got I ran to the dope man or ran to the store. But today I can go to the bank....”

Listen to more at KPCC!

DWC Executive Director Lisa Watson has been selected by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women as one of 10 Women of the Year to be honored for advocacy on behalf of women’s rights. She will receive her award on March 12th. If you are interested in attending the event, please email tpeoples@bos.lacounty.gov. Lisa, you have made the DWC community proud!

What could be better than being a Valentine to 2000 women? We invite you to celebrate the day of love with a gift to DWC. This Valentine's Day, DWC can send a personalized acknowledgment card thanking your loved one for the charitable donation you make in his/her name. Call (213) 680-0600 or visit dwcweb.org to make a credit card donation via PayPal, or send your check directly to 325 S. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013, and you will help make 2000 hearts happy this year. Thank you!

Thanks to those of you who have been using GoodSearch during the past three months, DWC has already received over $100! As many of you know, GoodSearch is an Internet search engine powered by Yahoo!, which donates one cent of its advertising revenues to the nonprofit of your choice each time you conduct an online search. As each of DWC’s thousands of friends and supporters uses GoodSearch – to do something most of us do many times each day already – we can turn each penny into something so much bigger! All you have to do is go to goodsearch.com, enter the Downtown Women’s Center as your charity of choice, and search! The more you search, the more you help DWC provide essential resources to homeless women on Skid Row. Please spread the word and help us meet our goal to raise $500 with GoodSearch in 2007.

Here’s yet another way to support DWC by doing something you do all the time – shopping for groceries! Simply register your Ralphs Club Card online at Ralphs Community Contribution page, using the Downtown Women’s Center NPO number 83933. (You will need your Ralphs club card number, but if you use your phone number at the register, call 800-660-9003 to get your Club Card number or call 800-443-4438 for the alternative sign-up method.) Every time you shop for groceries and swipe your card, DWC will automatically earn a rebate.

The Downtown Women’s Center also receives a donation each time someone clicks on the Vons link on our website to place a grocery order at Vons.com. So, if you shop for groceries online, please access Vons here or through our website and help DWC’s fundraising efforts. Also, if you would like to donate groceries to the Center’s food bank, order at Vons.com through our website, and the store will deliver the order directly to us! The Vons link is on our How You Can Help page.

The 2007 Gala Committee needs committed volunteers! Responsibilities include attending monthly planning meetings from January to September, soliciting auction donations and sponsorships, and contributing creative ideas to make this year’s fundraising dinner and auction the best one yet! No experience necessary. For more information about the annual September event, please visit our 2006 Gala page. If you are interested in the Committee, please send your resume to KatieL@dwcweb.org.

DWC is unique because everyone in our community takes ownership in the Center. We hope you will share your voice by responding to our One-Question Survey. Responses will guide us as our programs evolve and will be shared in our March eNewsletter. Please reply to this email (nuib@dwcweb.org) by February 28th with your answer to this question:

Why do you believe DWC is so important for our community?