From Gracie Maxwell
Decatur County Community Foundation Women and Girls Fund Grant out $3,500
Thanks to the generosity of the donors the Decatur County Community Foundation Women and Girls
Fund was able to grant out $3,500 to three different organizations that support women and girls in
Decatur County.
The first organization is Champions of Youth project ‘Girls Empowerment’. The project will provide
education, hands-on activities, and community role models that help them become more self-aware of
the simple steps they can take to improve their lives. Topics will include personal hygiene, team
building, career exploration and community service. This project will serve over 60 girls through Decatur
County.
The second organization is Advocates for Children project ‘Self-Esteem for Girls in Foster Care’. This
project will provide about twenty-five girls in foster care in Decatur County with needed clothing,
accessories, and hygiene items to help boost their confidence and fit in with peers while navigating the
foster care system.
The last organization is Girls Inc. project ‘Hygiene Kits’. This project is designed for students in 4 th and 5 th
grade to learn the basics around puberty. Each student is provided with a hygiene kit. The boy’s hygiene
kit provides them with shampoo, body wash, bar soap, deodorant, toothpaste/toothbrush, and a comb.
The girl’s hygiene kit provides all girls with sanitary pads, shampoo, body wash, bar soap, deodorant,
toothpaste/toothbrush, and comb. The girl’s kit also comes in a decorative discrete bag that can hold
their feminine products. This program serves over 550 students who will receive hygiene kits.
The Women and Girls Fund Committee Chair, Emily Steele, stated, “We are happy to continue to
support Women and Girl projects in Decatur County. Thank you to the original committee members for
starting the Women and Girls Fund in 2004 and previous committee members for ensuring that women
and girls are taken care of in Decatur County.” The current committee is made up of seven members
Emily Steele, Rebecca Myers, Angie Wood, Rachel Sullivan, Bridgett Weber, Sam Baldwin, and Michelle
Schutte-Cathey and is in the process of planning an event for April of 2023.
