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Women’s Fund Recognizes Honorees For Community Change, Civic Leadership

BIRMINGHAM TIMES — The women were honored during the organization’s Smart Party, a fundraiser at Haven in Birmingham. Women’s Fund President and CEO Melanie Bridgeforth said these 10 women are shining examples of the organization’s mission.

Published

6 years ago

October 21, 2019

Oakland Post

The Women's Fund of Greater Birmingham honored 10 women during its "Smart Party" fundraiser Thursday night at Haven in Birmingham. (Photo by: Dennis Washington | Alabama NewsCenter)

By Dennis Washington

Ten women from the Birmingham area were honored Thursday night for their leadership and creating change in their communities.

The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham recognized:

Gail Bayer, community volunteer
Yazmin Cavale, CEO and co-founder, GLOW
Megan LaRussa Chenoweth, style director and founder, Style Yourself Chic
Stephanie Cooper, vice president of Public Relations, Alabama Power Company
Dr. Leesha M. Ellis-Cox, psychiatrist and author
Dr. Bertha Hidalgo, assistant professor, Department of Epidemiology, and associate scientist, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, UAB
Cathy Sloss Jones, president, Sloss Real Estate
Evelyn Mitchell, senior vice president, head of Media Relations and Issues Management, Regions Bank
Michelle Piechowicz, brewmaster, Dread River Distilling Co.
Britney Summerville, vice president of Community Engagement, Shipt

The women were honored during the organization’s Smart Party, a fundraiser at Haven in Birmingham. Women’s Fund President and CEO Melanie Bridgeforth said these 10 women are shining examples of the organization’s mission.

“We envision a society where power and possibility are not limited by gender,” Bridgeforth said. “When women move forward, entire communities move with them.”

Since the organization’s founding in 1996, The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham has invested more than $5 million in initiatives, research and policy to strengthen communities by building equitable opportunities for women. As Alabama’s first and only philanthropic foundation solely addressing the needs of women and girls, the organization leverages the resources of individuals, nonprofits, corporate partners and community leaders to build a world where all women thrive.

More than $262,000 was raised during Thursday’s event to continue those efforts.

“I give to The Women’s Fund because it’s my duty to pay it forward,” said Dawn Sharff, a managing partner at Bradley and a member of the organization’s board of directors. “When you are helping a woman, you are helping her children, her family and you are making the community in which she lives a better place.”

To learn more about The Women’s Fund of Greater Birmingham, visit womensfundbirmingham.org. To learn more about the women honored Thursday night, visit womensfund.smartparty.org.

This article originally appeared in The Birmingham Times.