October 18, 2000
Women's Resource Center celebrates 25 years
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Celebrating 25 years of service to women and families, last Wednesday evening, volunteers, staff and founders gathered for the 2000 Purple Ribbon Award and Recognition Dinner. As it is every year, the theme of the dinner was acknowledgment, this year for the volunteers and community whose dedication and commitment keeps everything going year after year.
"These evening, in our small way as a staff and board, we want to recognize the community," said Mary Lee Lord, executive director of the Women's Resource Center. "Without the support of the volunteers and community we would not be able to serve women and families in five counties. We are still here because these people believe in providing safety and support for families."
The keynote speaker for the evening was Sarah Buel, an attorney from Austin, Texas, who has worked with battered women, children and juveniles for 21 years. Buel herself was an abused woman who had to go on welfare to support her family after escaping from her husband. She soon began working in women's advocacy and started college. Seven years later she graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and is currently a clinical professor at the University of Texas Law School.
"I see so many heroes and heroines doing this work around the country," Buel said. "My life's work is to eradicate family and domestic violence."
Ending family violence and empowering women were some of the motivations that brought the founders of the Women's Resource Center together in the mid 1970s.
Several informal discussion groups around Traverse City formed, giving women a place to discuss issues of common interest and concern. Topics included child care, divorce, employment, domestic violence and sexual assault.
Those early, informal discussion groups provided a spark for what is the current Women's Resource Center. The organization began in 1975, when a meeting at the old library on Sixth Street attracted members from the various discussion group. These women decided to band together and form a support organization available for all women and covering a variety of issues.
Even before its non-profit charter was granted in 1975, volunteers had rented a small space across from Prevo's on Eighth Street. They began holding meetings and created a lending library on topics of interest to women. Four years later a grant provided funds for the first staff member.
"We had about four main programs that we did, one was work and career related issues, including a program for displaced homemakers," said Marsha Smith, executive director of Rotary Charities, one of the founding members of the Women's Resource Center. "In many ways the college's bridge program, Michigan Works and the Northwest Michigan Council of Governments have taken over many roles."
The original Women's Resource Center also included a child care assessment and referral center, which later evolved into the 4Cs Council. The third component of the budding center, domestic violence and sexual assault, eventually became the sole focus of the center. The fourth was women's rights and equal pay. Smith noted that many of these issues are discussed as part of the general culture, a positive sign.
Looking back on the progress made in women's issues over the past 25 years, Smith recalled that those early days at the Women's Resource Center were an exciting time for everyone.
"If you ask the founders, it was an interesting and exciting time in their lives," said Smith, who served on the founding board for four years and as a staff member for two. "I was just out of college, as were two or three of the other women. We were moving up here fresh with our college idealism, wanting to change things."