GIVING

Lucine Williams was a housekeeper at a big hotel for 21 years. A single mother, she and 97 other housekeepers were summarily fired, replaced by cheaper contract workers from Georgia.

My sister, a Brown University graduate, has struggled with chronic mental illness for more than 30 years. She wants to be productive — to be independent — but continuous employment has been a challenge for her. Yet she keeps trying.

“Susan Smith’” and her husband lost their jobs. At the Cape Coral Caring Center she said, “What am I doing here? All I want to do is work, not take your food. I’ll pay you back.”

You probably have something in common with these three women — dignity, integrity, and a desire to work. You also might be a woman with an intense desire to give back — someone who cares about the problems and issues that many similar women and their families face every day in Southwest Florida. And you ultimately care about the health of your community as a whole.

The truth is that our communities will only thrive when women have a stake in the economy — when they have jobs so they are not one mishap away from poverty or family chaos.

Although we can’t guarantee anyone a job, the Women’s Legacy Fund of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation is a perfect vehicle to use to search out new community leaders or nonprofits with exciting ideas that help women. Importantly, our Fund is part of a national network of similar funds, and we will be sharing more about that in future columns.

We have so many other stories of women who want to work, and our work at WLF has barely just begun. If, like our WLF supporters, you want to reach those women who need help, I would like to offer three ideas of what you can do.

First, work on your own “mindfulness” — be aware of the women around you who are struggling and need help. They are in plain sight.

Second, honor women as “Angels” with contributions to the WLF — not just the “wonder women,” but ordinary women like my sister who are trying as hard as they can. Information about this is available online at www.floridacommunity. com where you can see

current Angel photos and biographies and consider surprising the special woman in your life this holiday season with her own “Angel” honor.

Third, think about how you want to be remembered — the legacy you will leave

after you are gone.

A single, one-time, charitable contribution from your estate to a church or nonprofit might be immediately gone and spent, but a legacy gift to the WLF — perhaps a percentage of your estate — will grow as an endowment and, therefore, keep on giving.

We don’t know how much money we can leave or when it will be, but here’s what we do know: The Community Foundation and the Women’s Legacy Fund will still be there. Future women will be as passionate about helping women and their families, as are the Fund’s leaders today.

The Community Foundation will oversee, invest and protect our hardearned money so that it will grow. Our gifts will be given away with diligence to deserving nonprofits that will help the women we care about. Women we have helped will thank us every day for thinking of them and giving them a boost. 

— The Southwest Florida Community Foundation has been supporting the communit ies of Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades and Hendry counties through endowed funds for over 33 years. Through 32 3 e ndowed funds, the Community Foundation has provided more than $44 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. For more information, call 274-5900, or visit www.floridacommunity.com.