YWCA of St. Joseph County—2008 Winner

The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County has named the YWCA of St. Joseph County the winner of its 2008 annual Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence because of its outstanding service, advocacy, and encouragement benefitting women and families in need.

During the award ceremony, which took place on Thursday morning, August 30, at South Bend’s Century Center, Rod Ganey, the chair of the Community Foundation’s Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence committee, noted in his remarks to a crowd of approximately 150 attendees that the YWCA has made amazing progress over the past six years, conducting a major capital campaign, moving to a new location, and tripling the number of people it serves through its chemical dependency, domestic violence, and transitional housing programs.

As this year’s Leighton Award winner, the YWCA receives a $100,000 endowment challenge grant, and must raise $100,000 in matching funds. The resulting $200,000 is used to create or add to a fund in the Community Foundation for the benefit of the award recipient.