August 26, 2009

Women’s Care Center Wins The Community Foundation’s 2010 Leighton Award For Nonprofit Excellence

The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County has named the Women’s Care Center, under the leadership of President and CEO Ann Manion, the winner of its 2010 Leighton Award for Nonprofit Excellence.

The Women’s Care Center has experienced extraordinary growth over its 25-year history. In its first year, Women’s Care Center served 376 women at its one neighborhood center. Last year, it served nearly 11,000 women at 14 sites in northern Indiana, Niles, MI, and Columbus, OH.  According to Women’s Care Center, it is now the largest crisis pregnancy center in the country.

From the very beginning, Women’s Care Center has offered personal and nonjudgmental support to young women facing difficult circumstances. As it has better understood the needs of its clients, the Women’s Care Center has expanded its services to meet them. When possible, it connects clients to other community resources. When needed services do not exist, it helps to create them: The BABE program, which provides children’s clothing and equipment to families, and Hannah’s House, which offers housing for pregnant women, are two examples of this. Most recently, Women’s Care Center has increased its focus on connecting its clients to prenatal health care. Thanks to a new partnership with St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, the Women’s Care Center’s clients can now access onsite prenatal health services at its Notre Dame Avenue location. 

As this year’s Leighton Award winner, the Women’s Care Center receives a $100,000 endowment challenge grant and must raise $100,000 in matching funds. The resulting $200,000 will be used to create or add to a fund in the Community Foundation for the center’s benefit. The Women’s Care Center receives an additional $10,000 to help cover the costs of any fundraising and communications associated with the match.

Also, the Foundation named two Special Recognition winners, each of which will receive an award of $10,000. Special Recognition awards are intended to encourage organizations that are pursing higher degrees of excellence, recognizing inspiring examples of service and performance. The Community Foundation’s first 2010 Special Recognition award goes to the Family & Children’s Center, under the leadership of President and CEO Bruce Greenberg, for stepping up its services to young people at a time when this community needs them most. Its second Special Recognition award goes to the Center for History, under the leadership of Executive Director Randy Ray, for its creative, engaging programming and its resourceful celebration of our community’s cultural diversity.