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Connections
The Newsletter of the Women & Girls Fund
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🎉 Oh, What a Night! 🎉
Were you in the room? Yes? Wasn’t it fabulous?
The Northwest CT Community Foundation Women & Girls Fund put on our best party ever on October 12th, and we called it Field of Friends. We owe everything to you, our loyal friends, who honored us by coming to Raymond Family Farm in New Hartford for an evening of food, fun and festivities.
The setting was fabulous–a reconstructed barn nestled in farm fields. Our speaker, author Hank Phillipi Ryan, inspired us to pursue our goals. And, the dinner delighted us, thanks to the skill and care of the Greenhouse Cafe.
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Because the Women & Girls Fund has a special relationship with Kent School, young women from the school offered to help. They did everything from sell raffle tickets to pass cookie platters (thanks, Orchard Hill Bakery!), and they did it all with grace and warmth. | And what about that raffle?!? Thanks to all the businesses who donated goods for us to offer on our amazing spread. Oh, what a night! | |
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Meet Dr. Farida Jilani, Friend of
the Women & Girls Fund
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What do you get when you combine medical expertise and artistic talent? That’s an accurate description of Women & Girls Fund friend and supporter Dr. Farida Jilani. Farida and her husband, Ghulam, are both physicians, who lived and practiced in Connecticut for 47 years. They moved to Boston to be near their sons and grandchildren during the pandemic. Farida still has a soft spot in her heart for CT. She returns “home” to see her friends whenever she can.
The arts have always been important to Farida, and she believes we all need art in our lives. The demands of her work and family life kept her very busy, but when she retired, Farida turned to her artistic side. She studied art in Woodbury and Washington, and she served as a docent at the New Britain Museum of American Art from 1999-2008. She was inspired to begin producing paintings in her own style. Her early pieces were watercolor landscapes and flowers. Over time she experimented with other materials and subjects. Her latest paintings are abstracts.
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Farida generously supports many charities, notably UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders. She has traveled widely and has seen, firsthand, poverty and suffering in women and children.
These experiences have motivated her to support nonprofits, such as the Women & Girls Fund, that help underserved women and children. When a collector is interested in purchasing one of her paintings, Farida asks them to donate the value of the painting to one of her charities, and she gives the piece to the collector as a gift for their kindness.
Farida has chosen the Women & Girls Fund as the recipient of such donations in the past, and we are humbled by her generosity.
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There are many ways to support women and girls around the world and in our community.
We hope Farida’s story will be an inspiration to you to find a way to use your gifts for the good of your community.
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Still Helping Our Heroes
The pandemic may be officially over, but our dedication to our heroes is definitely not! Four years ago, our loyal friend and donor Bibby Veerman challenged us to start a scholarship fund for nontraditional students. We responded by initiating the Women & Girls Scholarship Fund: Helping Our Heroes to support women seeking allied health degrees at CT State Community College Northwest.
Thanks to your generosity, the fund continues to grow, but in order to be self-sustaining, our scholarship fund needs help. The nursing program at CT State Community College Northwest continues to graduate highly qualified health professionals, and many of them stay in our community.
Will one of those heroes be at your bedside? Will you be as grateful as we are that the Women & Girls Scholarship Fund: Helping Our Heroes makes it possible for women to become registered nurses?
Recently Fran Stoffer presented Bibby with a Women & Girls Fund mug filled with Hershey Kisses because we love her. You can honor her initiative and creative energy by donating to the Women & Girls Scholarship Fund: Helping Our Heroes.
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What’s New: Women & Girls Fund PPP
No, the P key on the computer is not stuck. You recognize the Women & Girls Fund, but the triple P may have you wondering. It stands for Period Products Project.
In collaboration with Kent School and Norfolk Food Pantry, Women & Girls Fund volunteers are packaging tampons and pads to leave on the shelves at food pantries in CT. Norfolk and Kent are the pilot programs, but we intend to grow this program, so women and girls who visit these pantries will never be without these essential products.
We are always looking for ways to help, and we know that’s why you love us.
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Partnership with LiveGirl
Our latest collaboration is full of promise and possibility. We are partnering with LiveGirl, a nonprofit headquartered in New Canaan that builds confident, inclusive leaders. Their mission is to prepare the next generation of diverse, brave female leaders with the skills, community, and connections so all girls may thrive and make a positive impact on the world.
The Women & Girls Fund is working with LiveGirl to bring leadership programs to schools and service bureaus in Northwest CT.
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Stay tuned…we have only just begun, but we are off-the-charts excited about this new project. To learn more about LiveGirl, visit www.golivegirl.org | |
This year our very own Erin Kennedy, vocalist extraordinaire, will entertain us while we socialize and enjoy treats lakeside. | |
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Up next:
Annual Reception
Help us celebrate our 25th Anniversary! Join us on May 9th at the fabulous Woodridge Lake Clubhouse for our Annual Reception.
As you know, we gather once a year to report on the progress of our beloved Women & Girls Fund and to announce our grants for the year.
We also present our Women Supporting Women award. Who will receive it this year? C’mon out to the event to find out!
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The progress we have made needs protection.
Please give generously to the Women & Girls Fund. | |
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Bequest Giving
Wouldn’t it be great if people celebrated your values 100 years from now? You can make that happen by leaving a legacy gift to the Northwest CT Community Foundation Women & Girls Fund.
Designate the Northwest CT Community Foundation Women & Girls Fund in your estate planning. It is quick and easy.
Contact Vice President of Philanthropic Services Bradford Hoar at 860-626-1245 or BHoar@yournccf.org to learn more.
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We're now on INSTAGRAM!
LIKE • FOLLOW • SHARE to help spread the word about the great opportunities for Women & Girls in Northwest CT!
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