The Women's Fund commemorates its fifth year anniversary

On June 7^th, The Athens Foundation will honor members and donors of the Women’s Fund with a special evening reception. The event will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Eclipse Company Store, located in The Plains.

Celebrating its 5^th year anniversary, the Women’s Fund Celebration will honor members who have met their pledge goals of $5,000 over a five-year period as well as new donors who have recently pledged to the Women’s Fund. In addition, the gala aims to honor the founders of the Women’s Fund, who created a legacy of stewardship and philanthropy in the region.

The Women’s Fund is especially important for Kate Leeman, one of the original founders of and contributors to the Fund.

“I first became interested in this project because, although women and girls suffer the most from poverty, they simultaneously offer the greatest hope for change,” Ms. Leeman said. Her longstanding involvement with The Athens Foundation and the Women’s Fund stems from her desire to help educate women and give them opportunities to succeed, in turn encouraging them to give back to and better their communities. “With the Women’s Fund, I think we were hoping to encourage local nonprofits to develop programming specifically targeted to meet the needs of low-income women and girls,” she continued.

The Women’s Fund endowment is used to award grants for projects that may not receive support from more traditional sources. These include start-up or ongoing social, educational and artistic endeavors for and by women and girls.

First Annual AF Key Event

The Athens Foundation will host their first annual Key Event on September 24, 2011.
The event is modeled after the Key Event held at the West Chester Liberty Community
Foundation and will raise money for Food Security in the Athens area as well as support the ongoing work of the Foundation.

The event will take place in the Baker Center Ballroom, and in host homes throughout
Athens. Upon arrival at Baker center, attendees will take part in a live and silent auction in which they will bid on vacation destinations and other luxury items.

At the auction, the attendees will select a “key” to their dinner destination, which will be revealed at the end of the auction.

Each key gives the recipient access to a host home in the Athens area. There will be
approximately 20 homes available each with a gourmet chef from a restaurant or caterer in the region. Guests will join their hosts in their homes and will be treated to a homemade gourmet meal prepared right in their kitchen.

The following chefs have been secured for this year’s event:

Hilarie Burhans – Salaam

Matt Rapposelli – Ohio University

Tom Landusky – Hocking College

Libby Markham – Busy Day Market Catering

Doug Weber – Hocking College

John Gutenkanst – Avalanche Pizza

Fran McFadden – Ohio University

Andy Henry – Inn at Hocking College

Ty Williams – Athens Country Club

Anthony Schulz – Inn at Cedar Falls

Scott Bradley – Zoe’s

Kevin Hurst – Lattitude’s

Jon Lang – Ohio University Inn

Barbara Fisher – Salaam

Early online bidding will begin soon on the Athens Foundation website.

For more information about the event, please continue to follow our blog, and check our website.