Moving to rural, conservative Wenatchee, WA was like going backwards in time.

No women's shelter.

When I moved to Wenatchee in '84, I discovered there was no emergency shelter for women and children, just a homeless men’s shelter. As volunteers, new women friends and I founded the Women’s Resource Center. We arranged shelter for women and children at the YWCA. Battered women and children often flee with just the clothes on their backs. The Women’s Resource Center provides clothing, counseling, meals, toys and books. Today the nonprofit Women’s Resource Center is a United Way agency and provides apartments for over a thousand low-income people (sliding scale).

Teenage pregnancy.

Chelan and Douglas counties had the highest teenage pregnancy in the state. First job in Wenatchee: directing a state-funded program to address it. Hired a counselor. To spread the word, I appeared on radio and TV. Previously I worked as a YMCA program director and executive director in Seattle and Tacoma. So, I recruited 45-volunteer mothers. The counselor and I screened and trained the volunteers like a Big Sister program. Volunteers taught parenting skills, took mothers and babies to doctor appointments, and urged them to return to school. Teenage pregnancy decreased from 24% to 6%.

School dropouts.

Wenatchee had a bad high school dropout problem, particularly with 9th graders. I recruited a steering committee that included school administrators, the Educational District, Wenatchee Valley College and more. They decided an alternative school with smaller classes would help. At first the alternative school was at Wenatchee Valley College. I convinced them to include parenting classes and babysitting. After years of success, Wenatchee School District took over. Renamed Westside High School, the school graduates over a hundred students per year.

Death threats against doctors who provide abortions.

Chelan and Douglas counties became abortion-free zones. Doctors received death threats against them and their families. In response, women friends and I started Citizens for Free Choice. I did the promotion. We organized wine-tasting events at a restaurant. Raised $5,000 that we gave to Family Planning (now Planned Parenthood.) This was for bus transportation, a nurse companion and clinic fees for local women to go to Spokane or Seattle to get an abortion. I give the finger to jerks holding “Pray to End Abortion” signs outside Planned Parenthood. The idiots don't realize abortions are done in hospitals, not Planned Parenthood.

Today

Since 2006, I have been a volunteer college mentor at Wenatchee High School. I help children of immigrants write essays to apply for colleges and scholarships. They are the first person in their family to go to college. Most rewarding volunteer work I have done.