L-R: Ashley Brown, Ayunna Alexander, Bonnie Link (Community Coordinator), Andie Overbeck, Mary Feola, Bonita Thompson, Shelby Ragazzo , Lily Lee and Rebecca Aclin.
Members of Catawba College's Helen Foil Beard Women's Society spent two years raising funds to make a $1,500 check presentation this week to the Battered Women's Shelter of Salisbury.
The female service organization collected donations by hosting an annual semi-formal dance called WinterFest where Catawba students make donations to obtain a ticket to the event. Through those donations, the club was able to raise $1,600 for the Battered Women's Shelter; a $100 presentation had been made by the club earlier this year when the Family Crisis Council reached out in desperate need for supplies, and then the $1,500 check was presented this month.
"It gives me great pleasure to be able to give back to our community in such an amazing way. The club was thrilled to be able to collect these funds over the past two years and present the check today. It just makes all the planning and hard work of WinterFest even more worth it," said the Helen Foil Beard Society's sponsor and Catawba's Director of Initiatives for Student Success Andie Overbeck '06.
Club President and Senior Mary Feola, Sea Isle City, N.J., shared, "By being a part of the Helen Foil Beard Society that focuses on empowerment of women, it gives me great joy to be able to give back to an organization that possesses the same values we have. Today's donation just allows us to focus what we do to help others."
Bonnie Link, the Community Coordinator of the Battered Women's Shelter, was delighted with the donation. "Oh how we love surprises!" she posted on Facebook. "When we were contacted by Andie Overbeck to set up a time to deliver a check from Catawba College, little did we know that the members of the Helen Foil Beard Women's Society had been collecting funds to benefit The Battered Women's Shelter for the past two years!
"We sincerely appreciate the efforts of this wonderful group of women along with all who helped make it happen."
