Spring 2021 Newsletter

Friends,

Spring is a special season at Georgia’s House. It’s a powerful symbol of renewal and hope, two of the most-important gifts we can offer the women who turn to us for help. Despite the challenges we all faced in 2020, our organization was buoyed by our dedicated staff and volunteers who gave their all to provide a sanctuary for renewal and hope.

In a time when we all faced uncertainty and made tremendous sacrifices, our volunteers gave abundantly to provide our residents a sense of stability, safety, and comfort. Special gifts include beautiful spring flower arrangements that were graciously created by the Albemarle Garden Club for each of our residents, as shown above. We were also humbled by the extremely generous financial support of the many individuals, foundations, and organizations that helped us meet 2020’s financial challenges.

As we embrace 2021, we’re guided by a commitment to continue growing as an organization. We’re dedicated to refining the strategic goals we adopted in 2020 and growing our services and support systems to bring joy, healing, and hope to women in need. And, as gathering restrictions are lifted we look forward to expanding our role as a community resource.

Since our last update, we’ve seen some transitions in Georgia’s Friends’ leadership. At the executive director level we said goodbye to Mary Anne Grant, who retired in December, and hello to Denise McFadden, who joined us in February. On behalf of our board, residents, volunteers, and donors, I want to thank Mary Anne for her service and her many contributions to helping Georgia’s Friends build a strong foundation for our growing organization.

We also welcomed Celeste Goodman as our new manager of operations. Celeste takes the reins from Kimberly Wilson, who worked diligently behind the scenes for almost four years to keep Georgia’s Friends’ running smoothly. We wish Kimberly well in her next chapter and new home!

We are also honored to welcome retired circuit judge for the city of Charlottesville, Edward L. Hogshire, to our board.

Please read on for details about these and other developments. And please watch for our newsletter in your inbox on a quarterly basis, as we keep you posted on developments and news. READ FULL NEWSLETTER HERE.

Yours in Hope,

Karen Turner
President, Board of Directors