Women’s Equality Day: A Conversation with the YWCA’s Maria Rench

Today, August 26, is Women’s Equal­i­ty Day. Women’s Equal­i­ty Day com­mem­o­rates the pas­sage of the 19^th Amend­ment to the U.S. Con­sti­tu­tion, grant­i­ng the right to vote to women. This day is about uplift­ing and empow­er­ing women and rec­og­niz­ing how far women have pro­gressed from a time when women could not even vote in our country.

The YWCA is the old­est women’s orga­ni­za­tion in the entire world and has been in Quin­cy for 117 years. The YWCA’s mis­sion is also to empow­er women and elim­i­nate racism.

We had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to talk with YWCA’s Exec­u­tive Direc­tor Maria Rench, who shares the YWCA ini­tia­tives and what women’s equal­i­ty means to the organization.

“The YWCA Quin­cy empow­ers women by teach­ing them the skills they need to be suc­cess­ful in their career goals, as a par­ent, as a home­own­er, and many oth­er ways. Often­times they come to us with the myth that they must be depen­dent upon some­thing else and can­not suc­ceed on their own. We give them encour­age­ment and show them how they can be mod­els to their chil­dren and com­mu­ni­ty. Women’s Equal­i­ty Day is a day that we can cel­e­brate those accom­plish­ments and rec­og­nize how far women have come, no mat­ter the obsta­cles that have stood in their way,” said Rench.

The YWCA’s biggest fundrais­er, A Voice for All Women, lip sync com­pe­ti­tion is tonight at the Oak­ley-Lind­say Cen­ter. Quin­cy Med­ical Group’s very own, Dr. Erin Sheffield is a par­tic­i­pant in tonight’s com­pe­ti­tion, and QMG CEO Car­ol Brock­miller is the 2017 recip­i­ent of the YWCA’s Woman of Impact Award. The YWCA works hard to put those words into action and pro­vide a voice for all women.

“We give the most vul­ner­a­ble a voice in many ways, by accom­pa­ny­ing them to a court hear­ing, by attend­ing an IEP meet­ing for their child, by assist­ing them to pur­sue their edu­ca­tion, by show­ing them how to reg­is­ter to vote! Our Voice for All Women in Sync fundrais­er high­lights the achieve­ments of women who have done amaz­ing work in our com­mu­ni­ty,” Rench con­tin­ues. ​“The pro­ceeds from the event impact our com­mu­ni­ty by allow­ing a moth­er of four to move from liv­ing in her car into safe, sta­ble hous­ing while get­ting the med­ical treat­ment she so des­per­ate­ly needs. It impacts the com­mu­ni­ty by see­ing a woman with a sub­stance abuse issue free of addic­tion and get­ting the sup­ports she needs to main­tain her sobri­ety, or by see­ing gen­er­a­tions of pover­ty impact­ed in a way that they are now debt free and a homeowner.”

Mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty can sup­port the YWCA through mon­e­tary dona­tions, donat­ing items, such as baby items and hygiene prod­ucts, spon­sor­ing an event, and even shar­ing a social media post. The more peo­ple who are aware of our agency, the faster the word can spread about the things we are doing and the impacts the YWCA makes on the lives of indi­vid­u­als and fam­i­lies in the community.

To learn more, vis­it www​.ywcaquin​cy​.org.