Dashaway Luncheon

The Dashaway Luncheon is a celebration of the impact our Clubs have in empowering young girls through our SMART Girls program. Thank you to all who attended and supported this tremendous event! Many thanks to our Presenting Sponsor, Lincoln Financial and our Champion of Young Women Sponsor, The Hartford.

In case you weren’t able to attend, click here to make a donation.

About SMART Girls:

Empowering girls with leadership skills

The need to invest in, inspire and empower the next generation of young women leaders in our Clubs through SMART Girls has never been more important. SMART Girls is a health, life skills and empowerment program for girls ages 8 to 18.

Building esteem and fueling potential

Through the program, Club girls explore their own and societal attitudes and values as they build skills for eating right, staying physically fit, getting good health care and developing positive relationships with peers and adults.

Many thanks to Ivy Watts, our keynote speaker.

Watts, a former Division II All-American track athlete, who appeared to have it all together, graduating Summa Cum Laude and a top 30 finalist for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, on the inside struggled daily with anxiety, self-worth and depression, in silence. After finally seeking help, Ivy is now dedicated to promoting mental wellness and reducing stigma around mental illness by sharing her story through public speaking and her blog, Beautifully Simply You. Ivy empowers others to speak their truths, know that they are not alone, learn the beauty of self-love and find strength to keep fighting for their tomorrows.   

Additionally, each year, we honor women who’ve made significant contributions to our Clubs or SMART Girls with the Jan-Gee McCollam Champion of Young Women Award. This award was created in 2017 to recognize a woman/or women who’ve significantly helped our Clubs or our SMART Girls program. In 2018, Donna Stout was named the first winner of the award. This year, we honored the volunteers who run our sewing program AKA the “Sewing Sisters”:

Sandra Bender Fromson

Melody Bernhardt

Valerie Bonee

Mally Cox-Chapman

Lynn Crum

Joan Grace

Marcia Hall

Pat Hopkins

Sandy Johnson,

Sara Jones

Becky Kreczko

Linda Lydon

Nancy Perkins

Brie Quinby

Susan Rathgeber

Mary Alice Stielau,

Gail Walraven

Alice Willard