If a sign of success is how many people show up for your send-off from a job, then Deborah Uroda is leaving the Women’s Resource Center with flying colors.
The lobby of the Rochester Hotel was full of friends, colleagues, clients and donors Monday evening to wish her well as she heads back to her media roots. Liza Tregillus even wrote her own lyrics to “How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria,” from “Sound of Music” for the occasion.
Uroda is getting set to work at Inside Durango TV, its video production arm FastForward Media and the new owner of FastForward, FastSigns. It’s clear she’s excited about the new opportunities, but the leaving is bittersweet.
When she and Executive Director Liz Mora took the reins at the Women’s Resource Center, it was in the red, and its existence was tenuous at best. Now, four years later, it’s solidly in the black, with about one-third of the annual budget, about $36,000, in cash reserves.
Mora and Uroda spent a lot of time crediting each other, then said, no wait, it’s our dedicated donors, who “believe in the cause and believe the Women’s Resource Center is making a difference” that have helped them turn it all around. Credit is also due to program manager Christy Schaerer, who completes the triumvirate of leadership at the center.
“We’re the Three Amigas,” Mora said.
More impressive than becoming financially stable is the monies raised to get new programs going. The new Educational Opportunity Fund has already brought in about $150,000. Monies are used to help women complete educational and training programs to improve their economic sustainability. Thus far, one woman has completed her bachelor’s degree, others have earned nursing certification and yet another has earned a human resources certificate.
Relatively new is the “low bono” program, Uroda’s brainchild, which provides women with one hour of legal consultation when dealing with divorce, custody and other family law issues. There is a sliding payment scale, but the most a woman will pay is $20.
“We’ve learned that if they can’t afford an attorney and try to do it themselves, they don’t demand what they deserve,” Uroda said. “Sometimes, husbands are using the children as a bargaining chip and threatening things they can’t legally do, so that appointment can give a woman confidence when going into negotiations.”
The WRC has also started a coaching program, now in its pilot stage.
“We see so many women who don’t quite qualify for government assistance but who don’t have the resources to handle their problems themselves,” Uroda said. “They just need some help to get over the hump.”
Another thing the WRC has embraced during the last four years is giving donors and members the chance to participate in programs. Among the opportunities are the myriad activities during Women’s History Month in March and various empowerment workshops for skills such as basic plumbing and car repairs.
Uroda has learned some lessons of her own at the resource center. One of the big ones is not to be discouraged by the word “no.”
“If they say no, at least they’re listening to me, and we’re building a relationship,” she said.
The other big lesson?
“I have learned to embrace gratitude,” she said, “I see so many women who didn’t have the opportunities I did.”
It was clear everyone had a sense of gratitude to Uroda as the hugs, laughter and camaraderie would attest.
Jamie Wienk is serving as interim marketing and fund development director, so the WRC will continue to do wonderful work empowering women. They will continue to walk through the doors seeking help for themselves and their families.
And they will find it.
HHH
Celebrating their birthdays with freshly squeezed apple cider are Brendon Shaline, Chase Collins, John Wells, Jim Burpee, David Davies, Gary Goold, Stephanie Ogier, Susan Kolb, Parker Lovelady, Everett Manson and Paul Plvan.
And the best of wishes to my colleague Judith Reynolds!
HHH
There’s a whole lot of celebrating going on with the Marbury/English/Norris clan.
Dru English, the son of Durango City Councilor Sweetie Marbury and Pat English, is celebrating his birthday Friday with both his Colorado and Texas families.
He celebrated his wedding anniversary with wife, Crystal, on Sunday, the same day as his Uncle Bubba Marbury’s birthday. Bubba Marbury is headed up from Texas for the festivities, as are Dr. Steve and Debbie Norris, Sweetie’s sister and brother-in-law.
It’s also a belated birthday celebration for Crystal English as well, as she marked a new year on Sept. 7.
The Texans are also coming to meet the newest member of the family, Parker English, who was born June 20.
That better be some birthday cake!
HHH
Colorado Creative Industries has released the list of its recipients of its grants for Colorado Creates, and a number of La Plata County organizations have reaped some rewards.
The total granted throughout the state is more than $1.1 million, with $8,500 going to both the Durango Arts Center and Music in the Mountains, $7,500 to the San Juan Symphony and $4,000 to the Durango Choral Society.
Folkwest, Inc., in Archuleta County, also received a grant worth $8,500.
The executive director of Creative Industries, Margaret Hunt, said there are 186,000 jobs in the state’s arts sector, which makes it the state’s fifth largest sector of employment.
The grants help support one of Colorado’s biggest draws for tourists and residents alike.
HHH
For those who joined me in pondering the quandary of the origins of the word flapjack, Charles Fertig pursued the research quest and discovered a mention in the fourth edition of H.L. Mencken’s The American Language, copyrighted in 1936. (We had to go back almost 80 years to find this!)
It refers to “expressions, exclusively American, are similar survivals from the English of the 17th century, long since obsolete or merely provincial in England. Among nouns, Thornton notes fox-fire, flap-jack, jeans, molasses ... Flap-jack goes back to ‘Piers Plowman,’ but has been obsolete in England for two centuries.”
Which confirms the term is old, old, old, but raises the question, what is “Piers Plowman”? (Not to mention Thornton, but I’m not going there. You can see why it takes so long to write Neighbors sometimes. Between confirming the correct spelling of names and factoid checking like this ...)
“Piers Plowman” is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem probably written by William Langland sometime between 1360 and 1387. It’s a contemporary of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
There’s actually an International “Piers Plowman” Society, which oversees the translations and scholarship on the poem.
Never let it be said you didn’t learn anything by reading Neighbors today!
HHH
Will it be apple pie, apple turnovers or apple strudel for the anniversaries of Jack and Mimi Smith, Eric and Janelle Meyer, Ed and Suzanne Cash, Bill and Susan Flint and Scott and Sharon Kuhn?
HHH
Here’s how to reach me: neighbors@durangoherald.com; phone 375-4584; mail items to the Herald; or drop them off at the front desk.
