Why the Y?

My friend Jos has a women's group I've now been apart of officially for about a year and unofficially since its inception since last year. This year we chose 3 causes to support and raise funds for -mostly through raffles and prizes. So far we've managed to raise $600. My personal goal was reaching $1000 but considering it's our first year and we've just been kind of winging it -$600 is pretty good.

I told Jos that next year we should only have 2 causes so the money we raise goes farther. She agreed so we came up with something called the "Pitch for a Cause" meeting. Basically the women in our group would be divided into 3 groups. Each woman would pitch whatever cause she chose to represent to the group until 2 women were selected as the "winners". Those 2 causes they represent will then be our official causes next year. 

The meeting was last Tuesday. Earlier that day I went on my website www.4Charity.weebly.com so I could try and pick a cause that best suited our women's group. I decided YWCA of Silicon Valley would be the best one to represent. 

I noted down the main points I got from the non-profit's website:

-Founded in 1905 
-Has a Rape Crisis Center and Domestic Abuse Center
-Tackles issues like Poverty and Human Trafficking
-Focuses on families -has a child Care Center that lower-income families can use
-Offers Social Services and Counseling
-Has a Crisis Hotline 
-Has started implementing Teen Programs including: 
-Tech GRYLS to encourage young girls to get involved in sciences
-MyStrength which helps young teen boys learn about rape and how to prevent it 
-It's also got a budget report from 2011-2012 so you can see exactly where the money is being spent

With all of this in mind I spoke my main points. Questions that were raised were mostly:

"How long have you worked for the YWCA?" and "What does it stand for?"

It was awkward to answer because I've technically never worked with them before (though other women in the group had) and I didn't know what YWCA stood for. 

None the less, I felt pretty determined to have this be the cause our group went with. Initially I didn't care that much, but when I arrived at the meeting I wanted it to be chosen so I really put it out there. 

I ended up being one of the ones chosen! The other cause chosen was the A21 Campaign to stop human trafficking. 

Afterwards I felt compelled to find out a little bit more about my cause. As it turns out YWCA is the female version of the YMCA. 

YMCA = Young Men's Christian Association
YWCA = Young Women's Christian Association 

YMCA was founded in 1844 and I guess women decided to make their own groups. Just as the YMCA has grown to include all walks of life, the YWCA has since changed from being women-only in its members to being women-focused in its mission. 

Pretty awesome.