Stacey Bess as 2013 Luncheon Speaker
The Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities (WHWF-TC) is pleased to announce that Stacey Bess will be the guest speaker at the annual luncheon, Monday, October 28, 2013 at the TRAC Center in Pasco.
Stacey Bess is the inspiration behind the Hallmark Hall of Fame film Beyond the Blackboard. She is an educator and author whose personal story - teaching homeless children in a small shed known as The School with No Name - inspired a nation.
Her first teaching job was not at all what she expected. She was assigned to the School with No Name in Salt Lake City, Utah, which was a space in a homeless shelter that was supposed to function as a classroom. The classroom lacked basic supplies such as desks and books, and her young students ranged in age from six to twelve. She had never been exposed to poverty and felt her chances of survival in the beginning were slim. She confronted her own fears and insecurities as she struggled to gain attention and respect from her students as well as school board administrators and apprehensive parents. Stacey persevered and for 11 years brought help and hope to her flock of school children. She had to convince them that she was an adult who could be trusted, an adult who was here today for them, would be here tomorrow for them, and the day after tomorrow.
A dynamic and powerful speaker, Bess engages groups large and small by sharing the story that changed her life as she taught and nurtured hundreds of underprivileged children deemed "unteachable." She reveals how these children grew into living proof that by teaching and modeling love, self worth, personal power, and courage, she could reach and inspire them.
In moving keynotes, Bess speaks on the importance of service, mentorship and leadership, overcoming adversity, and female empowerment. Drawing on her experience with marginalized children - chronicled in her memoir Nobody Don't Love Nobody - she offers powerful insights and lessons that inspire audiences to become more involved in their own communities and challenges them to use their own trials and triumphs to make a difference.
Founded in 2000, the Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities strives to empower women and children to create healthy families and a vibrant community. WHWF-TC has raised over one million dollars benefiting 65 programs that benefit women and children in our community since the first fundraising luncheon in 2001. For more information on WHWF-TC, the 2013 luncheon, table captain or sponsorship opportunities, please call (509) 942-4178, e-mail contact@whwftc.org, or visit www.whwftc.org.