General Information
The Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities luncheon is our main event and largest fundraiser. Each October, passionate individuals join us during their lunch hour to dine on a delicious meal, listen to an inspirational speaker and raise money for those in need. Audience size is usually near 1,000 and first timers often remark at the grandeur of it all. But the real draw is the ability to come together to make a difference in our local community. Each attendee graciously donates a minimum of $100 and 100% of the funds raised stay in our community. Each dollar raised at the luncheon is awarded to a local non-profit agency through our grant program, and the luncheon is paid for by the generosity of our underwriters and corporate sponsors.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Noon – 1:15pm
HAPO Center
Pasco, WA
This Year’s Speaker
Each year, a dynamic and inspirational guest is invited to speak at the Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities luncheon. The board’s goal is to feature someone who understands the importance of giving and the difference we can all make together.
JoAnne “Coach P” McCallie
Meet our 2023 luncheon speaker, Joanne “Coach P” McCallie.
Hall-of-Fame NCAA Basketball Coach, Best-Selling Author & Expert on Teamwork and Leadership
Joanne “Coach P” McCallie, former NCAA Division I women’s basketball head coach for
28 years, has taken on her greatest role yet. She is forging a path to de-stigmatizing mental health and coaching those afflicted to paths for a full and productive life. She knows what worked for her as an elite coach under national scrutiny while protecting her secret—a mental health diagnosis hidden across 26 years of her career so as not to impede her success or impact her family’s livelihood. Finally, the world is changing.
Drawing upon three decades of building people on and off the court, Coach P has now taken flight in a new arena. She is partnering with individuals, corporations and groups from all walks of life to help them find their inner warrior and be the best they can be. It’s a natural fit for this champion, one of the most highly decorated female college basketball coaches in the country. She has led teams at Maine, Michigan State and Duke, making National Coach of the Year and winning numerous championships at all three schools. She is the only coach in history to win Coach of the Year in four different conferences, and then achieved that five times. And she is the only Division I head coach to lead two different programs to 30-win seasons with three National Championship game appearances.
She also is a winner in life. Coach P was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at age 30 while coaching at Maine. It was something she wanted to reveal for decades but was counseled that it would be career suicide and distracting to her teams. Despite her struggles and dark times—including a bout with skin cancer—she successfully raised a family and continued to triumph in basketball. In 2021, she decided it was time to talk and became a mental health advocate and speaker, sharing her story to inspire and educate others on how to “win without losing yourself.” The result was her best-selling book, Secret Warrior: A Coach and Fighter, On and Off the Court, and numerous speaking engagements where she shares her story.
Coach P is also the author of Choice, Not Chance: Rules for Building a Fierce Competitor. It is drawn upon her own personal experiences, triumphs and professional challenges to create her passionate life philosophy of “choice, not chance.” It is her powerful mantra that serves as the foundation for the award-winning athletes and competitive teams she builds and leads—an approach to life that can be applied to sports teams, business teams, student-athletes and even parenting.
She will be sharing stories over stigma and how to bring our best selves forward with the importance of mentorship. It will be a moving experience of empowerment, encouragement and inspiration. We are excited to have you meet her in October!