Accentuate the positive

 

 

Want to be healthy, wealthy and wise? The Women”™s Leadership Alliance invited 50 so-inclined women for some plain talk about navigating life”™s challenges at the Orange County Citizens Foundation in Sugar Loaf on Sunday, March 8.

 

Not only do alliance members want to take control of their lives, their health and their financial status, they learned from four guest speakers to spread the word that spiritual health can promote physical wellness. Beth Frazier, Sylvia Moss, Heidi Reagan and Sheila Pearl, four of the authors who contributed to the book, “Wake Up Women,” were on hand to give tips on staying “mentally focused on what”™s best for you,” said Pearl. When women do that, said Pearl and her writing peers, they have a tendency not only to be better caretakers of others, but to take better care of themselves in the process.

 

Most speakers acknowledged the grim economic climate and said the media”™s constant drumbeat of same seemed devoid of a light at the end of the tunnel, which can raise anyone”™s stress levels to new heights.

 

Maggie Smith, president of First Federal Savings in Middletown, one of the sponsors of the event, asked how she could stay positive in an industry where the pressure is on every single day. “You may be able to avoid the television, but what happens when you work in the financial marketplace?”

 

One suggestion: “Take a deep sigh and just go on with your day.”

 

After the presentation, Smith said one of the audience members related how First Federal helped her get her first mortgage and thanked Smith profusely for the help her family had gotten from the bank. “Now, that was a real pick-me-up,” said Smith.

 

The WLA awarded its first round of grants totaling more than $14,000 to:

 

Ӣ Literacy Volunteers of Western Orange County to provide seed funding for a Women and Financial Literacy program;

 

”¢ Winslow Therapeutic Riding Unlimited. Inc., which will present a weekly program, “To See the Opportunities and Barriers for Women”;

 

Ӣ Child Support Technical Assistance program, offered by the YWCA of Orange County, to fill a gap for women navigating the support enforcement system; and

Ӣ Independent Living Skills LIFE program, offered at McQuadeӪs ChildrenӪs Services.

 

The goal of the WLA is to promote independence, growth and self-determination in women and girls. The group is particularly focused on helping the next generation realize financial self-reliance. Part of financial self-reliance centers on staying out of unhealthy (and potentially dangerous) relationships and making good choices for mental and physical well-being. The goal, says the Women”™s Leadership Alliance, is to help young women, particularly those who are not born with the proverbial silver spoon, to reach their fullest positive potential.

 

The book, “Wake Up Women,” is divided into: Awaken Your Relationship; Awaken Your Health; and Awaken Your Wealth. Everyone attending received a copy of the book and an invitation to Power of the Purse on Friday, April 24, at Catlin Gardens in Slate Hill, beginning at 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.uwoc.org.