THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 8, 1995 TAG: 9503080058
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 173 lines
THE FIRST FEW months after Christmas are better than usual for the YWCA.
Several times a day someone ambles into the red-brick building in downtown Norfolk with overflowing garbage bags containing sweater sleeves sticking out their tops, sweat pants, toy cars and holiday leftovers someone can't use or doesn't want.
Until the items can be sorted and moved to the battered women's shelter that the YWCA runs, the bags fill a room off the lobby or slump in the hallway.
And it's frustrating for executive director Cheryl Bonneville to watch the piles grow - proof of the good her organization does - while she isn't quite sure how she'll make next week's payroll.
Like many organizations that focus on women and minorities, the YWCA of South Hampton Roads is underfunded, understaffed, under-everything. The YMCA sits a block away, almost mockingly, with a new six-lane pool and all-you-could-wish-for exercise equipment. The only athletic inclination the YWCA can claim is a small second-story gym, its floor warped from the leaky roof the Y can't afford to fix.
``People mistake us for the YMCA all the time,'' Bonneville says,``But it's easy to tell us apart - they're rich and we're poor.'
``A lot of people perceive us as wealthy. They hook us into the YMCA, but our missions and organization have never been connected. . . . We've been here since 1911, and no one knows what we do or who we are.''
The members of the Young Women's Christian Association aren't necessarily young or Christian. They're a dedicated group of women who have made more than do with what little they've had over the years.
The YWCA began the area's first battered women's shelter and runs one of the few programs to help abusers stop their battering. With funding from the United Way, grants and memberships dues, the YWCA sponsors numerous programs for children, young mothers and working families.
Not many know about the YWCA's mission to help women take control of their lives and to end racism - ``The Association will thrust its collective power towards the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary,'' says its mission statement.
And it's the lack of understanding and funding that is a constant threat to the YWCA.
``I've had some experience working in the shelter. . . . It's one that is a lifeline to women in the community, women who need a safe place to be, guidance as they make that next step in their lives,'' said Nancy Brock, executive director of RESPONSE sexual assault services, located in the YWCA.
``Those are services I just can't imagine being without. My question is, how do we get along without them?''
The YWCA began in London in 1855 when several women formed a group to find housing for nurses returning from the Crimean War.
By 1858, the first YWCA opened in New York City to provide housing for single working women, and the Pittsburgh YWCA opened as a home for black orphans in 1882.
In 1906, the groups united under the umbrella of the YWCA of the United States of America.
Locally, the YWCA formed in 1893 as the ``Girls Home of the City of Norfolk'' and incorporated in 1911 to answer the needs of local women. That meant housing through the 1940s and recreational activities such as sewing, summer camps and swimming during the '50s. The Phyllis Wheatley YWCA flourished on Park Avenue in Norfolk and provided a social outlet for black women.
But the 1950s triggered drastic changes. As the demand for housing trickled, the residence hall on Freemason Avenue closed. In 1961, the national office forced the Phyllis Wheatley to merge with the downtown Y in the spirit of integration. The transition was difficult.
``We sort of lost our identity,'' said Helen Hazell Moore, now 77, who grew up in the Wheatley.
``We wanted to stay together; we preferred to keep the fellowship together. We wanted to maintain our identity as black YWCA women.''
And to an extent, they have. Moore helped the women of both Ys meld during the integration, making sure they were represented on committees, while she worked to keep the Wheatley essence alive. Today, Moore and at least 20 other African-American women women continue to meet as the Leisure Hour Club each month. Last week, the YWCA honored the Club with a luncheon and the women recalled their summers spent at Camp E.W. Young and their long afternoons of tap dancing lessons.
Despite the turbulence of change, the women have fond memories of the classes, fellowship and leadership the YWCA offered.
``The YWCA gave me a very positive outlook on life,'' said Moore, now an honorary member of the board. ``It made me want to be the best woman I could be.''
During the 1960s, the YWCA continued its pledge to change with the needs of women and minorities and focused more energy on civil rights and budding women's movement. Consequently, by the early '70s, its financial support began to wane.
``During the time - '40s,'50s,'60s,- we offered the traditional types of services, things men wanted their daughters to do,'' Bonneville said.
``But when we got into empowerment, those who had money drew back. Money had to come from women, who don't give, as a rule. It's a universal problem, women don't give in large amounts, not just with the YWCA.''
The YWCA continued to immerse itself in community involvement, picking up the causes of domestic violence and helping working families during the '80s. One of its biggest achievements was the start of its Women-in-Crisis program in 1983.
The Norfolk shelter serves women and children from Norfolk and Virginia Beach. A brick building with surveillance cameras, steel doors and protection grates on its windows, the shelter houses 800 women and children each year and responds to more than 6,500 calls on its 24-hour hotline.
A garage has been converted to a licensed day care center with finger paintings taped on its pale blue walls. It's a cheerful place, where the children can play, talk to a counselor and be with children like themselves. And be safe.
One 25-year-old Virginia Beach woman brought a suitcase and her 5-year-old son to the shelter recently after her husband pushed her.
``I knew the way he acted sometimes, what (the push) could lead to,'' the woman said. ``I was just tired of the abuse.''
She says the staff members not only gave her a bed and free day care while she looked for a job, but became some of the few who understood her life as a battered woman.
``There are limits to what they can do and I understand that,'' the woman said, ``but the counselors are very nice. They're here if you need anything, to talk, or anything. They're here.''
Jacqueline Jenkins of Portsmouth has come to rely on the YWCA not for its domestic violence programs, but for the before- and after-school services it began in 1989.
Jenkins never heard of the YWCA until she saw a flier about the program at her son's school. Where she previously paid $200 a month for private care, she now pays $40 because of the Y's sliding fee scale. When the program was discontinued at the school, Jenkins transferred her son to another that offered the program.
``I'll follow this program anywhere. I love it. He really loves it,'' Jenkins said.
``His homework is done when he gets home; he loves the arts and crafts. They have so many things for him to do there; the people are so nice. You can call them anytime if you have a problem.''
Bonneville, executive director, knew little more than Jenkins when she applied for a staff position in 1990.
``I had no idea what the Y did,'' Bonneville said. ``Like everyone else, I associated it with the YMCA. It was an anonymous agency.''
She started as director for the tutoring program but became director of all youth services as the organization was forced to downsize. She became director of the Women-in-Crisis program in 1992 and moved to executive director this year.
Working for the YWCA has been frustrating. There's the worry about whether the roof will, literally, cave in. More and more women call the Y for help while funding continues to decline.
During the United Way campaign last year, Bonneville designated a portion of her salary for the YWCA, but she received a thank-you note from the YMCA. She knows of at least six other people who received the same note from the wrong place.
``I know the ones we've called about were rerouted, but I don't know how many other errors were made,'' Bonneville says. ``But this is something we constantly battle, people who see that W and almost always invert it to an M.'' But Bonneville isn't ready to give up the day care center, the teen art show, the SAT-prep seminars or the women's recognition dinners. She'd like to see the '90s be a rejuvenation for the Y - training for women with little skills, reviving the transition program - but she'll be happy to get volunteers who can just help sort the room of donated goods.
And to get the $4,200 for the roof.
And for people to really see what the yWca is all about.
``I think women still have problems. Racism is still a problem. It's easy to ignore because on the surface it looks better than it was, but there are still problems. But I want the Y to mean we are helping people. We're helping women.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Beth Bergman, Staff
At a recent luncheon, the YWCA honored the Leisure Hour Club, an
organization of 24 African-American women who were original members
of the YWCA. Helen Moore, center, say a blessing with Roxanna
Coleman, left, and Telma Carlos.
Valerie Muffler, children's counselor at the YWCA's women's shelter,
uses puppets and toys to help kids express their feelings.
Photo
The YWCA in the mid-1950s on Freemason Street in Downtown Norfolk.
by CNB