November – December 2025
November Birthdays
3 Val Henthorn
3 Banyan Olds
3 Angela Dennis
4 Edgar Begazo
4 Kenneth Yahnke
5 Riley Roliff
7 Kimberly Trimmer
8 Jody (Joi) McCoy
11 Regina McFarland
12 Sue Darby
12 Makiva McIntosh
12 Carmen Chukes
15 Dwayne Meadows
16 Betsy Kile
16 Donna Connelly
17 Lanai Cason-Hines
18 Latrice Townsell
18 Patricia Robinson
19 Bridget Stringer
22 Debbie Jean Graggs
23 Patricia Hunley
23 Caroline Woliver
25 Tamara Howard
26 Beverly Gyure
28 Meagan Ward
30 Tiana Williams
30 Tierra Lee
December Birthdays
1 Shakayla Hill
3 Michelle Hameed
3 Shakira Womack
4 Rachelle Harvey
5 Frederick Mills
10 Adiel Cathey
14 Manuel Baeza
14 Tera Carr-Martin
16 Jerilyn Aguirre
16 Tina Ricks
17 Milita Lee
17 Alaina Rutter
17 Ontayya Zachary
17 Tanay Oden
18 Makayla Jordan
20 Craig Hylton
22 Awa Sumareh
24 Barbara Freeman
25 Nasia Bailey
27 Monica Harris
28 Stephen Quattlebaum
29 Yvonne Cobb
30 Sherita Smith
30 Elizabeth Brown
31 Rachel Neal
31 Tamilee Ricketts
31 Clyde Watson
November Anniversaries
1 YEAR
Jerilyn Aguirre
Annie Bowen
Diana Campbell
Judy Chesnut-Gerdeman
Jheaya Conwell
Daniel Kinney
Shelley McClary
2 YEARS
Jody (Joi) McCoy
4 YEARS
Cheryl Struble
Tiya Walker
5 YEARS
Teresa Woods
22 YEARS
Linda Damron
34 YEARS
Helen Widman
December Anniversaries
1 YEAR
Daejah Dower
Betwan Goff
Aliyah Hiram
Tanay Oden
Tiana Williams
2 YEARS
Othello Banks
Carrie Hacker
Jaylon Lockett
4 YEARS
Bridget Baker
Mary Beth Lemrick
8 YEARS
Deborah Locklear-Oglesby
Welcome to the following teammates who joined the YWCA family in September and October:
Juanetta Burch – Service Coordinator
Yvonne Cobb – Program Assistant
Debbie Jean Graggs – Cook
K’Jayla Jones – Early Start Lead Teacher
Maia Kover – Program Assistant
Rachel Neal – Assistant Teacher
Christina Reeves-Castor – Early Childhood Center Director
Jeana Weatherspoon – Program Assistant
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YWCA’s Holiday Party will be Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 11 a.m. Lunch will be provided, and the Employee Engagement Committee will announce initiatives for 2026. More information – including the theme! - will be shared soon.
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YWCA Columbus updated its holiday giving program this year to make participation easier for everyone! This year, donors will not be matched with individual residents; instead, staff collected resident gift suggestions to create the YWCA Holiday Market wish list. If you feel so inclined, please shop the list here and feel free to share this link/information with your friends and family members!
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Thank you to everyone who attended and volunteered at Activists & Agitators: Built on Bravery, an event highlighting Columbus' shelters and homelessness crisis. You can watch it here. Ready to take action? Our advocacy toolkit is available here.
Shout out to Micah Dupler for being an excellent volunteer who was even willing to patch drywall for us! 😂
Team Announcements + Updates
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Registration is open now for YWCA Columbus’ Annual Meeting! All of our team members are welcome to attend, but must register in advance here. Come celebrate and reflect on the year's important initiatives, including our advocacy efforts for sustained shelter funding. YWCA Columbus will also announce the 41st class of Women of Achievement and celebrate our 2025 Leadership for Social Change graduates!
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YWCA’s Holiday Party will be Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 11 a.m. Lunch will be provided, and the Employee Engagement Committee will announce initiatives for 2026. More information – including the theme! - will be shared soon.
Save the Date
A huge shout-out to Tierra Lee, front desk/engagement supervisor, for always being so responsive and going the extra mile to ensure candidates have a seamless and stress-free experience during onboarding visits to Griswold. Your professionalism, warmth, and attention to detail make every new team member feel welcomed and supported from day one. Thank you for exemplifying what great candidate care looks like! 👏 - Erin Scott
Shout out to every Kids Place superstar working to earn gold stars through Step Up To Quality! Thus far, 16 of our 24 sites have been awarded gold! Also, shout out to YKP for earning (AGAIN FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!!) CBUS Top Picks’ Best Afterschool Program in Central Ohio! You all ROCK! – Elizabeth Brown, Makiva McIntosh, Sue Darby & Dana Raymond
I would like to shout out volunteer & donations coordinator, Natasha Battise, and the other staff members who joined her for Trunk or Treat on Oct. 30! While the weather didn’t permit a traditional Trunk or Treat in the parking lot, all the volunteers still had a wonderful time decorating indoors, and the families were highly engaged. Thanks for a great event! – Alissa Clouse
Thank you to the entire Family Center team, but particularly Milita Lee, Carrie Derr, Natasha Battise, and Carrie Hacker, for pulling off a tremendous Anniversary Week of Service and celebration of 20 years at the YWCA Family Center! Thank you also to Marquitta Minniefield and Alissa Clouse for assisting in planning and supporting an excellent week of engagements. – Makiva McIntosh
I want to shout out Alissa Clouse, who is effectively doing three jobs at once right now while our wonderful teammates Alessia and Alexa are spending much needed and deserved time at home with their newborn babies. Your extra work is not unnoticed! And, you’ve ensured we do not need to bother anyone while they are resting and adjusting to their new normal. Also - shout out to Natasha Battise, Annie Bowen, Bianca Barton, and anyone else who is covering more than their usual workload right now, as well. You are all amazing and so appreciated! – Molly Kowaleski
The work being done to prep for a new Early Childhood Center at Jenkins Avenue is no easy undertaking – shout out to Loren Beckett, Tamika Pierce, and everyone in the education department who is organizing and (literally) constructing the items we need to open! – Christina Walls
YWCA Columbus in the News
YWCA Family Center resident Tera Austin spoke with ABC6 to help highlight the community's increasing homelessness crisis.
President and CEO Elizabeth Brown joined All Sides host Amy Juravich and a former Family Center resident, Taylor Perdue-Zamora, to discuss funding challenges at the YWCA Family Center and the shelter’s successes on WOSU Public Media.
For Columbus Business First’s Whole Health Matters series, Elizabeth Brown shared some of the largest challenges facing nonprofits, as well as details about her education and background.
Taylor Perdue-Zamora, a former resident at the YWCA Family Center, talked to 10TV about how a housefire resulted in her facing homelessness, as well as how her optimism and resilience helped her back into stable housing, for their “Boomtown USA” series.
Elizabeth Brown joined Dr. Kevin Hairston for The Leadership Roundtable to discuss childcare and the housing crisis.
YWCA Columbus’ Leadership and Social Justice team led a Belonging Session at the Center for Healthy Families’ 2025 Day of The Girl.
YWCA celebrated 20 years of its Family Center with an Anniversary Week of Service in October, as well as engagements to celebrate and honor the original funders. Thank you to all who volunteered and attended all week long, including those who passed out treats for our indoor Trunk or Treaters!
Elizabeth Brown joined a panel of other nonprofit leaders to discuss leadership and challenges facing the sector at Columbus Metropolitan Club’s luncheon on Oct. 29.
YWCA Kids Place was among many grantees honored at the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation’s recent reception. The grant will support Kids Place’s Junior Writers Club and other literacy initiatives.
Looking for the last issue of YWConnect? Read YWConnect September - October 2025 here.