Alumna named a 华盛顿市的 of the Year for work to help women, children rebuild their lives

在过去近50年里， 华盛顿市的 杂志举办了一年一度的“华盛顿年度人物”活动, lifting up a select few individuals who make the nation’s capital and areas around it better, 更强的社区. 在今年的获奖者中? 哥伦比亚特区的市长, the director of the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine 研究 Center, 以及newbb电子平台校友特里·莫里斯·斯塔吉, BSJ 77. 

Stagi, 和Leslie stritmatter一起, are among 12 individuals named to the 2020 华盛顿市的s of the Year list in recognition of the nonprofit they founded more than 13 years ago. Women Giving Back helps women and children in crisis to rebuild their lives.

2020年是充满挑战的一年, and Women Giving Back was able to not only continue its mission to distribute clothing at no cost to their clients, but to pivot overnight during lockdown and provide a drive-through food bank.

“We certainly did not see this honor coming; it’s very humbling,斯塔吉说.

In 2007, Stagi和stritmatter创立了Women Giving Back, setting out on a mission to distribute free clothing—one of life’s most basic necessities—to women and children taking their first steps on a path to secure housing, 有偿的工作, 金融稳定和独立. 

Stagi came up with the idea while serving on the board of HomeAid Northern 维吉尼亚州 where she handled all the advertising and marketing needs of the nonprofit. Stagi owns and runs a full-service advertising agency that specializes in the building industry. The board was made up of national and regional builders helping to renovate or build housing facilities dedicated to alleviating homelessness.

HomeAid tasked Stagi to find a way to get women involved in the nonprofit’s work. While meeting with case managers of various shelters, she discovered a significant need to be filled.

“Because so many homeless women and children are victims of domestic violence, they often have to leave their homes in the middle of the night with just the clothes on their backs,斯塔吉解释道. “所以，他们真的需要衣服.”

She put a call out to women in the building industry for clothing, and the overwhelming response quickly gave birth to Women Giving Back and a community of volunteers and partners devoted to meeting—and exceeding—its mission. What started out as little more than a closet rapidly outgrew that space and then two more larger spaces, 都是斯塔吉的一个广告客户捐赠的. 

今天, Women Giving Back的运作标准是11,在斯特林有1000平方英尺的设施, 维吉尼亚州, where a boutique-like store provides women and children donated clothing, 配件, 鞋子等等. The women who visit Women Giving Back are referred to the nonprofit by its more than 200 referral agency partners, 包括避难所, 住房计划, 政府机构, 家庭暴力和人口贩卖项目, 学校, 医疗设施, 职业培训项目和基于信仰的组织. Women Giving Back的任何服务都是免费的, 其中包括女性购物时的儿童保育. Those services have expanded over the years to include bags-to-go for women who can’t get to the store, 儿童零食包计划, 返校用品计划, a Halloween costume program and a prom dress program to support homeless or low-income students. 

“We never would have made it without people from all walks of life,斯塔吉说,000 volunteers and many partners who have contributed to their efforts. “We have everything from Girl Scout troops and teenagers to corporations that do community service days or corporate service days, 他们来这里工作. 这真是一件美妙的事情.”

COVID-19大流行迫使Women Giving Back关闭了门店. 这家非营利组织迅速转向, filling clothing needs through its bag-to-go program and converting its space to a no-cost, 相貌平平, no-questions-asked drive-through food pantry that also provides diapers and other essentials—and that saw two-mile-long lines of cars on distribution days. 

“我们只有四名员工, and the fact that they were able to pull it together with the help of many individuals – it was truly a remarkable thing to see,斯塔吉说.

除了共同创立Women Giving Back, 领导公司运营并担任执行董事会成员, 斯塔吉是她自己的广告公司的老板和总裁, Stagi集团, 开始了一项新事业, Ms. Fixit, an employee-based company offering home maintenance services. Stagi traces her career and community service—and some of the most important things in her life—back to newbb电子平台.

It’s where she met her husband and where both of her children earned their college degrees. It’s also where her involvement in sorority life led to her serving as president of Pi Beta Phi as well as the Women’s Panhellenic Association, the governing body for OHIO’s 10 National Panhellenic Conference sororities. 在这个角色中, she worked with the University’s administration to revamp the rush system at OHIO, 其他成就.

“I never knew that I had any kind of leadership capabilities,斯塔吉说. “这完全改变了我的人生轨迹, and I don’t think I ever would have had the confidence to know I can take on anything I want if I hadn’t gone through that at OU.”

That confidence, that road to success—that’s what Women Giving Back is all about.

“我们所做的工作非常亲力亲为, 所以你可以看到你所做的事情的结果,斯塔吉说. “You see the people leave with goods that are actually going to change their lives.”

对斯塔吉来说，他们的工作才刚刚开始. 筹款活动将很快开始,000-square-foot space that is needed and that will provide a permanent home for Women Giving Back, and Stagi has her sights set on opening a similar store that helps men in need on their paths to building their futures.