The Women & Girls Fund Scholarship Challenge

To date $23,400 has been raised.  Please help us cross the finish line!

WHO DESERVES AN OPPORTUNITY?

When someone works incredibly hard, overcomes adversity, and balances school, work and home all to better their lives and
communities, that’s who The Women & Girls Fund of Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation thinks is deserving of an opportunity.

You can make a difference today by joining The Women & Girls Fund's Helping our Heroes Scholarship Challenge. The challenge was presented to us by our friend and supporter, Bibby Veerman and met by our executive committee member, Tammy Casey.  Both Bibby and Tammy have generously donated $1,000 to start a scholarship fund that would help women enroll in healthcare degree programs at Northwestern Connecticut Community College.

Bibby wanted to help heroes like Tiffany Carr, who you can read about below, by starting a scholarship fund for women and girls, and especially for single moms, who want to enter healthcare fields, where the need has never been greater. Won’t you join Bibby and Tammy by donating to the Helping Our Heroes Scholarship Challenge.

Meet Bibby Veerman:

“You never forget the panic that sets in when you have to decide between competing commitments: pay the phone bill or the car insurance, medicine or groceries, rent or electricity?” says Bibby Veerman.

The determination to get ahead of this kind of situation is why she supports the current scholarship challenge. Bibby was a single parent with children, who worked so hard to keep the lives of everyone in her family on an even keel, and simultaneously gained skills that provided support, as primary wage earner, for their future. She knows there are women like her out there who need all the encouragement possible, and that is why she chose to work with The Women & Girls Fund's latest project: Help Our Heroes Scholarship Challenge

Meet Tiffany Carr: 

Tiffany Carr is one such woman, and we would like to tell you, her story. 

Tiffany found herself without support and with two young boys to raise.  She had already earned her EMT certificate, with the help of the local fire department, but she wanted more for herself and her children. In 2004, she enrolled in an NCCC program to become a paramedic,but she was not done yet. While working as a paramedic, she returned to NCCC to earn her RN degree. She was hired immediately as an ER nurse, but her desire for more led her to Sacred Heart University where she completed her BSN.

And, as if that were not enough, she completed her MSN and is now an instructor at NCCC where she found her first opportunity to move her life forward.

During the pandemic, Tiffany continues to work full time as a Clinical Lead ER nurse at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital. She is on the frontline for the most seriously ill patients, and we want to salute her for her dedication.

Meet Tammy Casey

Another supporter is Tammy Casey, who serves on The Women's & Girls Fund ‘s executive committee.

Tammy grew up in Torrington, and through her hard work, her natural talents and her persistence has risen to the highest levels in the corporate world. Her company, United Health Care,  has a generous policy through which Tammy can have monthly deductions taken from her salary and sent directly to the scholarship fund. In addition, the company will donate additional funds for the time that Tammy volunteers to forward our cause. Her contributions over the course of a year will not only meet but exceed Bibby’s challenge.

We invite you to join us in this challenge. We believe that when you change a life, you change a community.

For information about the Women & Girls Fund visit: www.northwestcf.org/womenandgirls