by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Giving the children at daniel things above and beyond what they normally would receive is what Womenade is all about.
The group, started by Judy Hicks of Re/Max Coastal Real Estate in 2002, has raised $40,000 in its three years in existence and has given the children a trip to Walt Disney World, summer camp, trips to movies, Adventure Landing and hockey games, horseback riding, gift cards and clothing.
daniel - it’s spelling with a small “d” - can only afford to give the children so much and that’s where Womenade steps in.
“No matter where they are emotionally or what they’ve done, they still deserve courtesy and respect,” she said. “I think that allowing them to see movies or giving them things that their other peers at school have makes them feel better emotionally.
“I like the fact that if they have an emergency or they need something that we are putting the money away to help. I like being able to give them money to do things that we take for granted.”
The children at daniel have been removed from their homes due to emotional, physical or sexual abuse.
“Most of the children are emotionally damaged and basically thrown away,” said Hicks, who has been like a favorite “Aunt Judy” to the children since 1994. “Some of them have lived there three or four years. When children leave daniel, they either go into foster care, get adopted, return to their parents or family member or grow up and move out.”
Though Hicks has been helping daniel through special programs and fundraisers over the years, sometimes that is not enough — the director at the home would call her for special needs the children had and she would call everyone she knew to get money to buy what they needed.
“I thought, wouldn’t it be great to have a system in place to be able to get things for the kids that they don’t necessarily have the money for?” said Hicks. “I wanted to continue doing something for the kids, but I didn’t want to be on the daniel board anymore. I had been on the board for five or six years and I don’t like sitting around a room looking at budgets.”
She had read a magazine article about a group in New Jersey named Womenade, women who got together and raised money for homeless people.
“I thought, ‘That’s a cool name’,” said Hicks. “When life give you lemons, you make lemonade. If you are a woman, you make Womenade.”
She decided to start a Womenade group to raise money for daniel. She sent an email out to the women in her address book asking what they thought and said the response was overwhelming.
Even though the group is strictly women, men can participate by sending a check if they want to support their cause.
The group started with about 50 women and has grown to over 80 who enjoy getting together every few months to enjoy wine, good food and networking while raising money for daniel. The dinners start at 5 p.m. and are held at various members of the group’s homes.
“We started and it just grew and grew and grew,” she said. “We eat and socialize. They are very informal. It’s all about getting to know each other and having fun.”
Even if you can’t attend, donations are welcome.
“We have women who have consistently sent a donation but have never come,” said Hicks. “I don’t even know what they look like.”
She said they do talk about where the money is going and what daniel currently needs.
Once a year, Womenade has a big event where they will have dinner, networking and shopping.
“Women based businesses bring their goods to us and we go shop,” she said. “Last year we had two jewelry vendors, Armani makeup, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef and more.”
When they started, the guests were charged $25 and everyone brought a dish, but at one event when they ended up with seven key lime pies, they decided it wasn’t working out.
They met Chef Cheryl Clark of Heirlooms Chef Designed Meals who now caters the events for them and the price was raised to $30. RSVPing is very important for the events so they know how much food and wine to have ready.
In addition to special gifts for the children, Womenade set up a program, daniel A’s, to help give the children incentives to do well.
“Every report card period, every child that gets no ‘F’ and at least one ‘A’ gets a gift card from us and gets to have dinner with us,” she said. “Since we started the program we have had kids who have consistently done well and have been able to have dinner with us every single time.”
Hicks said some of the children had never even been to a restaurant before. She teaches them etiquette at the table and has them order their own food, so they learn to how to behave in that situation.
In order for the children to attend some of the special events, they have to maintain a certain level at their group home at daniel.
“They have to behave, do their homework and all the things they are supposed to do,” she said. “If they come down a level, then they won’t be able to go.”
Currently, Hicks is looking for volunteers to tutor children at daniel and to help with set up and tear down for events.
Hicks has been involved with daniel since 1994.
Her father passing away and the fact that she never had children got her to thinking about the legacy she would leave behind.
“I didn’t want my legacy to be that I sold 50 houses a year,” she said. “I wanted to leave something when I left the world that meant something.”
She decided to do something about it and got involved in helping the children of daniel.
“I set up a trust for daniel in my father’s name and when I die, that is where the money will go,” said Hicks.
She does the Christmas Angel program every year where individual and companies pick names and buy specific gifts for the children.
“These are not Dollar Store kids,” she said. “They get to ask for what they want. If Raphael wants Air Jordans, then I don’t care if I have to get money from four different people, he will get Air Jordans.”
“Kathy Timmons and Kathie Lee Menninger have really been the driving force behind it also,” said Hicks. “They are always my go — to people whenever I have an idea. Cynthia Montello and Franchesca Tarleton have also been very very helpful.”
Womenade has enlisted Cynthia Montello of The Montello Agency to do an active marketing campaign to get more women involved.
Their signature color is purple and their marketing slogan is “Women of Jacksonville Helping Kids at daniel.” Their mission statement is “To mentor the children of daniel through career development, fun and community service; to meet periodically and raise money for them and teach them to dare to dream big.”
Womenade Quick Facts
Website: www.womenadejax.com.
Board: Judy Hicks of Re/Max Coastal Real Estate, chair; Kathy Timmons, vice chair, Countrywide Home Loans; Kathie Lee Menninger, second vice chair, Copperfields USA; Franchesca Tarleton, treasurer, Homes & Land Magazine; Cynthia Montello, The Montello Group, secretary; Jessica Pozin, project coordinator, Associated Land Title; and Leslie Williams, daniel liaison.
daniel Quick Facts
Website: www.danielforkids.org
Location: Southpoint
Description: Established in 1884, daniel is Florida’s oldest child-serving agency. The non-profit organization provides professional assistance to more than 700 children, adolescents and families each day through numerous nationally recognized programs. These programs include therapeutic foster care, residential treatment, group homes, early delinquency prevention, adoption information services, a charter school and educational programs which teach independent living skills to homeless and foster teens.