Dec 20, 2021
SHEPHERDSTOWN ROTARY HELPS
EASTERN PANHANDLE EMPOWERMENT CENTER
The Shepherdstown Rotary Club has provided Christmas gifts for a needy local family through the Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center's annual holiday "Adopt-a-Family" program.
In addition, the Club has donated $700 in cash to the Center, to be used to purchase gifts for other families or meet whatever other current needs the Center has.
The Club presented the Christmas gifts and the check to the Center's Berkeley County office in Martinsburg on December 17. The accompanying photo shows, from left to right, Shepherdstown Rotary Club President Steve Campbell; Cheryl Groen, a member of the Rotary Club's evening group; Teri Biebel, who chairs that group; Tina Branson, the Empowerment Center's Business Administrator; Nicole Roehm, the Center's Outreach Services Director; and Rotary Club Vice President Sean Murtagh.
The Shepherdstown Rotary Club consists of two groups: a morning group that meets weekly and an evening group that meets twice a month. The funds for the cash donation to the Empowerment Center came from contributions by members of the morning group. The Christmas gifts for the needy family were contributed by the evening group.
This is the third year in a row the evening group has participated in the Empowerment Center's annual holiday Adopt-a-Family program. This year, the family the Club's evening group adopted included a single mother with six children ranging from a few months old to 19 years of age. The Center provided the evening group with the family's gift wish list, the group purchased presents for all of them, including the mother.
The Empowerment Center, formerly the Shenandoah Women's Center, is a non-profit, community-based agency founded in 1977 to help women abused by their partners. It has grown to become a comprehensive resource and counseling center serving all three counties of the Eastern Panhandle. Its mission is to protect victims, prevent violence and empower survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking.