Niswongers donate $10,000 to YWCA

VW independent/submitted information

Nikki Niswonger continued the Niswongers’ philanthropy to the Van Wert community with a $10,000 donation to the YWCA of Van Wert County.

Niswonger talked about the activities she participated in at the YW as a young girl.

“Growing up in Van Wert as a young girl included many visits to the YWCA,” she noted. “I learned to swim, tap dance, and square dance; I joined friends for skating parties, basketball, and day camps. When in junior high school, monthly dances were the highlight of the early teen social scene … my first formal dance was the winter Snowball in the gym at the Y.”

Niswonger, who now lives in Greenville, Tennessee, with her husband, Scott, also said she recalled fundraising projects to buy equipment for the YWCA as a member of Y-Teens group, as well as time spent cleaning the YWCA’s kitchen and apartment.

Niswonger also said her widowed grandmother had also lived at the YWCA for a few months after moving to Van Wert.

“Our family was given the chance to make special memories cooking in the kitchen and just visiting her in her apartment,” Niswonger remembered. “I, like so many women, am the beneficiary of the YWCA’s dedicated commitment to improve our lives.”

Niswonger noted that, while times have changed in Van Wert, the YWCA continues to serve the changing needs of the community with its domestic violence and homeless programs.

“It is hard to imagine that now in Van Wert there is a need for safe havens for victims of domestic abuse and human trafficking,” she said. “But the victims of this plague walk through the doors of our YWCA regularly. That our Y welcomes the most challenged women in our community reflects their commitment to serve all women.”