{"id":204233,"date":"2026-03-27T22:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=204233"},"modified":"2026-03-27T22:00:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:00:04","slug":"ywca-holds-annual-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/03\/27\/ywca-holds-annual-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"YWCA holds annual celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the threat of severe weather, a sold-out crowd gathered Thursday evening at Willow Bend Country Club for the YWCA of Van Wert County\u2019s Annual Women of Achievement Scholarship Dinner. The event celebrated 10 outstanding nominees recognized as Women of Achievement across six categories: overcoming adversity, professional leadership, women\u2019s empowerment, youth development, volunteerism, and civic dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paula Stabler, President of Ohio Health Van Wert and YWCA board member, served as the master of ceremonies for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n

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This year’s YWCA scholarship winnesr are (left to right): Caroline Marks, Maria Parrish, and Katie Kramer. Photos submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The evening opened with an address from YWCA board member and guest speaker, Jaeda Sanchez. In an emotional speech, Sanchez reflected on her own challenging upbringing, her journey to success, and the important role of the YWCA in supporting survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen children don’t feel or aren\u2019t protected, they learn to protect themselves. That survival mode mentality stays with you into adulthood and I often accepted less than I deserved,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cToday, I’m a business owner, a wife, a leader, a college student, and a mentor. I also serve on the YWCA board – a role that has deepened my understanding of what’s possible for survivors. Spaces like the YWCA matter. When survivors have a safe place that offers advocacy, education, and support, healing and growth become possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honorees were introduced by the individual who submitted their nomination and they had the opportunity to read their submission, highlighting their nominee\u2019s accomplishments and impact. This year\u2019s honorees included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Teresa Shaffer (Sierra Poulson) for Civic Dedication<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Kendra Heffelfinger (Marla Kemler) for Volunteerism<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Christie Wendel (Marla Kemler) for Youth Development<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Alex Giessler (Delaney Aquaviva) for Women\u2019s Empowerment<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Terra Bonifas (Brian Renner) for Professional Leadership<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Jamie Evans (Chelli Gamble) for Professional Leadership<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rachel Galloway (Janet and Bob Galloway) for Professional Leadership<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Rochelle Campbell (Kate Syphrit) for Overcoming Adversity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Destinee Hough (Anne Dunn and Keith Hough) for Overcoming Adversity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Amberlin Somerton (Krista Somerton) for Overcoming Adversity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

    YWCA Director of Outreach and Communication Julie Schaufelberger noted that although the timeline for the event was adjusted due to the impending storms, it did not dampen the spirits of those in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cOur first priority was everyone\u2019s safety. We did have to make some adjustments in the timeline to ensure we concluded prior to the worst part of the storms coming in\u201d, said Schaufelberger. \u201cThis event is a favorite among YWCA staff and board members and we hope everyone left feeling uplifted and inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe are so proud of this year\u2019s group of Women of Achievement and the contributions they have made within their work organization or the community, and we are happy to have celebrated the resiliency of those who have overcome some serious hurdles in order to get where they are today,\u201d Kimberly Laudick, President and CEO of the YWCA added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Three YWCA scholarship finalists were also honored and presented with their awards. Van Wert High School seniors Maria Parrish and Katie Kramer were awarded $300 and $500 respectively, while Crestview senior Caroline Marks received the top award of $800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cBy definition, these three seniors are already women of achievement with everything that they have accomplished in their high school careers,\u201d Laudick said. \u201cThey all embody the mission of the YWCA and and have bright futures ahead of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sponsors for the evening included Ohio Health, Central Insurance, First Federal Savings and Loan, Citizen\u2019s National Bank, Unverferth Family Dentistry, Van Wert Family Physicians, Edward Jones Veronica Cuevas, and Northwest State Community College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The YWCA is an agency of United Way of Van Wert County and is partially funded by the Van Wert County Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n

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    Women of Achievement honorees are (front row, left to right): Teresa Shaffer, Alex Giessler, Amberlin Somerton, and Rachel Galloway. Back row: Jamie Evans, Christie Wendel, Terra Bonifas, Kendra Heffelfinger, Destinee Hough, and Rochelle Campbell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
    \n
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    YWCA staff members (left to right): \u00a0Julie Schaufelberger, Betsy Hamman, Kimberly Laudick, Danni Chiles, Kaitelin Watkins, Jamie Evans, and Chelli Gamble.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
    \n
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    YWCA board members (left to right): Jana Ringwald, Reagan Thatcher, Jaeda Sanchez, Paula Stabler, Delaney Aquaviva and Jennifer Florence\/\u00a0\u00a0Back row: Candy Lammers and Anne Myers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    VW independent staff\/submitted information Despite the threat of severe weather, a sold-out crowd gathered Thursday evening at Willow Bend Country Club for the YWCA of Van Wert County\u2019s Annual Women of Achievement Scholarship Dinner. The event celebrated 10 outstanding nominees recognized as Women of Achievement across six categories: overcoming adversity, professional leadership, women\u2019s empowerment, youth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 22:14:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204233"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204264,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204233\/revisions\/204264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}