|
YWCA Receives Donations From Franklin Family Trust and
Milestones Honorees
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
The YWCA of Northwest Ohio
held a reception on Tuesday, April 4 in honor of the late
Kathryn Franklin, longtime supporter of the Association and
the first African American to serve as a board member. The
celebration also was an acknowledgement of a donation to the
local YWCA on behalf of the Franklin family trust.
Kathryn Franklin, wife of
the late Judge Robert V. Franklin, was praised by several
speakers who spoke of her mentorship, her generosity and her
ability to get things done.
|
Lisa McDuffie, Gary Franklin, and
Adrienne Green |
|
“Her wonderful work
touched the lives of many in the community,” said YWCA
Northwest Ohio CEO Lisa McDuffie, who assumed her leadership
role when Franklin was on the board.
“She was a no-nonsense
lady, but she got the job done,” said Laneta Goings,
director of Books 4 Buddies and 2015 Milestones honoree.
Goings also delivered comments from Joan Coleman, 1999
Milestones honoree and longtime Toledo resident who now
resides in Virginia in retirement. Coleman described
Franklin as “the kindest, smartest, most humble person I’ve
ever known.”
The Franklin family trust,
administered by Kathryn and Robert’s son Gary, donated
$28,200 to the local YWCA. In addition to that gift, the
trust led the Association to work with Adrienne Green to
develop a Women to Women Campaign, soliciting gifts from
past Milestones awardees, and raise additional funds for the
Y.
Green, a 2016 Milestones
honoree, helped raise an additional amount of more than
$90,000.
The YWCA has dedicated a
resource library on the building’s second floor to Kathryn
Franklin, a lasting tribute to a woman who “was admired by
all,” as described by Billie Johnson, executive director of
the Area Office on Aging and a 2003 Milestones honoree.
Also present at the
commemoration – in addition to the numerous women,
particularly past Milestones honorees – was Gary Franklin
who also had high words of praise for his mother. “She liked
to get things done but she didn’t like to talk about it,” he
said.
|
