| Women
with limited incomes often delay necessary medical treatment
or education to provide first for their children or for
other essentials. But a small non-profit organization,
Washington Women in Need, has found a way to help low-income
women without taking away from scarce family resources.
Since 1992, WWIN has provided financial assistance
to more than 3,700 low-income women, according to executive
director Deborah Cushing. The group pays for medical
costs as well as dental, vision and hearing services,
mental health counseling, health insurance, and education.
The WWIN program cuts red tape, so qualified women
avoid a tortuous (and often torturous) bureaucratic
process for limited public funds. Program director Kathy
Young said that clients are pleased with the streamlined
process that treats them with “the utmost respect
and dignity.”
WWIN is the brainchild of former software executive
Julia Pritt, who once needed a boost herself. Over a
short time, her mother died, her husband left her, and
she was diagnosed with breast cancer. While she could
cover her expenses — she had co-founded a successful
company with her ex-husband — she worried about
how less fortunate women coped with these costs. She
had grown up with little money; her family had no health
insurance and didn’t visit doctors or dentists,
and her mother had lost all of her teeth. Pritt recalled
these hardships in creating a non-profit that would
pay for services her family lacked.
Pritt personally covers all of WWIN’s operating
costs so that all donations go directly to clients.
To qualify for WWIN assistance, women must be over
18 years old, Washington state residents, and low income.
For more information on WWIN, check the Web at www.wawomeninneed.org,
or call (425) 451-8838.
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