ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The YWCA of Rochester & Monroe County is hosting its 18th annual Empowering Women Luncheon on Wednesday, bringing together 1,100 people to the Riverside Convention Center.

The YWCA has been working to empower all women, promoting values like dignity, freedom, and justice, with a focus on women of color, for the past 142 years. The sold-out event is the nonprofit’s biggest fundraiser of the year. It runs from noon to 1:30 p.m.

The organization lobbies for things like pay equity and hate crime legislation. It also holds programming like career development, community outreach. Its biggest initiative is housing, keeping hundreds of women and their families off the streets every year in our area.

“We can put it where we need it right away,” said Myra Henry, President & CEO of the YWCA of Rochester & Monroe County. “If the current situation is we have women that are moving into apartments, we can meet those basic needs, get those utilities turned on, and all of those things the we can use that to buy furniture. Everybody needs a bed to sleep in its not just enough to have a roof over your head.”

News10NBC’s Deanna Dewberry is emceeing the event, where the YWCA’s goal is to raise $250,000, the same as last year. Attendees get to network with each other. Dr. Henry hopes they get inspired enough by the YWCA’s mission to either become a volunteer at the individual level or become a partner at the professional level.

Dr. Henry says they work extra hard to keep families together because when you come to the YWCA, you’re usually in crisis mode and the last thing they want to do is compound on that crisis. The YWCA provide services for men, too, within the context of uplifting and stabilizing families.

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