Yvette Sanchez-Barreto’s life typifies many of the barriers facing single mothers and single Latina mothers Philadelphia. The daughter of Puerto Rican migrants who did not speak English, Ms. Sanchez-Barreto grew up in the West Kensington area, married at the age of 16, attended Mastbaum High School and subsequently dropped out. She returned to school in 1990 as a 26 year-old separated mother of four children, graduated with honors from Community College of Philadelphia in 1995 with associate’s degrees in Office Science and General Studies. She is currently enrolled at Temple University’s Fox School of Business and Management where she has 100 credits towards her bachelor’s degree in Business Management/Legal Studies. In addition, she teaches part-time at Harcum College in an upward-bound program, encouraging low income children from West Philadelphia and Kensington High School not only to remain in school but to pursue higher education.

In between her successes Ms. Sanchez-Baretto experienced much hardship and suffering. In addition to losing her house to fire and becoming homeless with her children, Ms. Sanchez-Baretto raised her four children for the majority of their lives without the financial or emotional support of their father. Through it all, she was able to maintain discipline, pay her bills, instill humanitarian values in her children, and promote education as a means of upward mobility and self-fulfillment.

“Beneficial Savings Bank is honored to sponsor the Women of Courage Award in Education, said James Connor, SVP and Community Development officer. “We have a long history of supporting educational initiatives in our community. We have encouraged, and financially supported, Beneficial employees to pursue higher education. We are therefore doubly honored to sponsor the Outsanding Returning Adult Student Award recipient for 2005. It is what we believe in, and what we will continue to support well into the foreseeable future. Education benefits everyone.”

Pastor Rosa Key, a middle-aged African American woman, has served as a positive role model for women and girls in the Tabernacle Lutheran Church and in the broader Philadelphia Community as well as in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA. She chose to change careers in mid-life by attending Seminary for 4 years to become a Lutheran Pastor. In so doing, she has continued to be an inspiration to others.

As a result of her leadership in her church and community, Pastor Key has been tapped for a national role within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Today, Pastor Key is officially retired but she serves as a Visitation Pastor at Christ Lutheran Church in Upper Darby three days a week. The rest of the week she serves as a Vice-Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Germantown, where she continues to lead worship, preach, and teach congregational groups. She motivates elders with her quiet yet powerful example to seek ways of offering gifts to build up their congregations and communities. Pastor Key is also an active member of the Friendship Group of African American Quakers.

Ms. Schisler started life in Chalfont, Pennsylvania before moving to Philadelphia, where she graduated from Temple Law School. Ms. Schisler has devoted her law practice to being a champion of the disadvantaged. She established her practice in the Fishtown neighborhood so she could work hands-on in the community. While Ms. Schisler doesn’t limit her assistance to the elderly, she has a special sensitivity to their problems, often working without monetary compensation. For example, elderly widows are often a prey to unscrupulous money lenders and end up in danger of losing their life-long homes. Because of Ms. Schisler’s expert intervention, she has saved at least one woman from that fate.

Ms. Schisler truly exemplifies the spirit and essence of what it means to be a participating member of a community. She has volunteered her services at the LSH Senior Center, assisting seniors to prepare their wills at no cost. She supports the Fishtown Civic Association by providing free space for their offices. Her involvement in Lutheran Atonement Church is legendary: she’s there for every pancake breakfast, teen dance and single handedly does all the work for the church’s yearly Crab Fest.

As a Community Ambassador for the Campaign for Working Families, Ms. Jefferson literally walks door to door in her West Philadelphia neighborhood warning families about tax preparers that promise instant refunds at a high cost. In disbelief, she speaks of the hundreds of dollars low income families pay to preparers who at times cannot deliver refunds any faster than the Campaign for Working Families, which helps families prepare their taxes at no cost.

However, it’s the rest of her story, one which she shares as an afterthought, that reveals true moments of courage and unveils the root of her financial literacy crusade. At 18, Ms. Jefferson dropped out of high school to be a mother. Though she obtained her GED, she ultimately moved in with and married the father of her daughter for financial reasons. Though he was in fact someone she loved, the relationship quickly became mentally and physically abusive. “He beat out any love I had left for him,” she recalls. At the time, Ms. Jefferson felt that she had no alternative to living in an abusive relationship, because she was unable to financially provide for herself and her daughter. She enrolled into a local college, and decided to leave her husband and start from scratch with no money. Six months later, her husband was killed. Today, Ms. Jefferson is on a mission to ensure that she brings an alternative to the homes of as many women as she can.

"Health Partners is a proud sponsor of the Lutheran Settlement House First Annual Women of Courage: Women of Inspiration Awards. We're grateful to be associated with an organization of people and a community of women who have said ‘no’ to the cycle of domestic violence,” says Teresa Heavens, V.P of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs. “If we collectively link arm in arm and bravely stand together with these women who have overcome difficult life trauma, we will certainly make Philadelphia and the world a better place. We're extremely honored to be a part of the lives of these outstanding women, who, like Eleanor Roosevelt stated so aptly, ‘gained strength by stopping to look fear in the face; lived through the horror and can courageously take the next thing that comes along.’”

Edith Ricks worked for many years in her native Liberia running Gates Agape, an orphanage for indigent girls. Her work at Gates Agape included developing vocational and educational programs for young single mothers. In June 1990, bombs destroyed the first floor of the orphanage. Edith and the children were captured by rebels and spent the next year and half living in different rebel camps and undergoing multiple captures by different rebel groups. Throughout this time, Edith cared for and protected the children in her charge. In December 1991, Edith and the children left the rebel camps and went back to Monrovia to reestablish the orphanage.

Ms. Ricks came to the United States in 1993, and began helping to administer her church’s day care center. She continues to volunteer in her church, Gates of Heaven, working for Liberian refugees, providing supportive counseling to church members, and speaking out against domestic violence.

Ms. Ricks began working at Women Against Abuse in 2003, providing counseling and case management support to families living at Sojourners House, which provides temporary housing for up to eight months for survivors of domestic violence and their families. Ms. Ricks works tirelessly with each family to provide ongoing support, to help them identify needs and develop goals, and to access community resources. Ms. Ricks’ passion is not limited to her day job: she speaks out against domestic violence in her church and promotes awareness of the problem. Promoting safety and well-being for survivors of domestic violence and calling attention to the devastation caused by violence in any form is her life’s calling.