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Winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund - January 13, 2009
Sister Pat Davis Honored with $5,000 Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund Award
January 13, 2009

Morgan Hill, California Resident Wins Cash Award To Support Literacy Program For Low-Income Immigrant Women


(New York, NY, January 13, 2009) - Morgan Hill, California resident Sister Pat Davis, 70, is one step closer to fulfilling her dream of creating a better tomorrow for her community. Sister Pat was named this week’s winner of the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, a weekly $5,000 cash award program from Avon Products, Inc. to support individuals in their work to empower women. She is the eighth recipient of a Hello Tomorrow Fund award in California since the program launched in 2007, and was selected by an expanded panel of judges that includes Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and actress Phylicia Rashad. Sister Pat will use her award to support an English, financial and technology literacy program for low-income immigrant women in the Santa Clara County, through the Learning and Loving Education Center, a non-profit project Sister Pat founded in 1994.

Thirty percent of the immigrant population in Santa Clara County lives at or below the poverty level. Many are single mothers with small children and lack the skills that would enable them to secure employment and support their families. In addition, these women often speak little or no English when they arrive to the United States, making cultural adjustment and social interaction difficult, so isolation is a major obstacle.

Sister Pat founded the Learning and Loving Education Center in 1994 as a means to teach skills, foster hopes, and provide direction to marginalized immigrant women who are limited by illiteracy, poverty, and lack of access to educational opportunities and services to improve their lives and the lives of their families. She is affiliated with the Sisters of the Presentation ministry where her work is fueled by their mission to work for justice, alleviate oppression and promote human dignity, especially among the poor. “We’re always thinking of the future and what we can do to help these women,” said Sister Pat. Instruction at the Center is designed to meet the educational needs of all women in need regardless of their background, level of education, or ability to pay. Since its inception, the Learning and Loving Education Center has helped many women, but the lack of technology and equipment has limited the ability to teach skills that can assist these women in obtaining an entry level job. That is where the Hello Tomorrow Fund can help.

With help from the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund, the Learning and Loving Education Center will be able to purchase the technology to support English, financial, and technology literacy classes to 180 newly arrived, low-income minority women ages 17-76 years old. The funds will assist in purchasing a digital projector, projection screen, and a laptop computer. With this new technology, the literacy program can continue to provides these underserved women with a more effective learning environment, while helping to improve their English, financial and technological skills, thereby increasing their job readiness and understanding of cultural norms. Sister Pat is helping these women reach their full potential and participate more fully in society, ultimately bettering not only their own lives, but their family’s as well. In addition, the projector will enable the instructors to digitally create lessons, rather than use paper handouts that contribute to excess waste – an environmental bonus.

Sister Pat’s winning application to the Avon Hello Tomorrow Fund met the criteria of clearly presenting unique and achievable objectives to empower women or girls and ultimately improve society. It was selected from a pool of strong contenders by an expert panel of judges, including personal finance expert Suze Orman, actress Phylicia Rashad, Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, and experts in business and grantmaking. “Immigrant women face enormous obstacles and this type of pragmatic, compassionate support can be truly life-changing for those lucky enough to receive it,” commented Sarah Ferguson on Sister Pat’s proposal.

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