Aurora Women & Girls Foundation

Events

Recent Events:

February 9, 2011 – Organizations that received funding from the Aurora Women and Girls Foundation were featured at Aurora Foundation for Women and Girls' Annual Meeting at the Hartford Golf Club.

meeting

Pictured (left to right) are grantee representatives Lynne Williamson, Founder and Director of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program, Matt Fitzsimons, Head of the Grace Academy in Hartford; and Kathleen Bornhorst, Aurora Grant Committee Chair.

table
Attendees at the 2011 Aurora Foundation for Women and Girls' Annual Meeting.

April 13, 2010 – A Capitol Idea" to Celebrate Connecticut's Past Women Leaders and Inspire Greater Hartford's Women and Girl Leaders of Tomorrow

Aurora Women & Girls Foundation and The CT Women's Hall of Fame partnered to raise awareness and visibility about their respective missions. We gathered at the Capitol and celebrate Connecticut's Past and Current Women Leaders from a variety of disciplines whom the CT Women's Hall of Fame has honored, while we learned about how both organizations are inspiring and developing our future women and girl leaders.

Women and Philanthropy: The Time is Now
March 10, 2010

March 8th marked International Women’s Day, a time for us to join women across the world in celebrating our achievements and in drawing attention to continuing issues of gender inequality.

Aurora Women & Girls Foundation kicked off the year with the first of its house parties at the home of Annie Lazarus. The party was hosted by Annie, and Aurora supporter Chiaw Eei Ng-Gibson. Over thirty guests attended and learned more about the important work Aurora Women & Girls Foundation is doing to invest in and inspire women and girls in the Greater Hartford community. Aurora supporters are busy planning 10 other house parties in the community, so if you would like to attend one or better yet, introduce someone to Aurora Women & Girls Foundation by bringing someone to a house party, please email us at info@aurorafoundation.org

Ted and Cathy Fleming, Chiaw Eei Ng Gibson, and Kristen Colleto at February House Party

Helen LaKelly Hunt, was a co-founder with her sister, Ambassador Swanee Hunt, of Women Moving Millions, an ambitious campaign to raise $150 million dollars exclusively from individual donations of one million dollars or more by women of high net worth. Though conducted through much of the current economic crisis, the campaign nevertheless raised the record-breaking sum of $176 million dollars. Ms. Hunt Helen LaKelly Hunt is an activist within the women's movement. She is founder and president of The Sister Fund, a private women's fund dedicated to the social, political, economic, and spiritual empowerment of women and girls. Committed to building a society that invites the full participation of all, Helen has long recognized the need to strengthen women's rights and leadership. She helped start a number of women's funding institutions, including the Dallas Women's Foundation, the New York Women's Foundation and the National Network of Women's Funds (now the Women's Funding Network).

2009 Signature Event, Speaker Helen LaKelly Hunt
(Photo by Bill Shea)

2011 Signature Breakfast

To Our Patrons and Friends in the Greater Hartford Community,

We would like to extend our sincere thanks for your patronage and support of our October 4th Signature Breakfast Event. What a wonderful opportunity it was to come together in support of the women and girls of our region, while honoring both Marge Morrissey and Alicia Torres- Maldonado for the commitment they have made to strengthening the Greater Hartford community by sharing their own time, talent and treasure. We, along with all of the attendees, were also truly inspired by the work of West Hartford native and keynote speaker Rosanne Haggerty in her continuing quest to find workable solutions to homelessness that honor the dignity of all individuals.

Thanks to your generosity, over $60,000 was raised that morning to support the Foundation’s mission of providing funding and collaboration for projects that will benefit the women and girls in our region!

We are united in our resolve to move the Aurora Foundation to the next level of excellence as we build this long-held dream of our Founders and Early Believers into the strong philanthropic resource they envisioned over a decade ago. Stop by and visit us at our new office at 80 South Main Street in West Hartford, or give us a call to see how you can be part of the Aurora vision.

With gratitude,

Cheryl Dumont-Smith, Executive Director
Clare Feldman, Board Chair

Watch the Event Slideshow

Event photography and video donated by Marcie Sener.

The 2010 Signature Breakfast Was a Success!

On Tuesday, October 5th, 2010, more than 200 guests were in attendance to celebrate Aurora Foundation for Women and Girls 10th anniversary as a proud financial supporter of women and girls programming in Greater Hartford during the 2010 Signature Breakfast at The Hartford Golf Club. ING was the presenting sponsor. This year’s breakfast was particularly special as it also helped kick off Aurora’s first major gifts campaign.

Left: Kathy LeMay / Right: Helen Gray and Elizabeth O’Neill (photos by Bill Shea)

Kathy Lemay, founder, president and CEO of Raising Change was this year’s guest speaker. Kathy shared her remarkable and inspirational journey as a social change agent, beginning with her experience in war-torn Yugoslavia where she worked with women survivors of the siege and rape-genocide camps. For fifteen years, she has been a social change fundraiser raising more than $100 million dollars in the fields of women’s human rights, hunger and poverty relief, and movement-building. "She challenged the audience to understand that there was no one coming to solve problems in our community and in the world but us”, said Clare Feldman, President of the Aurora Foundation Board of Directors.

Also in attendance were two very remarkable individuals who were being recognized for their contributions to the Greater Hartford community. Helen Gray was named this year’s Aurora Woman Philanthropist and Elizabeth O’Neil was honored as the Aurora Young Philanthropist of the Year. ‘The women we are honoring this year embody Aurora’s mission”, said Event Chair, Jan-Gee McCollam. “We are very proud to recognize both Helen and Elizabeth for their charitable contributions and leadership as female philanthropists in our community”.

Kathy LeMay at the Women’s Group Session (left to right: Kathy LeMay, Susan Dunn, Nancy Roberts, Sally Weisman)

Pre-Event Dinner at Carle Mowell’s Home (left to right: Carle Mowell, Jan-Gee McCollam, Kathy LeMay, and Kathy Brady from CIGNA)

Financial support for the 2010 Signature Breakfast was generously provided by the following companies (click on the logo to link to their website):