Women's Leadership Council

I saw something at the Center of Hope that touched me yesterday. I was at a meeting of the Women’s Leadership Council (WLC) of the Tulsa Area United Way. The Women's Leadership Council is a new organization of business and community leaders who have a passion for improving the lives of those less fortunate in the Tulsa area.

The women in WLC are leaders in philanthropy, business and both. Center of Hope director Arletta Robinson took the group of 20 to the second story to see the men’s dorm. It took two elevator rides to fit in the whole group. I was waiting with the women for the second elevator when in walked a couple with two strollers. One stroller held an infant, the other a toddler, a little boy who clearly wanted to be out of the stroller. A woman with our group on the elevator saw the family and looked absolutely stricken. The words “so sad!” slipped out of her mouth before she could stop them, but thankfully, the parents were so busy keeping the little boy under control, they didn’t hear. For the rest of the tour, I saw the same woman fighting tears. Most people don’t know that families stay at the Center of Hope. But when they see that they do, it changes their impression of who we serve forever.

-Sallie