WEST VIRGINIA WONDER WOMEN
JUDY RAVEAUX Community Growth Judy Raveaux is the CEO of CHANGE, Inc., in Weirton, a community action agency and community health center serving the Northern Panhandle. She’s seen her community rebuilt from the ground up. After National Steel announced the closing of its Weirton plant, 10,000 jobs just disappeared, including Raveaux’s husband Brad’s. “Living through those times, we found the need to start a domestic violence program and shelter,” Raveaux says. “We created a transportation program to help people get to work. The need for food and home repairs lead to our housing programs. We opened a free clinic for the community which quickly transitioned to a Federally Qualified Health Center. We have grown and assisted 25,626 customers last year.” The organization is her heart and soul, and she
credits everything to her family for all the support throughout the years, along with the excellent teamwork involving the board and staff of CHANGE, Inc. “We’re grassroots. We conduct needs assessments based on our communities served, identify those needs, then look to find ways to fund those needs. We involve the community, as we value their input. Our area has had its fair share of good and bad times, but I wouldn’t live anywhere else.” BM
SHERRIE TAYLOR Feeding the Vulnerable
Sherrie Taylor spends her days behind the wheel of her hybrid farmers market–food pantry. She takes the food to the state’s most vulnerable residents and says the suffering from hunger and poverty in the state is immense. She believes that West Virginia residents shouldn’t have to struggle to eat. This is what drives her—to make an impact in the state’s food deserts and directly in people’s lives. Many of her customers can’t travel for food. Many of her customers are housebound. To help, Taylor aggregates food
from her own Thankful Valley Farms and Hatchery and 16 other farms in southern West Virginia. She delivers 8,000 pounds of food each week to points in Fayette, Kanawha, Mason, and Putnam counties. Her trailer is always empty on the return, and her connections with customers are about much more than the food she brings. She tries to impact lives in any way she can, from helping customers without access to clean water to teaching kids healthy eating habits she hopes will take root. “I’ve never been hungry,” Taylor says. “I don’t know what that feels like. I give, and I don’t have to give. But I know that I can be the difference, so I am.” HLT
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