Vancouver YWCA Announces Winners of Val Joshua Racial Justice Awards

The awards will be presented at the YWCA Annual Celebration on Wednesday, January 23rd.

Photos courtesy: YWCA

(VANCOUVER, Wash. ) - The Clark County YWCA in Vancouver says they are pleased to announce Jamie McCoy and Richard Twiss as the 2007 Val Joshua Racial Justice Award winners. The awards will be presented at the YWCA Annual Celebration on Wednesday, January 23rd.

Jamie McCoy, as the preschool director of Learning Avenues Child Care Center, teaches her students to accept everyone regardless of their background. She also serves as president of the Vancouver Heights United Methodist Church Council.

Richard Twiss is the president and founder of Wiconi International, an organization that works to help Native people become leaders in the Christian church. It serves the community through international outreach and advocacy, camps and spiritual events and family ministries.

SOAR International was awarded the first YWCA Youth Social Justice Award for the work they have been doing.

The students in Soar International and their group leader, Jean Walker, work to help students in Rwanda, eradicate landmines in Vietnam and provide school supplies to homeless children in the Portland-Vancouver area. They have raised funds to support their work with a benefit concert at Esther Short Park.

The students involved in SOAR are Dustin Culbertson, Sammi Goon, Zahra Hannani, Cami Kwan, Chelsea Nirk, Katie Philips, Nate Sanabria, Haley Stufflebean, McKenzie Stuple, Morgan Tacke, Kaeleen Vargas, Stephen Walker, and Lucy Whipps.

The community is invited to attend the Annual Celebration on Wednesday, January 23rd at the YWCA Helene Schoen Center, 3609 Main Street in Vancouver. The event will be from 5:30 to 7:00 PM and is free of charge.

The YWCA welcomes S. Renee Mitchell, Oregonian columnist, as the keynote speaker. For more information about the event, please call the YWCA at 360-696-0167.