Greenville Women Giving

Dr. Mary Fran Crosswell, a pediatrician with the Greenville Hospital System, cares for hundreds of children every year.  But some need special treatment. They are the victims of abuse that come to see her at the Greenville Rape Crisis and Child Abuse Center (GRCCAC).

At GRCCAC’s Children’s Advocacy Center, Dr. Crosswell, or her partner Dr. Nancy Henderson, meet the children in the agency’s colorful exam room. Whimsical details fill the space, and there is a basket of stuffed animals to choose from when the check-up is over. It’s much less-intimidating than going to the hospital.

Drs. Crosswell and Henderson do everything they can to treat these children gently. And one of the things that helps is a colposcope. It’s a non-invasive magnifier with a computer function to detect and record evidence of abuse.

GRCCAC’s development director, Lisa Finley, says the purchase of this expensive piece of equipment would not have been possible without a recent grant from Greenville Women Giving.

An initiative of the Community Foundation, Greenville Women Giving is just three years old but has already made a tremendous impact on many local, nonprofit agencies including GRCCAC, Loaves & Fishes, Safe Harbor, GAIHN and others.

Now 335 members strong and growing, Greenville Women Giving began with a conversation between Sue Priester, Frances Ellison, and Harriet Goldsmith and quickly grew to include 50 women. It was the magic number for the Community Foundation who matched those donations with $50,000 from the Jean Harris Knight Fund.

Of the Community Foundation’s continued annual investment in their budding organization, Priester says, “Their initial support gave us credibility,” but more importantly she adds, the Community Foundation’s network continues to educate their members about needs in the community. “It is a constant voyage of discovery. We learn together as women, the habits and practices of good philanthropy. We are going to keep working on it, hopefully for a long time.”