When you make a difference in a woman’s life, it has ripple effects.

The same goes when you help a child.

That’s the guiding principle behind Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities, a nonprofit that’s been making an impact locally for nearly a quarter century – that empowering women and children leads to healthier families and a healthier community.

“When a woman is in a position of self-sufficiency and is able to handle what she needs to for herself and her family, then everybody prospers. And if kids are in a place where they aren’t struggling, then they’re able (to thrive). The more women and children we can get to that position, the better our community is,” said Alysia Johnson, who serves as executive director of Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities.

The nonprofit dates to the late 1990s. It doesn’t offer programs of its own, beyond its annual fundraising luncheon. Instead, it awards grants to other nonprofits and organizations that make an impact for women and children.

In recent years, it’s granted $200,000 a year.

In all, it’s granted $3.5 million since its founding.

Grants fuel change

Women Helping Women is led by women.

Johnson is the only staff member, and the nonprofit has a nine-member board of directors.

Each year, they select multiple nonprofits to support through grant awards.

This year’s fundraising luncheon is set for Oct. 10 at the HAPO Center in Pasco.

Tickets are still available, but RSVPs are requested as soon as possible.

Theresa Flores is scheduled to speak. She’s a human trafficking survivor who has a master’s degree in counseling education and works to raise awareness. She’s written several books and is the subject of the documentary, “The Girl Next Door.”

Tickets to the luncheon are $100, and all proceeds go to Women Helping Women grants.

Johnson said attending the luncheon is a moving, enriching experience.

She joined Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities nearly a decade ago after attending the event for several years. She brought to the role years of experience in the nonprofit world and the banking industry, plus a passion for the work. It’s rewarding, she said.

The most difficult part of the job is when the leadership meets to settle on grant recipients because there are many impressive applicants, Johnson said.

Alysia Johnson, far right, and some of Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities' board members during a meeting in January 2024. Johnson is the nonprofit's executive director.

| Courtesy Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities

The organizations selected for grants are thoroughly researched.

That’s one of the reasons Women Helping Women is so effective, said Tricia MacFarlan, executive director of Mirror Ministries in Richland. That’s because donors can rest assured that Johnson and the board are doing their homework before writing checks, she said.

Mirror Ministries helps survivors of domestic minor sex trafficking, and MacFarlan said Women Helping Women Fund Tri-Cities has made a significant impact on its work.

“We’re doing the work we’re doing today in large part because of Women Helping Women grants,” MacFarlan said, noting that a $10,000 grant from the nonprofit helped Mirror Ministries establish case manager and advocate services.

The grant paid for the first part-time advocate for sex trafficking survivors.

Mirror Ministries now has multiple staff members working with survivors and it will soon open Esther’s Home in Pasco, a respite for survivors ages 13 to 17.

Women Helping Women has provided several other grants to Mirror Ministries over the years – plus more, MacFarlan said. “Women Helping Women really is about women helping women. It’s not just grants, they also come alongside (by offering) advice, ideas and information about other grants or funding opportunities (they know of),” she said.

‘Better for it’

Much of the money granted each year comes from the fundraising luncheon. Individual donors also make an impact, such as major donor Torena O’Rorke.

This year’s recipients have already been chosen and they’ll be celebrated during the fundraising luncheon, Johnson said. It’s once again an excellent group, she said.

Along with Mirror Ministries, past recipient organizations have included Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, Chaplaincy Health Care, Domestic Violence Services of Benton and Franklin Counties, Elijah Family Homes, Grace Kitchen and many others.

They do their work, powered in part by Women Helping Women, and the good work grows, Johnson said. It’s not uncommon for people who’ve received support from those organizations and others to give back when they’re able, she said.

They donate money or they volunteer their time.

“That is the core of what we’re doing – helping people,” she said. “Then they help people, and then you turn around and the community is just better for it at the end of the day.”