YWCA Missoula will recognize local women at the Salute to Women awards dinner at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, 2010, at the Holiday Inn Downtown at the Park. The event has sold out with more than 330 guests attending. Proceeds from the event will benefit the GUTS! girls leadership program.

For more than 20 years, “Salute” awards have honored women from of all backgrounds who have demonstrated a commitment to creating opportunities for women’s growth, leadership and power and the YWCA’s mission of promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all people.

This year’s winners include:

• Keolani Brewer spends her free time driving elderly women to doctors’ appointments, church and grocery shopping. Brewer is a wife, mother, and grandmother who has volunteered with Hospice, Partnership Help, United Way of Missoula County, Habitat for Humany, the American Red Cross, the Missoula Symphony and her church, Holy Spirit Episcopal Parish.
• Anna Martello has been involved with numerous Missoula nonprofit organizations as a volunteer and champion of social justice. A past board president of YWCA Missoula, Martello currently volunteers with the National Coalition Building Institute and serves on the board of the Brondum Foundation.
• Martha Newell is a community volunteer and philanthropist whose passion and action on issues of fair trade, sustainable agriculture and women’s reproductive rights have enriched the city of Missoula. Newell’s ability to leverage resources to maximize impact has made a profound contribution toward a more just and peaceful community.
• Susan Hay Patrick is the CEO of United Way of Missoula County and a former nonprofit consultant who serves as a mentor to many young women, going above and beyond to listen and give advice and guidance as they develop into the female leaders of tomorrow.
• Stephanie Voisine came to the YWCA domestic violence shelter in 2003. Because she and her two young children were homeless, she was able to move into the YWCA's transitional housing apartments and pursue her sociology degree at the University of Montana, where she received a 4.0 her first semester. Voisine recently graduated with honors and after volunteering on the YWCA's crisis line, was hired as a women's advocate at S.A.F.E., a domestic violence agency in the Bitterroot Valley.

Rising Star Award:

• Hanna Hannan founded the Zootown Arts Community Center at the age of 27. Two years later, ZACC is a thriving arts education center annually serving more than 900 children and adults of all backgrounds and provides a much-needed community center for Missoula’s underserved North side.

Judy Wang Memorial Award:

• Kelly Slattery has been a tireless warrior on behalf of victims of domestic and sexual violence and their children since 1989. Slattery’s career began as a YWCA advocate, and Judy Wang was her mentor, colleague, and friend. Wang and Slattery were founding members of the Missoula Family Violence Council, and Slattery has volunteered with many organizations that honor Wang’s spirit of pursuing justice for abused women and children in the community.

Economic Empowerment of Women Award:

• Gay Peterson is a certified public accountant who has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity of Missoula since 2003, updating the organization’s financial policies and individually mentoring the more than 50 percent of single moms in the program who just want a safe and secure home of their own. Colleague Jeffrey Roth described Peterson as a “community banker,” who helps struggling families in a way that promotes self-sufficiency and allows them the dignity of owning their own home.

Racial Justice Award:

• Maylinn Smith is an associate professor of law at the University of Montana who has mentored, recruited and tutored countless American Indian students over the past 16 years. As the director of the law school’s Indian Law Clinic, she educates her students, colleagues and the community about racial justice issues in Montana.

Thank you to William and Phyllis Bouchee, Jim Royan, financial advisor, and Galusha, Higgins & Galusha for their generous sponsorships of the 2010 Salute to Women awards dinner.