Mount Pleasant Magazine 6.3

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runs her own business, South of Broad
Eldercare Services, offering resources
and counseling services for caregivers
to those with dementia. It was not
something she had seriously considered
before R4W.
“I thought about it, but I never
really believed I could do it,” she said.
“I credit the Center for Women for
giving me the confidence that, yes, this
is something I can do.”
Women entering the program
often have low confidence, and one
of the goals of R4W is to rectify that.
Leila Shebaro, an Americorps Vista
volunteer who manages the R4W
program at the Center, considered the
source of that lack of confidence.
“Many women have been told that
they’re not good at their job, or they’re
discriminated against, or they’re pulled
away from the workplace and have a
hard time getting back in,” she said.
“An experience that shattered the way
you view yourself leaves you with a lot
of self-doubt.”
Participants work on building
confidence from week 1. The
volunteers foster a cooperative and
safe environment where walls break
down and friendships form quickly.
Week 1 is such a positive experience,
they can’t wait to come back for
week 2.
When the women “graduate” from
the program, they get a certificate of
completion as well as complimentary
membership to the Center for
Women, where they can take
advantage of the other programs and
networking opportunities the Center
offers. Garrett and Shebaro also reach
out to past participants to ask them
to be mentors. In the future, they
want to track past participants and
measure success rates. For now, they
are happy to watch success stories in
the making.
“Most of the time you can literally
see the transformation,” said Garrett.
“You see a woman at the start who’s
not very interested in being there,
and, over the six weeks, the smile
comes to her face, and her posture
changes. By week 6, she’s ready to
conquer the world.”
“Women are just incredible. They
are amazingly capable and powerful
and dynamic and intelligent,” said
Shebaro. “That’s what I think is so
gratifying about Ready for Work – all
we do is remind women that they
can accomplish what they want to
accomplish. Having the opportunity
to send that message every day is very
rewarding.”
To participate in Ready for Work for
free or to volunteer, contact Leila She-
baro at or at the
Center for Women at 843.763.7333,
ext. 206.