Keely Saye, public relations; Savannah Coulter; and Della Coulter The Columbia charity Women in Philanthropy held its seventh annual Power of the Purse auction, Thursday evening, May 20, in the Capital City Club’s main ballroom. There were more than 200 women in attendance, who were helped a bit by the two men in the room, Jimmy Derrick, volunteer auctioneer, and John Temple Ligon, volunteer reporter.

Founded in 2002 by 16 businesswomen and community activists in the Columbia area, Women in Philanthropy is an affinity group of the United Way and a partner with the Central Carolina Community Foundation. The investments of Women in Philanthropy create positive, measurable, long–term change in the lives of women and children by focusing on root causes and pooling resources to increase the impact.

Chair at Women in Philanthropy is Stacey Atkinson of the Dept. of Juvenile Justice, and her honorary co–chair is Louise Slater. Hope Whitesides is the liaison, who can be reached at the Women in Philanthropy office at 748.7287 or at hwhitesides@uway.org.

Jimmy Derrick, volunteer auctioneer The auction of 66 purses raised almost $9,000, which will go to the organization’s grant program.
Stacey Atkinson, chair, Women in Philanthropy and Robin Gorman, past chair
Dee Albritton, Fast Forward, and Mary Balbach, director of Leadership, United Way
Jenny Kennedy, Lexington Interfaith Community Services (LICS), and Michelle Eargle, LICS