Award-winning entertainer and former welfare mother Naomi Judd will be the keynote speaker for the third annual Power of the Purse benefit luncheon in Greenville on May 7.
The luncheon, sponsored by The Women for Women Fund of the Greater Greenville Community Foundation, will raise money for grants that support initiatives for women and girls in Pitt County. The luncheon will be held at the Greenville Convention Center.
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Naomi Judd
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Judd may be best known as half of the mother-daughter country music singing duo The Judds. She and daughter Wynonna earned 20 Top 10 hits and six Grammy Awards. As a songwriter, Judd won the Grammy for Country Song of the Year for "Love Can Build a Bridge."
In 1991, after selling more than 20 million albums in seven years, Judd was diagnosed with hepatitis C, a potentially fatal, chronic liver disease that forced her early retirement from the music business. Completely cured today, she uses her own experience as a spokeswoman for the American Liver Foundation. She created the Naomi Judd Education and Research Fund to raise hepatitis C awareness and research money.
She also is a former victim of domestic violence who left her husband and raised her two small daughters as a single mother on welfare assistance without medical insurance. She speaks candidly about her experiences, and has written nine motivational and children's books. She is active in humanitarian and social issues, and one of her priorities is the family.
Women for Women Advisory Committee Chairwoman Debi Lee said Judd is expected to "share her personal story of triumph over adversity, domestic violence and disease" at the May 7 luncheon.
Lee said the group hopes the luncheon will draw 800 people, twice the number of women who attended the second annual Power of the Purse luncheon featuring keynote speaker Linda Carter.
Judd will sign books after the luncheon. Attendees will have an opportunity to purchase a limited number of Judd's cookbooks, along with raffle tickets for a David Yurman bracelet donated by Bailey's and table centerpieces donated by Pizzaz.
The Women for Women Fund was established in 2005 for local women interested in becoming effective philanthropists through the power of collective grant-making to meet the critical needs of women and girls in the Greenville area.
The group is open to any women who give a tax-deductible gift of $100 or more to the Women for Women Fund. For more information on Women for Women, visit the Web site www.womenforwomengreenville.com.
Want to see Her?
Naomi Judd will be the keynote speaker at the third annual Women for Women Power of the Purse luncheon at 11 a.m. May 7 in the Greenville Convention Center, 303 S.W. Greenville Blvd. Registration begins at 10:30 a.m. Tickets for the luncheon, speech and a "Love Can Build a Bridge" Tribute Book featuring local women are $100 per person. A limited number of seats are available. Call Vonda Robinson at 756-8116.
