2017 Nation of Neighbors

Help YOUR Community Champion

There is only one thing as good as making a difference in your community – helping your community champion who goes above and beyond to inspire and make lives better. Royal Neighbors members have a unique opportunity to support local community champions by nominating them for a Nation of Neighbors^SM empowerment grant.

McKara Caldwell Stitches a Legacy

Royal Neighbors of America empowers women and improves communities through philanthropy programs, such as Nation of Neighbors. Nation of Neighbors awards grants to support initiatives that advance the interests of women or girls.

Changing the World One Stitch at a Time

Lucy Blasi, Aurora, Illinois, has built a volunteer team of seamstresses well known for reaching out to those in need in its local community.

Four-legged Friends Provide a Bright Future for the Blind

Since 1960, the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation in Bloomfield, Connecticut, has bred, raised, trained and placed guide dogs for a wide variety of blind and visually impaired people.

Tracy Rawls offers women an eXclusive new lease on life

When Tracy Rawls, Cincinnati, Ohio, learned she had received a $10,000 Nation of Neighbors award, she knew this was just the beginning for eXclusive Services.

Hope Center Indy brings new life to women

Life takes on a different hue for women when they begin their residence at the Hope Center Indy in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rather than dark and forbidding, it becomes bright and hopeful.

Katie and Cindy Koll—a team that gives back ‘sew’ much

“I got so choked up and cried when I heard we received the Nation of Neighbors℠ grant for $12,000,” said Cindy Koll. She and her daughter, Katie, were nominated by Royal Neighbors member Mary Neece.

Olivia Smithberger ‘sweetens’ the lives of others

Olivia Smithberger, Portsmouth, Virginia, started her tenure with the HER (Help and Emergency Response, Inc.) Shelter as a college intern. From there she moved up to the children’s coordinator, and today she is the client services director.

Dorothy Owsley serves unique population of women

Dorothy Owsley, Roanoke, Virginia, is a disabled Navy veteran whose daughter spent a decade in prison. She founded Transitional Options for Women (TOFW) in an effort to help women released from incarceration build a new and better life.

Life experiences lead Kendra Morgan to Build All Children

Building All Children is a non-profit child development organization founded on the passion of Kendra Morgan, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

A Closet on Wheels: Maddie's Closet

Mothers and daughters know that cleaning the closet of a pre-teen is a seasonal rite that can lead to pleas for newer, trendier and expensive outfits.