women helping women
by sandi tomlin-sutker

It’s not news that many of the Baby Boomers are not going to retire in the traditional way or age of their parents—partly because they and the social security system won’t be able to afford it…partly because they want to stay active, maybe even do something they put off earlier in life in order to make a living or raise a family.

Matella (call her Mat) James is just such a person. Retired from a lifelong career as an accountant (she was Comptroller for an insulation manufacturer in Texas) she and her husband decided it was just too hot there and moved to cool, peaceful Yancey County. Yancey, with its county seat in Burnsville, is largely rural and in the past was dependent on textile and other manufacturing plants for jobs. Mat, along with friend, Rebecca (Becky) Whitwer, saw those well-paid jobs leave the area to go overseas; they saw many young, single moms without incomes and decided to do something about it.

Their first project was making holiday wreaths. They bought a machine and employed three women who made 1200 wreaths. Those three moms were “able to have Christmas for their kids”, Mat explains. But they wanted something that could employ more women and extend to the rest of the year.

Mat already had experience in the 1980’s with her own company, Texas Nuts, making and shipping fruitcakes all over the world, so she and Becky decided to try their hand at creating a non-profit organization to bake and sell cakes and other goodies. And it looks like this will be a delicious way to create jobs and hope! In their second year now, they have already sold 8,000 pounds of cake (up from 1,100 pounds last year).

WHO Women (Women Helping Other Women) just received its 501(c)(3) non-profit status. Several months ago they teamed up with the Domestic Violence Center to offer work (initially unpaid) to women staying at the center. On the day we visited the kitchen we met Deanne, a young mother of an 8-year-old son who was living at the center due to depression. “Deanne came to us in August. She was here every day on a volunteer basis and we finally have gotten enough money in to start paying her. She stuck with us through thick and thin!”

Deanne tells me that the work “...gave me hope. I was on the verge of moving back to Alabama although I didn’t want to move my kid out of his school. Working with Mat changed my life.”

“The whole idea of this project is to give back to the community.” Mat tells me about their current and potential successes: “Right now we are in 22 Ingles stores and the Cranberry Nut cakes [my special favorite!] are in Earth Fare stores in four states.” They sell the products at regional festivals and fairs such as the Wooly Worm Festival (yep, there is such an event!) She and her husband went to Baltimore last week to talk with the Whole Foods Company about placing the Cranberry Nut cake in their stores around the country (the all-natural ingredients appeal to that market).

With their new non-profit status, they will be able to get grant money now; they will need a larger space soon and will be able to offer more employment opportunities.

In addition to creating jobs and teaching new skills to local women, proceeds will go into a scholarship fund for junior and senior girls at Mountain Heritage High School. They want to reach those girls (before they quit school) with the opportunity to go to college.

In addition to a delicious (and a bit non-traditional) fruitcake and the Cranberry Nut cake (both Mat’s personal recipes), they have a wonderfully hot/spicy nut mix (pecans, english walnuts and almonds) which has just been ordered by the VFW in Virginia to send to 400 troops in Iraq! Then there are pecan clusters, either white chocolate, sugar-free (they use Splenda™) or milk chocolatecovered…yum! You can order their delicious products by calling 800-967-2156 or email them for an order form at whowbnc@aol.com.

Or if you’re on a diet, you can support them with a donation to WHO Women, Inc., P.O. Box 465, Burnsville, NC 28714…it’s tax deductible, of course.