SE K N ews
Women’s healthcare in Southeast Kansas is receiving much-needed help thanks to the Rita J. Bicknell Women’s Health Fund at the Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas. The Women’s Health Fund has granted $61,775 to 18 nonprofit organizations across the region in 2025.
In 2007, the establishment of the Rita J. Bicknell Women’s Giving Circle at CFSEK was a philanthropic beginning for women supporting other women in our area with the mission, “To improve the health and wellbeing of women by supporting education, increasing awareness, and sharing quality of life opportunities to benefit all women.”
Today, the Rita J. Bicknell Women’s Health Fund comprises the Women’s Giving Circle, the Circle of Friends, and the Nightingale Endowment. Since 2007, WHF has granted nearly $570,000 to nonprofits in Southeast Kansas. The Nightingale Endowment supports technology upgrades and enhancements at the Irene Ransom Bradley School of Nursing Simulation Hospital at Pittsburg State University. The Women’s Giving Circle and the Circle of Friends pool their financial resources to combat poverty, lack of health care, and improve women’s health education.
“We come together to learn and study the available resources, or lack thereof,
See GRANT, Page 5.
and the needs of women in our area,” said WHF chair Lynda Wilkinson. “It’s amazing the learning that happens during the grant process. We welcome all women to come join us! Together, our dollars go a lot further in helping lift women up in Southeast Kansas!”
The Women’s Health Fund and CFSEK would like to congratulate the following 2025 grant recipients.
Women’s Giving Circle, $55,000: American Advocacy Initiative, Inc. - Road to Recovery Initiative; Angels Among Us – Angel Cafe at the Crawford County Fair; Catholic Charities Inc. - SEK Neighborhood Financial Stabilization Project; Cherokee County Health Department – Post Mastectomy Bra Project; Coffeyville Regional Medical Center Foundation – CRMC Has a Heart for Babies; Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas – Scan for Life; Fostering Connections – EmpowerHer Essentials Grant; Homer Cole Community Center Inc – Let’s Get Movin’; Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters – Sharing the Spirit with Sisters; Ronald Mc-Donald House Charities of the Four States – In-Room Breast Pumps for Guest Families at RMH; and SE Kansas Women Helping Women – Improving Lives.
Circle of Friends Giving Circle, $6,775: Angels Among Us – Angel Cafe; Families and Children Together Inc. - Stay the Course: Clothes & Chronicles; Inspire Health Foundation, Inc. - Inspiring Women Fall 2025-Spring 2026; Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Four States – NICU Mothers & Families – Breastfeeding & Memory Milestones; Safehouse Crisis Center, Inc – Gather Around the Picnic Tables; Tri-Valley Developmental Services, Inc. - Diabetic Kits for Frontline Direct Support Staff Training; and Women’s Resource Center of Southeast Kansas – Parent Education.
The Women’s Health Fund is proud to be able to contribute to these projects in support of women’s health and wellbeing in the SEK region.
The Community Foundation of Southeast Kansas is proud to be the host agency for the Rita J. Bicknell Women’s Health Fund. CFSEK is a public non-profit foundation that serves the region by helping donors fulfill their charitable giving goals in ways that benefit the common good and improve the quality of life. The Fort Scott Area Community Foundation, the Girard Area Community Foundation, and the Columbus Area Community Foundation are CFSEK affiliates. If you would like to learn more about the CFSEK or the Women’s Giving Circles, please visit Southeast-Kansas.org/whf or call 620231-8897.
