Retired U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach headlined the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina's final 'Power of the Purse' event Tuesday in Asheville. Wambach spoke at the event, and $341,800 in grants were awarded through the CFWNC's Women for Women giving circle. Since 2006, Women for Women has awarded more than $3.8 million in grants.
Wambach's speech at 'Power of the Purse' focused on her new book "Wolfpack", which she started following a 2018 commencement speech Wambach gave at Barnard College. In an interview with BPR before 'Power of the Purse', Wambach said her goal was to get people to figure out what they believe, and to question why they believe it, and if they still believe it today.
As for why 'Power of the Purse' is ending after 15 years, Sheryl Aikman of CFWNC says when they started the event 15 years ago, it was one of the few annual events where a major national speaker came to Asheville. "We're now so fortunate that there are many opportunities for that throughout the course of the year," Aikman told BPR. "The work that the Women for Women giving circle and the funds and the work the grantees are doing in Western North Carolina probably deserved a different kind of platform for sharing the impact for the future of that work." Aikman didn't have details on what the CFWNC would do to replace 'Power of the Purse', saying it's an internal conversation the organization is having right now.
WAMBACH INTERVIEW TIME CODES
0:18 - Why she chose to write a book as opposed to some other medium
2:58 - Wambach explains why she wrote that she's 'used to playing a game where the rules were set up not for me to win'
5:25 - Why it's important at this point in history to ask why we believe in what we believe and do we still believe in it
8:37 - How can women do a better job of building each other up than tearing each other down
10:49 - What her message to the 'Power of the Purse' attendees would be
This story has been corrected to show the amount of grants awarded through 'Power of the Purse'