[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I rise today to celebrate Women's 
History Month. This March, we pay tribute to the generations of women 
in America whose commitment to their community, their State, and their 
Nation has proved invaluable to society. I know Kentuckians are proud 
this March to honor the more than 2.2 million women who live in the 
Commonwealth.
  Women's History Month began as a national celebration in 1981 thanks 
to an act of Congress, and since 1995 every President has issued an 
annual proclamation designating March as Women's History Month. For 
Women's History Month 2013, I would like to shine the spotlight on some 
very admirable women's groups in Kentucky who are working hard to make 
the Bluegrass State a better place for women to live, grow, and 
prosper--and making history themselves.
  The Family Scholar House in Louisville is an organization that 
strives to end the cycle of poverty for many women by giving students 
who are single parents the support they need to earn a 4-year college 
degree. By working from poverty to self-sufficiency, these parent-
students are then able to provide their children with a better life. 
The Family Scholar House is transforming families and communities 
through the power of education, and I had the pleasure of meeting with 
some of this organization's leaders in my Capitol office last week.
  The Chrysalis House, in Lexington, provides substance-abuse treatment 
programs for women. Their mission is to support women and their 
families in recovery from alcohol and drugs. In operation for over 34 
years, Chrysalis House specializes in treating substance-dependent 
expecting mothers, allowing them to keep their newborn babies with them 
while in treatment. They also counsel the children of these women on 
substance abuse prevention. Chrysalis uses a combination of the 12-step 
program, long-term living arrangements, and a caring and nurturing 
environment to ensure women and their families live fulfilling lives 
free of abusive substances. I have visited Chrysalis House and seen 
firsthand how much good they are doing, and I want to especially 
recognize president Lindy Karns and her husband, Rick Christman, for 
their dedicated efforts.
  The Hope Center, also located in Lexington, is an organization that 
addresses homelessness on multiple fronts. They provide food, shelter, 
and clothing to the homeless; recovery for those who are addicted; 
health services for the sick; diagnosis and treatment for the mentally 
ill; employment services for those looking for work; housing for those 
who need it; and childcare and higher education opportunities for 
single-parent families. The Hope Center seeks to identify the 
underlying causes that compel people to seek out their services and 
then work to address them in fundamental ways.
  The Isaiah House, located in the town of Willisburg in Washington 
County, seeks to provide real hope for those who suffer from addiction. 
This faith-based program helps men but also has special facilities and 
programs for women. They exist to help provide women struggling with 
drug or alcohol addiction the peace and serenity they have been 
searching for, through counseling that tends to the spiritual, mental, 
and physical needs of the residents.
  Then we have the Western Kentucky University Sisterhood. Western 
Kentucky University, located in Bowling Green, is one of the 
Commonwealth's leading universities, and with women making up 65 
percent of the school's current students and half of all alumni, the 
WKU Sisterhood is a way for women to make an impact at the university. 
The WKU Sisterhood is a group of women who donate at least $1,000 each 
and then decide collectively how that money shall be used. Two grant 
recipients, the groups Women in Transition and Project CLASS, are both 
programs specifically geared to help women succeed in college.
  The New Opportunity School for Women, located in the town of Berea, 
was founded to improve the educational, financial, and personal 
circumstances of low-income, middle-aged women in the Appalachian 
region of Kentucky. In the past 23 years, the New Opportunity School 
for Women has hosted more than 580 women in its 3-week residential 
program and provided hundreds more with career and educational outreach 
and counseling.
  What a marvel it is to consider all of the resources, programs, and 
charities that have been founded in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, by 
women, for women, to empower women to improve their own lives and then, 
in turn, improve their communities. Kentucky is truly blessed to have 
so many people of compassion.
  This Women's History Month is an entirely appropriate occasion on 
which to pay tribute to them and their accomplishments on this floor. I 
know my colleagues in the U.S. Senate join me in congratulating the 
leaders and supporters of the several groups I have enumerated here, as 
well as the many others I did not get to mention, for their good works. 
And the people of Kentucky thank them as well. History will remember 
them for their dedication and achievements.

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