/ Women's Expo 2005

Marge was nominated by Cheryl Walsh who wrote:
Marge Ebeling seems to have been put on this earth to do this very thing - - help women reach their full potential - despite the most difficult odds. When Marge decided to become a nurse, she knew she wanted to practice a more "whole body" sort of medicine providing more complete healing. Thus, Marge founded the WellCare Foundation.

The WellCare Foundation is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization that provides integrated healthcare to single working "notch" women and their children who have no access to healthcare. Marge has recruited over 50 practitioners - MDs, NDs, DOs, chiropractors, dentists, massage therapists, psychologists and mental health providers, nutritionists, exercise therapists, acupuncturists, and more - to serve WellCare's patients at no charge. Marge's passion for her mission has been so contagious that she has nearly single-handedly recruited a highly skilled board of directors and an auxiliary board to handle fundraising events. She has led the board in two golf tournaments, two "bowling ball" fundraising events and a nationally-recognized conference on alternative health.

To date, Well Care has provided extended care to over 50 women and 35 children. The practitioners have donated hundreds of hours and over $100,000 in free care to the WellCare patients.

Susan is a Member Services Executive for the Girl Scout Cactus Pine Council. Before becoming a full-time employee for the council, she dedicated hundreds of community service hours to the group even after both her girls were well out of scouts. She spends countless hours trying to empower her girls and also dedicates her weekends to training the girl scout leaders. She makes it her personal initiative to go to the poorest of South Phoenix neighborhoods to set up troops for the girls, some of which who can't afford it, but she seems to still find a way. She faced some trouble with the parents of the hispanic families worrying about their girls, but she took on the daunting task of personally contacting and meeting with all of the parents individually to explain how the scouts could empower their daughters and help them to develop into strong independant women. She manages to find the financial support so that her poor troop wont miss out on any of the things that all the other more wealthier troops get even as far as setting up bus passes on Valley Metro so that she can travel with the troop since the parents are mostly unable to assist her with transportation. From the moment she wakes up till the moment whe goes to bed she is tirelessly devoting all of her time, including weekends to her cause, taking constant emails, phone calls and meetings in order to enrich and empower the lives of her Girl Scouts. Susan has dedicated her life to helping the girls who need it most, and she does it simply our of pure love.

Maria Reyes and I were both engineering students at ASU in the early 90's. Although we were both involved in community service and giving back Maria's commitment surpassed most. She balanced school work with leadership position's and was determined to make changes so more underrepresented people, especially women could have equal opportunities to succeed in engineering and science. Shortly after graduating she took a position at ASU's Minority Engineering Program determined to make a difference. Maria worked on providing tutoring, mentoring, internships and worked in a collaborative effort with other organizations such as SWE (Society of Women Engineers), SHPE, NSBE..etc. She also inspired alumni, especially women to return to campus and serve as role models for her Summer Bridge Program that brought high school students to campus early on to prepare them for success in a technical field. During this time she pursued her master's in engineering and started her family further serving as a positive role model for everyone around her. Maria is currently the director of the NASA center for success in Math and Science at Estrella Mountain Community College whose goal is to insure that under-represented groups are fully prepared to pursue careers that require mastery of mathematics and science. Maria inspires her staff, primarily women, to work closely with the students and local schools to target the local youth as early as 6th grade. Maria continues to balance her director duties, family and her desire to reach out. She organizes events for grades 6 - 12 bringing her network of women engineers and others to speak to the local youth and recently served as a core planning member for an event on March 5th sponsored by Intel in collaboration with community colleges targeting Hispanic girls from the middle and high schools from the lower socio-economic areas. She was truly inspiring as she lead a workshop "What is a Engineer" driving home the message that anyone can become an engineer. The girls, over 115 attended the full day event, were especially moved to learn that Maria recently gave birth to her third child and will be attending Harvard next year to study public administration. I am honored to know and nominate Maria Reyes who is truly deserving of the "Women of the Year" award.

The Jewell Award was established in honor of Jewell McFarland Lewis, previous Chairman of the Board for MAC America Communications, Inc. (former parent company for KTVK 3TV and azfamily.com), whose commitment to education and community service was unsurpassed.

Jewell served on numerous local and state education-related committees, made substantial financial gifts to all three of Arizona’s state universities, co-chaired the Orpheum Theatre restoration capital campaign, and helped to establish the Jewell McFarland Lewis Fresh Start Women's Resource Center in Phoenix. Among her many honors, Jewell was the first woman appointed as a commissioner to the Arizona Power Authority, the first woman inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, and was named a "Historymaker" by the Arizona Historical Society. In addition to the many accomplishments noted above, she also raised five children and had seven grandchildren.

Jewell passed away April 9, 2003. 3TV is proud to honor her memory with such a fitting tribute.

2003 Betty Fairfax
2002 Dr. Gay Brack
2001 Terri Cruz
2000 Isabel McMahel
1999 Dr. Dosia Carlson

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