Local women receive awards

“Still functioning.”\nThis simple phrase became the mantra of Wednesday’s Women’s History Month Luncheon after several speakers used it to refer to themselves, including Liz Kirkland, recipient of the Woman of the Year Award at the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center. The 23rd annual luncheon was held to honor women in Bloomington for their services to the community.\nKeynote speaker Allida Black used the words to talk about women’s and human rights.\n“Revolution keeps you young,” Black said. “And that’s why all the women in this room are still functioning.”\nSue Berg was honored with the Lifetime Contribution Award.\n“They’re doing the basic ground work,” Black said of Berg and Kirkland. “They’re doing the bedrock. Without their work, the community will implode.”\nKirkland received the award for her work with women and children at Middle Way House. As a children’s advocate, she works with parents and kids in difficult situations to make sure they have the resources and community support they need.\nKirkland said she doesn’t consider herself “special.” Rather, she said she is proud that people consider what she does noteworthy.\n“My goal and my passion is to make a difference in the lives of women and children,” Kirkland said.\nCharlotte Zietlow, who works with Kirkland at Middle Way House, said Kirkland brings joy to everything she does.\n“Liz is also the woman of the year every year in the eyes of many mothers and kids,” she said.\nZietlow, who introduced Kirkland as “our hero,” recounted last November when she kept answering the door at Middle Way House as people were dropping off Christmas presents as a result of a program Kirkland had coordinated.\n“The stream kept flowing,” she said of the wave of gifts.\nThen in December, “the tide turned” as parents arrived to pick up gifts for their children who otherwise would not have received any, Zietlow said.\n“Day after day, the gifts rolled out of the door into the arms of joyful mothers,” Zietlow said.\nMayor Mark Kruzan presented Berg with her award and spoke about her 22 years of educating the county on everything from “soup to safety tips.” Berg received her award for her work as a county extension educator, where she oversees homemaker clubs and organizations in Monroe County.\nBerg’s leadership and sense of community service began with her grandmother and was translated to her own daughters, who she said are a counselor in Cleveland and a social worker in New Jersey.\nBerg told the audience of mostly women’s organizations and involved city members to “live with your passion and go for it. It doesn’t matter if it’s popular or not.”\nBlack ended the luncheon with a talk about Eleanor Roosevelt and her own work with human and women’s rights. Black is a professor at George Washington University who studied Roosevelt for 20 years and edited the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. \nShe has also helped with PBS documentaries and curated exhibits about the former first lady.\nBlack put a twist on the afternoon’s theme, saying she was “barely functioning” after spending the previous night in Texas with the Clintons and receiving three hours of sleep in the past three days.\nShe said Roosevelt would have been proud of the luncheon and the award winners.\n“She would be euphoric,” Black said. “She worked in a soup kitchen, she worked in an alcohol center, she grew up in a home that was violent.”