IN MEMORY OF JANET K. POMEROY

Janet K. Pomeroy served as President of the Board on Directors of Citizen Advocacy Athens-Clarke (CAAC) for many years. Terminally ill from cancer, she gave up her Presidency, but not her Board membership, at the end of June 2009. She died September 29, 2009.

Janet was a longtime volunteer in the Athens community. Among her many accomplishments, she was one of the founders of the Clarke Community Federal Credit Union. During her tenure as President of CAAC, at a time when the Citizen Advocacy Coordinator position was vacant, the Georgia Advocacy Office (GAO) stripped CAAC of almost all its budget. This meant that no new Coordinator could be hired. By sheer force of will she refused to let the organization die. Working with a few thousand dollars from GAO and funds raised in the Athens community, Janet, with the help of dedicated people like Rufus Addison and Susan Tate, kept the program alive so that the existing matches could be supported. In time she and the Board were able to persuade GAO to fund a two-thirds time and then a full time Coordinator. She was the principal fund-raiser for CAAC, raising thousands of local dollars in gifts and grants. Her amazing strength in very difficult times, hard work in performing almost all CAAC’s administrative duties, and her can-do attitude are impossible to duplicate and will be sorely missed.

The CAAC Board and Staff see Janet’s death as an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to the work of making and supporting Citizen Advocacy matches in the Athens community and to building a local community of persons who believe that Citizen Advocacy is an effective and timely approach to helping persons with disabilities live life to the fullest and to become respected and productive members of our community.

Fred Rossini