December Monthly Chamber Luncheon

Description

Our December Luncheon will be Thursday, December 14th. 

We will be collecting toys and canned food items for the Exchange Club. Please bring something so that we can be a  blessing to others!

Anne Rygiel with Red Cross is our speaker.  Anne is a native of Birmingham, Alabama and received her BA in Legal and Justice Studies in 2003 from Burlington College. After several years living in the Northeast and working in the nonprofit sector with vulnerable populations, she returned to Alabama and received her Master of Social Work from the University of Alabama. Prior to her role as Executive Director of the Mid Alabama chapter of the Red Cross, Anne worked for 11 years as Executive Director of Firehouse Ministries, a nonprofit that served chronically homeless men through emergency sheltering, direct services, and housing. During her tenure at The Firehouse, Anne led a successful Capital Campaign that resulted in building a new homeless shelter (2020) and later built a state of the art pavilion for outdoor service (2022). She also developed and secured funding for the only respite shelter in Alabama, and added new housing programs for people experiencing homelessness and chronic disabilities.  Anne has served on several Boards and advisory committees dealing with Mental Health Issues, Veteran’s issues, and Homelessness, and is very involved in raising public awareness about topics surrounding systemic poverty issues in the Deep South. Anne has received numerous awards for her service and leadership, including the White Wolf award for homeless advocacy, BBJ Top 40 Under 40, Nonprofit of the Year award, and was a finalist for CEO of the Year. She served as Co-chair for Homelessness and Housing for Mayor Woodfin’s transition team in 2021 and remains active in the collaborative, City of Birmingham driven plan to bring microshelter housing for the hardest to house individuals in our community. She is also active in TEDx Birmingham, first as a speaker and now as a speaker’s coach. Anne is married to her husband, Steve, and together they are raising their 18 year old son, Hunter, two rescue dogs and one cat.