Ways to Give » Annual Luncheon

A heartfelt thanks to this year’s honoree HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, WRC-TV anchor Eun Yang, our distinguished speakers, and approximately 1,000 attendees for making the luncheon an incredible success!

Highlights from 2010 Luncheon

Progress... Power... Women Meeting Today's Challenges

A Warm Welcome from WRC-TV Anchor Eun Yang

"It is my pleasure to welcome each of you to the National Partnership for Women & Families 2010 annual luncheon. I am delighted to be here for the second year in a row.

I am a mother of three young children and a news anchor who works long, nontraditional hours — starting very early on weekday mornings. I worked during all three of my pregnancies, and in my career I have seen — and covered — cases where women and mothers faced stereotyping and discrimination.

That means that, like all of you, I have benefited from the National Partnership’s work. ..."


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Keynote Address: Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius

"Thank you, Debra, for that nice introduction. And thank you to the National Partnership for Women and Families for this lovely award. It’s great to be here with you today.

For almost 40 years, the National Partnership for Women and Families has been a champion for equal rights and opportunities for women. Thanks in no small part to your efforts, those years have brought significant progress.

I was just entering the workforce when the National Partnership launched. At that time, there were huge areas of the workforce that were off-limits to women. And when women and men did work side-by-side, there were huge gaps in pay. ..."

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Debra Ness: "Real change — dramatic change, transformative change, positive change — is possible"

"I can still feel what it was like, on a warm day this spring, to hear President Obama say, 'After a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land!' I thought of the decades of struggle by so many Americans both famous and forgotten. I thought especially of the role women had played in achieving this landmark — Secretary Sebelius, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Mikulski and so many others. I thought of our dear friend Senator Ted Kennedy — who brought us to the mountaintop on this issue. I thought of all those women, men and children who had needlessly suffered in the years before this reform became reality.

But most of all, I thought of all those whose lives will be healthier, happier, and longer because of what we achieved. I cannot find the words to capture what an incredible victory this is. ..."

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Caregiver/Advocate Regina Holliday: Painting a New Picture of Patient's Rights

"I am an artist, a widow and the mother of a child with autism — and, like all of you, I am an activist for better care. From January to March of 2009, my husband Fred Holliday went to his physician a dozen times for pain. He visited two ERs with severe pain and was sent home with pain meds each time. After two months of this, I demanded a diagnosis. On March 25th he was hospitalized for tests. On March 27th the oncologist told my husband — when he was alone — that he had tumors and growths.

The oncologist then left town for four days.

We had no access to the written record and got a brief verbal summary by the on-call doctors. We were continuously hospitalized in five facilities in what would be the last three months of Fred’s life. Fred suffered a broken hip due to a careless shove during a transfer for radiation, skin breakdown because of inconsistent bedding changes, and avoidable complications because nobody was communicating.

No one had all the information they needed to see the whole picture of Fred. ..."

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Ellen Malcolm: "We Will Be There In the Trenches"

"As chair of the board of directors of the National Partnership for Women & Families, I love coming here each year to greet all of you. And I always have something to say!

This year, we gather after an incredible victory. Presidents have been trying for generations to pass health care reform — and this President got it done. It wasn’t easy, and we all know that it wasn’t without a whole lot of drama — but President Barack Obama, with significant help from his Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, got it done. ..."

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