It could be a death, a layoff, or another sudden hardship. When that unexpected event, the kind that could bring anyone to their knees financially, happens to a woman in Big Piney, there is a place for her to turn.

Recently, one young woman was left by her mate. She was eight months pregnant and had a two-year-old, and she was behind on her payments. A Woman’s Work took care of two months’ rent for her.

A Woman’s Work operates in Big Piney, Marbleton, and LaBarge, providing immediate funds to women and their families without any expectation of repayment. Money is given for necessities like rent and bills. AWW rescue funds allow women and their families to stay in their heated, lighted homes while they handle their burden.

In 2003, AWW was founded in Longmont, Colo., and then the baton was passed to Big Piney’s Executive Director, Lavonne Stevens. The Wyoming Community Foundation, through the Upper Green River Sustainable Communities Endowment Fund, granted AWW philanthropic funds in 2008.

“I want the focus to be on the women we help and on you, organizations who support us. We couldn’t do it without you,” Stevens said. She speaks for AWW with personal conviction.

“My heart is into it, my passion is into it, because I grew up with my mother raising three kids and working … and if our car broke down it put us into turmoil. One little thing would rock the boat. We went hungry sometimes. My mother was a very self-sufficient, hard-working woman and taught us to keep working. I grew up seeing my mother struggle, so I grew up wanting to help other women like that.”

She described Big Piney as a town where people help their neighbors when they can, but how it’s often difficult to know how to give aid in situations that AWW deals with.

“People in our community are shocked at how fast this has grown and how successful it’s been in such a short time,” she revealed. “And the reason, I believe, is we started with 100 women giving 100 dollars in 100 days.”

Stevens was referring to the way AWW started in Big Piney. One hundred local women pledged donations to start the organization and keep it going. Many of the referrals that AWW receives about needy women in the community come from the donors.

“We have a lot more eyes in the community to bring those women to us,” she said.

Another woman aided by AWW had lost her husband. He had been unemployed for a month and left no savings. Her job couldn’t cover all the bills, and rent was past due. AWW paid for two months rent, her electric bill and the cost of cremating her husband.

“We’re giving them the money to become stable and hand up,” Stevens said.

An AWW mantra is “hand up not hand out.” It isn’t their mission to aid women who aren’t already helping themselves. It’s about getting women back on their feet after a fall to achieve long-term stability in their lives and those of their loved ones.

One mother lost a daughter to diabetes. One of her three children became depressed over the loss and needed counseling. She was afraid that if she left work to drive the child for help each week she would be fired, and that couldn’t happen since she owed money. AWW covered the large sum it took to pay her debts.

AWW is important there in south Sublette County because job availability is low, divorce is high and often, “Women are left in an area that’s difficult to sustain yourself,” Stevens said. Despite the obstacles in Big Piney, “our small-town community, people really care about each other,” she said.

“With A Woman’s Work it just comes together so perfectly.”