Karen Robinson and Anne Rubin were recently named the 2019 Women of the Year by the Women’s Fund of the Athens County Foundation.

Karen Robinson has been volunteering with Girl Scouts for over 20 years, co-leading her first troop when her daughter was in kindergarten in 1996. What started out as quality time with her daughter turned into relentless service to the women and girls in her community and abroad. She has been a confidant and role model for all these girls, far beyond the standard weekly meetings and scattered events usually expected of troop leaders. To this day she has led 5 different groups of girls; Troop 1367, Troop 5865, Troop 1367 Part 2, and Troop 5865 Parts who are currently 1st graders, and a Travel Patrol! She’s given these girls so many opportunities including vast travel experience to Mexico, Switzerland, Chicago, Washington D.C., Savannah, and more.  Karen does many behind the scenes task such as creating logos for tee-shirts, developing a database to store information for badges earned and summer camp. She has spearheaded many fundraisers as well as planned many events, camps and trips.

Born and raised in Athens County, Karen Robinson has been a Representative Payee for Hopewell Health Centers since 2001. Volunteering with Girl Scouts of Black Diamond Council for the past twenty three years, one of her joys has been to see many of her scouts grow and become successful adults. Karen has served as a troop leader, Membership Advisor, and Treasurer for the Adena Service Unit, as well as a mentor to other leaders within Athens Area Girl Scouts. Scouting has been a passion of Karen’s and she has helped create opportunities for hundreds of girls over the years.

When Anne Rubin began practicing in Athens, there were only a handful of woman attorneys in the region. Throughout Anne’s career, for over 35 years, she has represented low-income victims of domestic violence in Athens County in a variety of family law matters. She has also represented woman and children in healthcare and benefits matters, helping insure they receive medical treatment and public benefits they are entitled to under law. She has kept woman housed through challenging evictions and other housing law matters. She has assisted pregnant women in asking for accommodations from their employers.  Anne became the managing attorney of the Athens SEOLS office in 2002.

Not only has Anne represented individual woman in cases in the Athens Area for over 35 years, she has also advanced impact litigation to change circumstances for all woman in the area.  For example, Anne represented a mother in the Court of Appeals where the trial court had denied her custody based on her “social practices” even though the father was physical abusive to her and she had been the primary caretaker for the child’s life.  Anne was successful, the mother retained custody, and the court established rule minimizing the court’s ability consider social practices if they do not have a detrimental effect on the child.

Anne Sessums Rubin is Managing Attorney of Southeastern Ohio Legal Services’ Athens office. Anne began working at SEOLS as a law clerk when it opened its Athens office in 1980 and has worked in the Athens office since then.  Presently, she manages daily operations of the civil legal aid office serving seven counties, including Athens.  She has a robust general poverty law practice representing low income persons in state and federal administrative and court proceedings.  Anne served on the Board of Directors of IPAC (Integrating Professionals for Appalachian Children), a regional non-profit rural health network, and has been on the Hocking-Athens-Perry Community Action Agency board of directors since 2002.  Anne has a B.S. degree in Social Work from Ohio University and obtained her J.D. at Ohio State University.

Other nominees for this year’s award were: Amy King, Andrea Reik, Kari Gunter-Seymour, Molly Wales, Skye Hope, Teresa Curtiss, Tessa Evanosky.

The mission of the Women’s Fund of The Athens County Foundation is to promote philanthropy among women, and to establish a permanent fund which will provide funding to programs and projects in Athens County which empower women to achieve their full potential. Each year the Women’s Fund awards grants to Athens County non-profits which benefit women and girls. The 2019 recipients are:

Athens County Child Advocacy Center- $2,237
Birth Circle – $2,237
Health Recovery Services- $500
Innovation Ohio Education Fund- $2,000
Women For Recovery – $2,237

The Advisory Board of the Women’s Fund honored Karen Robinson and Anne Rubin, along with the other nominees, at the Annual Spring Luncheon on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 from 12:00 – 1:30pm at OU Inn.

At the Athens County Foundation we invest in local strategies to empower Athens County residents and build on the strengths of our region, now and for generations to come.

For more information please call 1-740-594-6061 or go to www.athensfoundation.org

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