An Advocate for the Poor: Former °µÍø51 Board Member Edna Fairbanks-Williams
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC -- Edna Fairbanks-Williams, appointed to the Board of Directors of the °µÍø51 by President Clinton, died in a car crash May 10 in Castleton, Vermont. She was 77.
Ms. Fairbanks-Williams served on the °µÍø51 Board from 1995 to 2004.
For 40 years, she was a leading advocate for the poor in Vermont. According to the Rutland Herald, Ms. Fairbanks-Williams spent her most recent days making dawn-to-dusk deliveries of free food and clothing to needy neighbors and visiting the Vermont legislature to oppose proposed social services funding reductions.
"Edna brought a real world perspective to °µÍø51 as a client-eligible member. She was a strong voice on behalf of low-income Americans, the elderly and persons with disabilities, and she will be greatly missed," °µÍø51 President Victor M. Fortuno said.
Ms. Fairbank-Williams helped launch the Vermont Low Income Advocacy Council and was a longtime board member of Vermont Legal Aid, the Legal Services Law Line of Vermont and the nonprofit Vermont Dental Care Programs for low-income children. She also had served as an adviser to the Vermont Governor's Commission on Women.