Mary Cunningham Agee, Founder and President of the Nurturing Network

Ten Brigades of Mom’s Building Lives Through Hope

Mary Cunningham Agee Explains the Moral and Social Power of the Nurturing Network

William Sloane Coffin a one time chaplain of Yale University said, “Hope arouses, as nothing else can arouse, a passion for the possible”. This sentiment has been proven true by the ten brigades of women (20,000+) who have faced the despair and social stigma of dealing with an unwanted pregnancy only to become positive beacons of hope and support as a result of having found the non-judgmental, caring environment of The Nurturing Network.

The power of The Nurturing Network lies in the belief that true respect gives way to hope and hope gives way to positive behavior that changes the despair of isolation and embarrassment into a celebration of life and love. A changed life that gives life has a profound impact on a community, and when this happens more than 20,000 times the impact reaches across many communities and touches countless lives. This support comes with a price tag, however, each mom must promise to pass on, to others in need, the hope they have received from their experience with The Nurturing Network.

Catholics@Work is proud to announce Ms. Mary Cunningham Agee, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Nurturing Network will be the featured speaker at the breakfast event on April 13, 2010. Ms. Agee is one of the first women in America to “break the glass ceiling” by serving in the Senior Management of two Fortune 100 Companies as the Vice President of Strategic Planning in the 1980’s. She wrote a best-selling autobiography about her experience at the Bendix Corporation and Joseph E Seagram & Sons and was twice voted by World Almanac as one of the “Twenty-five most influential women in America.”

Ms. Agee earned a BA with Honors from Wellesley College (’73) was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received two Danforth nominations in Moral Philosophy and Ethics. She also earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School (’79) and studied Law and Jurisprudence at Notre Dame University and Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland

Mary Elizabeth Cunningham Agee is the mother of three children - one of whom died in a second term miscarriage twenty years ago. It was this personal loss that redirected her mind from Fortune 500 strategic issues to helping woman who feel a sense of despair and hopelessness because of unwanted pregnancies; a critical societal issue that is often ignored in today’s society. This sense of purpose led her to establish The Nurturing Network an international charitable organization comprised of over 42,000 volunteer resource members who provide for all of the urgent and practical needs of women with unplanned pregnancies.

Mary has talked about how she believes that times of extreme suffering, in our lives, is really God tapping us on our shoulder and extending an invitation for us to take some action that will help us help ourselves by helping others. Mary will share with us some key milestones on her journey, how The Nurturing Network is making a difference and how, we as caring Christians, can in our own ways reach out with hope to touch a need and make a difference.

Attila Bardos, president of Catholics@Work, recalled the words of Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor who said “…just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.” Mr. Bardos continued, “It is this thought that runs through my mind as I learn more about Mary Agee and The Nurturing Network that delivers life altering hope to so many women. Please, all members and previous guest of Catholics@Work, mark your calendar now and plan to bring a friend to hear Mary’s uplifting story of hope.”

The Catholics@Work breakfast event will be held at Crow Canyon Country Club, 711 Silver Lake Drive, Danville, CA 94526 on Tuesday, April 13, 2010. A full buffet breakfast is served starting at 7:00 am (Mass is offered at 6:30am at the same location.) Cost is $20 for members and $25 for non-members.

To register for this event visit http://www.catholicsatwork.org

We ask you to please register on our website, even if you do not want to pay online, so we will be able to ensure we have the necessary seating available.