The mother of four children, ages 12, 14, 16 and 30, Lansing public relations executive Kelly Rossman-McKinney says she’s been a single mom during most of her working life.
She recalls rushing to get to an important meeting when her youngest son abruptly let her know he was too ill for school by throwing up all over her. She was able to clean up and make the meeting, but the incident was a graphic reminder of the struggle she and other working parents face in balancing parenthood and professional demands.
Meanwhile, her Lansing-based PR firm,
The Rossman Group, continues to thrive. It was recently voted “Most Effective” public affairs firm by
MIRS and
EPIC/MRA's "Insider Survey" for the third year in a row; Rossman-McKinney herself was honored as the top Public Affairs Professional.
When she was looking for a way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the firm in 2008, Rossman-McKinney chose to donate $20,000 to the
Women’s Caring Program (WCP), a nonprofit foundation dedicated to providing disadvantaged young children the access to quality child care that will help get them later in school.
“As a mother of four and as a CEO, I wanted to make a commitment that met both my loves—my work and my children,’’ Rossman-McKinney says.
The donation, and Rossman-McKinney's support of the WCP, stem in large part from the idea that children who start school behind tend to remain behind.
“All of us as a society pay for that, short-term and long-term," she says. "It’s smarter, easier and ultimately way less expensive to invest in children early so they come into kindergarten at the same starting line."
Twilight ConnectionThe WCP is probably best known for a garden party called the Twilight Gathering, held each July. The event is held in Milford, but the group has deep Lansing roots.
“Our Lansing support is immense,’’ says program founder Carol Walters, a former state official who now runs a financial advisory firm, Walters & Associates, Inc. “The event started in the Lansing area 30 years ago. That loyalty’s been maintained over the years.”
The program began in 1979 as a gathering for a few state government friends who wanted to expand their networks. Each attendee was to bring another woman that the others didn’t know and the event kept growing.
It started at Walters’ home in East Lansing and moved with her to a Lansing condo, then moved again 20 years ago to Milford where the family’s English-style gardens serve as the backdrop. The party is held the second Thursday in July, and as many as 800 gather, including women who are corporate executives, lobbyists, business women, moms and legislative staffers, and even Gov. Jennifer Granholm has attended.
The fundraiser is open to anyone (men are not excluded but few attend) interested in supporting the cause. Partygoers dine on donated catered food and are served wine by good-humored men who wear shorts, tuxedo shirts and ties.
But the program is more than the party: Three decades later, it has evolved from a casual cocktail party to the spectacular fund-raising Bash, and a newly formed public foundation that raises money to support quality child care and early childhood education statewide.
The group’s signature program, ChildCare Commitment, last year netted $250,000 to benefit children in 86 families.
Grassroots GrowthAs part of its celebration of 30 years, the WCP began fund raising year-round with smaller, more intimate parties. Two have been held in the Lansing area, and more 30th anniversary “Women’s Caring Parties” are being planned.
“Our ability to grow interest at a grassroots level has just been phenomenal. Women are such great supporters, and they keep engaging new women,’’ Walters says. “We decided that since we’ve been so successful, why not use the model of the Women’s Caring Party?’’
In addition, the group held a “Twilight in Lansing” party in April to honor Rossman-McKinney’s large contribution.
“To have an individual come forward and say, ‘It’s my 20th anniversary. I could have a huge, blowout party, or I could support something that has been near and dear to my heart as a single working mom’ has meant a great deal,’’ says longtime WCP board member Kathy Wilbur of Okemos, who is the interim president of
Central Michigan University and vice president of government relations and public affairs.
Wilbur says the group initially raised money to help fund health care for low-income children, but with the startup of
MIChild, a state and federal health care program for children in low-income families, and WCP looked for a new cause.
Wilbur, a mother of four sons ages 14 to 22, says that the group was debating what to support when it dawned on them that they all were concerned about quality child care, whether it related to their own children or kids in their extended families. The idea was born to sponsor the child care of parents who earned too much for public assistance, but not enough to pay for licensed child care.
“It felt like the glove fit perfectly,’’ she says.
Network Power WCP leaders point to research has shown that for each $1 invested in early childhood education, it saves $16 in reduced social costs and increased productivity. So for $250,000 investment, it will return $3.5 million in the years to come.
Wilbur says the mission is important, but networking is still a big part of the organization. She says she’s benefited over the years from a huge pool of information she gathers from her involvement.
“Instead of seven degrees of separation, it’s more like one or two,’’ says Wilbur, who headed the state Commerce Department and Department of Consumer and Industry Services under former Gov. John Engler.
Other board members from the Lansing area include Madhu Anderson of East Lansing, a former chief deputy state treasurer; Sarah Eubanks of East Lansing, a regional managing director for Standard and Poor’s; Terri Haas-Wittmann, of Lansing, owner of Haas-Wittmann Design, a graphic design studio; Elizabeth Lyon of East Lansing, director of government affairs for the State Bar of Michigan; Maureen McNulty Saxton of Holt, founder of PR Edge, a Lansing public relations firm; and Mary Lynn Noah of Lansing, a department specialist with the Michigan Department of Treasury.
Kim Gregory, owner of the East Lansing event planning company,
Posh Events, has also been an active volunteer from the Lansing area.
“They took what was a powerful social network and worked it into a powerful philanthropic group,” says Rossman-McKinney.
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Judy Putnam lives in East Lansing. She is a former newspaper reporter now working in communications.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:Kelly Rossman-McKinney at the Lansing event celebrating her gift
Some of the Women's Caring group together in Milford
The male waiters
Kelly being recognized in Lansing
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie