|
 SWAN Foundation
(Serving Women Across Nations) is a family-based humanitarian
project that was born when author Liz Adair and daughters
Ruth Lavine and Terry Gifford published Lucy Shook's Letters from
Afghanistan.
Lucy Shook was mother to Liz and grandmother to Ruth
and Terry. In 1965 she accompanied her husband, Jim, to
Afghanistan to work for the Agency for International Development
(AID). Jim worked on an irrigation project outside of Lashkar
Gah. Lucy was hired to run the 'Staff House' which was a
hotel/restaurant for the American contingent there. In a
country where women were hidden from public view, Lucy found herself
boss-lady to fifteen Afghan men. Her letters home were
wonderfully descriptive of the people, sights, sounds, and
adventures that she experienced over her five year stay in
Afghanistan. Liz Adair and Ruth Lavine edited and prepared the
letters for print, and in the summer of 2003 Lucy
Shook's Letters from Afghanistan came off the
press.
Throughout Lucy's letters is displayed her empathy
and desire to give aid to the people that surrounded her.
Many letters share heartwarming, and sometimes heartwrenching,
stories of the people in need and the simple ways she tried to
help.
In an effort to carry on the same sentiment of
outreach, SWAN Foundation was organized to channel proceeds from
Lucy Shook's Letters from Afghanistan to
help women and children in need.
Terry is mother of six and lives in Sedro Woolley,
Washington, with her husband Matthew, who practices dentistry.
When she was twenty-one, Terry spent a year and a half as a
missionary in Bolivia. Since then, she has yearned to help the
plight of the poor. Her grandmothers letters have opened up
the avenue to better the lives of women and children in stifling
poverty. Terry is the driving force for SWAN
Foundation.
Liz has raised seven children in Ferndale, Washington with her husband
Derrill Adair, who works in construction management. Liz spent years
teaching remedial reading and overseeing a tutorial business. She took time off to
be a full-time mom, and during that time ran her own bakery adjacent
to her home which produced delicious pies, cinnamon rolls and carrot
cakes for restaurants and delis in two counties. Presently, she is fulfilling
a lifelong dream of writing. She has four mysteries
published through Deseret Books.
Ruth lives in Sedro Woolley, Washington, with her
husband, Richard Lavine who is in management for Grocery
outlet. They
have two daughters. The eldest is named after her
great-grandmother, Lucy Alice, who wrote Letters from
Afghanistan. Ruth
gained her computer and business skills while attending college and
working as secretary for an industrial construction company. She now works from home so
as to be with her small children. Ruth was indispensable in
getting the book ready to print.
| 
