Oasis Counseling Center

02/18/2026

This really resonates with me. I run a group for individuals with chronic illness and I deal with chronic illness myself on a daily basis. One of my diagnoses is Rheumatoid Arthritis. My hands are often painful and already damaged. I’ve had surgery on one hand and need it on the other. I buy shredded and frozen chopped veggies as a way to navigate cooking meals.

02/18/2026

02/18/2026

November 1978. Downtown Denver. A line of women stretches around the city block, some clutching envelopes, others gripping checkbooks, a few carrying cash they'd hidden at home for years.

They weren't there for a sale or a concert. They were there to open bank accounts. At a bank that finally treated them like adults.

Just four years earlier, American women had won the legal right to get credit cards without a man's signature. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 said banks couldn't discriminate anymore. But laws on paper don't rewrite institutional culture overnight.

Walk into most banks in the late 1970s, and you'd find the same old attitudes wearing new masks. A woman's salary? Supplemental income. A female business owner seeking a loan? Too risky. A divorced woman trying to rebuild? Suspicious.

The system had been forced to let women in. But it sure as hell wasn't rolling out the welcome mat.

So eight Colorado women stopped waiting for invitations. Carol Green. Judi Wagner. LaRae Orullian. Wendy Davis. Gail Schoettler. Joy Burns. Beverly Martinez. Edna Mosely. Each committed $1,000 of their own earnings as seed money. Together, they rallied investors and raised $2 million to do something unprecedented in the West.

They opened The Women's Bank. Not a lending circle or a feminist fundraiser. A fully chartered, federally insured commercial bank. The first women-owned bank west of the Mississippi.

The founders figured maybe a few dozen curious customers would show up on opening day. Instead, women flooded in by the hundreds. By closing time, they'd deposited over one million dollars.

One million. In one day.

These weren't just transactions. They were declarations. Every deposit said: I trust you to see me as I am. Every new account meant: I'm done asking permission to control my own money.

The Women's Bank went on to finance businesses that male bankers had dismissed. It offered financial education. It proved that a bank centered on women's economic reality wasn't charity work. It was smart business.

Gail Schoettler later became Colorado's Lieutenant Governor. The bank eventually merged with larger institutions, as community banks did. But the message had already spread. Women across the country saw what was possible when you stop asking for a seat at the table and build your own institution instead.

Today, when a woman signs for a mortgage or launches a business without a male cosigner, she's standing on ground those eight women broke open. They didn't just start a bank. They proved that women's economic power was never the problem. Access was. And access could be seized, not granted.

02/16/2026

Mychal Threets! Mental health advocate.

02/16/2026

The New Menopause by Dr. Mary Claire Haver
The Pause Life by Dr. Mary Claire Haver

02/08/2026

Healthy people stay in a growth mindset, stay accountable, and stay persistent.

02/04/2026

A few more books from my shelves.

02/03/2026

02/03/2026

Amazing show and an amazing non-profit!

Join us for an unforgettable night of truth, healing and community as an all local cast performs the iconic The Va**na Monologues, February 5th, 6th and 7th at the historic Marigold Auditorium in Winterville!

Showtime is 8pm, doors open at 7:30 pm. The performance is 2 hours with an intermission. Concessions will be for sale and there is free parking. For more about this production, and for detailed parking information, go to our website northgeorgiacottage.org

The mission of The Cottage is to end sexual violence and child abuse through healing, advocacy, and education. The Va**na Monologues invites audiences to witness both the pain and the beauty of what it means to exist in this world, whether you identify as a woman, as feminine, or with having a va**na. It creates space for truth-telling, connection, and healing, and reminds us why this work matters.

We are so grateful to our presenting sponsors Starship Enterprises and Good Dirt Clay Studio for their support of this production!!

Get your tickets today!
https://www.northgeorgiacottage.org/the-va**na-monologues

02/03/2026

Support a local business and an amazing non-profit by participating in a raffle with one of two fun themes. 💜

01/28/2026

Normalizing avoiding commenting on each other’s bodies.