Each year, Our Friends Place honors an individual who has made significant contributions to the advancement of girls and/or women in North Texas. The award is named for Ebby Halliday Acers, the original recipient, to honor her commitment and contributions to our community.

 

The 2011 recipient of the Ebby Award is Lyn Berman, Founder and Executive Director – Attitudes & Attire™

 

Image isn't everything, but it does matter when a woman is looking for a job. That's where Lyn Berman, Founder and Executive Director of Attitudes & Attire™ steps in. Since 1996, Lyn has been helping women, like those at our Transitional Living Center, through the agency's workshop and boutique along with its Hopeful Smiles and Best Foot Forward programs. Focusing on a woman's self-esteem, communication skills, and interview skills, Attitudes & Attires™ has changed thousands of women's lives and helped them on the road to self-sufficiency.

 

Lyn began her professional career in retail fashion and has been an image consultant for more than 20 years.  She created her own business providing workshops and fashion expertise.  She began volunteering with various agencies and discovered her true passion, helping  women seeking self-sufficiency.  Lyn worked for an agency that served women on welfare, where she observed that in their job training, less tangible skills were not being addressed.  She knew they should be taught effective interview skills and professional work demeanor, as well as reminders of their own worth, and belief in themselves.

 

With great determination and a driving passion, she founded Attitudes & Attireä with $500 of her own money and one volunteer, advised 65 women that first year.  In 2010, Attitudes & Attire™ served more than 1,650 women. – over14,000 in all!

 

Reaching out to help other women who have experienced adversity was a natural direction for Lyn.   Growing up with an alcoholic father, she witnessed years of violence at a tender age.   She began working at age 15, married at 20 and had two children.  After a divorce, she raised her kids as a single mom at a time when single parenthood was not the norm.  Lyn has been happily remarried since 1978 and has two grown children and 4 grandchildren.

 

 

For questions and additional information about the Ebby Award, please contact Kristianne Hinkamp or 214.520.6268.

Past Ebby Award Recipients:

Ebby Halliday Acers

Sister Margaret Ann Moser, President, Ursuline Academy

Elizabeth Solender, President, Solender/Hall and Past President, CREW

Sarah Losinger, Philanthropist

Suzanne Bryan, Community Volunteer