Celebrating Viola Sanders for her life's work in advocating for economic justice and welfare rights for the impoverished and underserved in Philadelphia on the occasion of Women's History Month.

Celebrating Viola Sanders for her life’s work in advocating for economic justice and welfare rights for the impoverished and underserved in Philadelphia on the occasion of Women’s History Month. WHEREAS, Ms. Viola Sanders (née Allen) was born on January 29th, 1932, to the late Irvin and Viola Allen in Philadelphia and passed on November 5th, 2008, at 76 years. One of 16 sixteen children, Ms. Viola, was born at the height of the Great Depression, enduring and understanding the experience of poverty from an early age. She moved into the Philadelphia Public Housing Authority’s Cambridge Plaza development with her five children in 1957 and lived there until its demolition. Ms. Sanders relocated to Yorktown Arms Senior Apartments in 2001. She raised her children with the support of welfare income given health complications that barred her from employment. Despite financial hardship, she provided her children with a safe, joyful, and nurturing childhood. And although she did not have the opportunity to finish secondary education, Ms. Sanders encouraged brighter futures for her children, three of whom obtained a college education; and WHEREAS, While caring for her children and struggling herself, she observed similar and worse hardships among her neighbors: Mothers raising children alone; adults lacking opportunities for gainful employment; children attending school hungry and without necessities like eyeglasses and other equipment for special needs. After a medical crisis that occu…