Editor's Note: The Daily News uses preferred pronouns. When interviewed, Lynda Fields asked to be referred to by the pronoun "it."
310 E. Charles St. has been a haven for many over the years.
In the 1950s and ‘60s Lawana Barnes knew it as the Pigtail Club, where young African-American women and girls had a place to attend events and find a community free of discrimination and racism.
Barnes said her daughter attended the Pigtail Club in the ‘70s, stocking up on “a week’s worth of candy” to share with her friends and going for week-long camping events in the summer.
The building is now home to the Muncie YWCA, a shelter for women and children.
Men, women and children attended the 5th annual “Put Yourself In Her Heels” Saturday. Participants registered for a free orange T-shirt bearing the slogan, “Eliminating racism, empowering women.”
Around 350 people walked a mile in the footsteps of women who have found a home at YWCA, but the real catch — they walked in high heels.
Joe Mook, who says he has been a big supporter of the YWCA for years, works as a travel agent with Great Destinations, one of the event’s corporate sponsors. He participated in the event for the fourth time.
Mook walked in a pair of pointed-toe black pumps with ankle straps and golden zippers up the back for “about the first three blocks” before switching to a more comfortable shoe.
“They’re lower than what I had on last year,” Mook said. “Last year I had six-inch heels on, thought I was gonna kill myself.”
Executive Director WaTasha Barnes Griffin said the route, which started on Charles Street, went past organizations the women walk to during the rehabilitation process such as Open Door Community Services, Christian Ministries and Midstation.
“They really have a glimpse into what we’re doing here and just to connect,” Griffin said. “The coolest thing I saw today was the sea of orange.”
Board chair Michele Hockwelt said that over 60 women were housed in the building the night previous, such as Jo Capshaw who lives in second-stage or longer-term housing on the third floor.
“I made some friends here, and I really like it here because, like Miss WaTasha said, there isn’t things like this in other places,” Capshaw, a former Arkansas resident said. “Unless you were a battered woman and they saw the bruises, or unless you had kids, there was nothing for you."
Capshaw found out about the YWCA after she was hospitalized at Ball Memorial Hospital for 13 days for petit mal seizures, or brief, usually less than 15 seconds seizures, in June.
“I wasn’t gonna have anyplace to go,” Capshaw said. “Someone suggested I call here. So I did, and then they told me how you get in here. And then if you don’t have anywhere to go then you can move into the housing where you can pay the rent, and then you can sign a lease.”
Capshaw used a walker and was given assistance during the event.
“I didn’t think I was gonna be able to finish. I’ve been fighting with my insurance [to get medication] so I have a lot of seizures,” Capshaw said. “I was the last one, but it still feels amazing to be able to finish it and to help raise money for a place that’s helping me."
“It means that our message is out there that we do help women. You don’t have to just have children, that we do help in the community, that we have our doors open and we can help women with their challenges.”
Lynda Fields said it has been at the center for a while.
“When I was married to my first husband he beat me, and my second husband wasn’t any better because he was a momma’s boy,” Fields said. “And the day that I divorced him, his mom put all my stuff in her car and brought me here. I had no idea what I was gonna do, where I was gonna go, or nothing. She just brought me here and left me. She said that, ‘This is where you live now,’ and I got out of the car and she drove off. So I was stuck here by myself.”
Fields said it loved all the presents the residents get from the center, saying its favorite was pajamas.
“The Y means so much to me,” Fields said. “It’s like my home without a home.”
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