‘Lights, Camera, Liberation!’ event raises more than $100k for Women’s Health Center of West Virginia

By Matthew Young, RealWV

LEWISBURG, W.Va. – “We’re so focused on this big dream – and the big dream is restoring access to the essential right to reproductive healthcare here in the Mountain State. But until then, we’re doing the things that we can to hold the line, and keep our doors open.”

That’s what Ramsie Monk, development director of the Charleston-based Women’s Health Center, said Wednesday, while speaking with RealWV. Monk’s comments were made while discussing the successful “Lights, Camera, Liberation!” fundraising event held last Thursday at Lewisburg’s Lewis Theatre.

The fundraising campaign, Monk noted – which was highlighted by last week’s event – has raised more than $100,000 thus far in Greenbrier County. 

“Donations are still coming in,” Monk said. “This is not a movement that was just started because abortion was overturned – this is decades-long efforts of people who certainly came before me. People like the women who are feisty, and ready to roll up their sleeves and help us get to work in Greenbrier County.”

“Almost all of the dollars came from West Virginia,” Monk explained. “We did have a few folks with West Virginia-ties who gave, but that was a small fraction of the amount of dollars that were fueled right here in the state.”

In total, the “Lights, Camera, Liberation!” campaign raised $112,127 for the Women’s Health Center. 

“It’s a testament that when times get tough, West Virginians get tougher,” Monk added. “We’re not going to let any politician control what we do with our bodies.”

The fundraising campaign was a joint effort between the Women’s Health Center, and the Greenbrier County Democratic Women’s Club, of which Lewisburg-resident Sarah Umberger is a member. 

“The Women’s Health Center was a dream to work with,” Umberger said. “The generosity of our community helped keep our expenses down, and allowed almost all of the donations to go directly to the center.”

The biggest expense, Umberger noted, was the rental cost of the venue.

“The Democratic Women’s Club made a donation to cover that expense,” Umberger added. 

As stated on their website, the goal of the Women’s Health Center “is to provide high-quality, nonjudgmental, accessible, and affordable reproductive healthcare and harm reduction services to all West Virginians.” 

Additionally, their website states that, “Our center is committed to providing a safe and affirming environment no matter your gender identity or sexual orientation with experience and sensitivity. We are proud to provide quality reproductive, sexual and preventative healthcare to LGBTQIA+ patients.”

Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, PEIA, Aetna, and The Health Plan are among the insurances accepted by the Women’s Health Center. 

“Thousands of women have fled our home state to get access to life-saving abortion care,” Monk noted. “People had to stop what they were doing, take time off from work, possibly arrange childcare, plan for their meals for the next two days, find a hotel that is affordable, and scrounge up the gas money to get there. This is on top of all the everyday things that marginalized, low-income folks – like the majority of our population here in West Virginia – have to deal with to have their basic healthcare needs met.”

After the success of the fundraising campaign, and with the next round of state and federal elections fast approaching, Monk said she hopes that “people continue this energy of being unapologetically pro-choice, standing up for people who don’t have a voice, and taking care of our neighbors.”

“At the end of the day, no matter who is in office, no politician is coming to save us,” Monk continued. “We are. The fight for reproductive freedom is a marathon, not a sprint, and Mountaineers are in it for the long haul.”

“We will never give up on this,” Monk added.

According to Monk, with the potential 2026 closure of seven hospitals within West Virginia, it is more necessary than ever for the Women’s Health Center to “keep our doors open and step up to take care of our community as we’ve been doing, and as we now embark on our 50th year of doing it.”

Part of taking care of the community going forward, Monk noted, will possibly include establishing a primary care clinic within the center. 

“We are the only clinic, as of right now, in the entire state that is actively advertising that we are providing gender-affirming care,” Monk said. “We’re meeting that population where they are. Through our harm reduction program, we have seen over 4,000 participants at our clinic, and 90% of them are unhoused.”

What makes our clinic so unique is that we’ve always cared for the most marginalized, without stigma and without judgement,” Monk added. “People who are oftentimes turned away from the quote, unquote traditional healthcare clinics, we bring them in and we welcome them, and we give them the care that they may not have had in quite some time.”

Over the coming year, Monk said, the Women’s Health Center intends to “amplify” its message. 

“In our Appalachia, we deserve bodily autonomy, and we’re not going to stop until we get it,” Monk added. 

To learn more about the Greenbrier County Democratic Women’s Club, visit greenbrierdemwomen.org. For more information about the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, visit womenshealthwv.org.