Yvonne Smalley Young, RN, a Winning Women Network volunteer, provides foot care to a resident at MUST Ministries Elizabeth Inn Shelter.

Four years ago, friends Shirley Ritchie and Angela Johnson had retired from the military and were at a crossroads in their careers. They had dreams, but knew they needed to get their finances in better shape.

"They say that necessity is the mother of invention. We both needed a better credit score to do what we wanted to do, so we decided to start an investment club," said Ritchie, RN, BSN, a case manager at North Fulton Regional Hospital and Piedmont Hospital.

They invited eight friends to join them and began learning about budgeting, getting out of debt, mortgages and the stock market. Each member agreed to a $30 per month investment to start Winning Women Network Inc. and agreed to a five-year investment commitment.

"The idea was to invest a dollar a day in ourselves," Ritchie said.

It took a year for the group to select a broker and open a portfolio with Edward Jones. "We always did the research ourselves
and we bought what we knew - Clorox, Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart, UPS," she said.

The women, who also supported each other through births, deaths, divorces and career changes, saw their finances improve and their nest egg grow.

The group branched out into mutual funds and e-trading. "After the second year, the club was on solid ground and the portfolio on auto-pilot, so we decided it was time to give something back," Ritchie said.

The community service projects have stemmed from the interests and talents of the 10 members.

Ritchie, who had worked her way through nursing school by giving pedicures and foot treatments, followed her "passion for feet" to start the nonprofit company Affordable Feet. She and other members, including Yvonne Young, a certified diabetic educator, provide free foot clinics, diabetes screenings, education and shoes to people in nursing homes, churches and homeless shelters.

"In the last 18 months, I've helped about 300 people with foot-care problems," Ritchie said.

She pays for most of the supplies herself, but the group has started fund-raisers to help with the costs. The focus is to assist the homeless and underinsured in detecting diabetes, and to decrease the number of diabetes- related amputations.

Group members also formed the nonprofit organization, Spiritual Partners for Community Case Management, which, for a modest donation establishes a care plan and finds community resources to help high-risk, underinsured patients manage their illnesses after they're released from the hospital.

SPCCM volunteers do home assessments, serve as physician liaisons, navigate through insurance forms and monitor medications.

Recently, Winning Women Network teamed up with Atria of Buckhead Assisted Living to support homeless single mothers at the Our House Children's Shelter in Decatur.

"They needed business suits and shoes for their jobs, so we collected those," Ritchie said. "We just held a Christmas in July charity auction to be able to fund other needs there. We've committed to being mentors, resume writers, financial advisers and
job locaters for a year to these women."

Other members give budgeting and financial talks and participate in health fairs at community centers. At an annual caring and sharing buffet, they treat caregivers who care for sick loved ones to lunch, gifts and encouragement. They've done beauty makeovers for health care aides in nursing homes. "It raises someone's self esteem when they know how to dress for work,"
Ritchie said.

"This isn't a social club - we're task and charity oriented. By cleaning up our own houses first, and following our passions, we've found many ways to help others," she said. "By investing in ourselves, our hearts and souls are so much better off."