ROCK FALLS – When Carol Fitzgerald, executive director of YWCA of the Sauk Valley, accepted Tuesday’s lunch invitation, she didn’t know she was going to receive $3,500 to help start her dream program.

Fitzgerald’s Fearless Future Microloan Fund will give loans to women in Lee and Whiteside counties so they can improve their lives. The money will pay for GED test fees, job uniforms, computer training and the like. Loan payments will go back into the fund.

“We’ve had women go back to domestic violence situations because they couldn’t get a job even at a store or gas station without computer training,” Fitzgerald said.