Elizabeth Gage brought creativity and curiosity to everything she did — graphic design, writing, cooking, bookselling, travel consulting, and years of dedicated volunteering with Project Redwood. But becoming an applicant sponsor felt intimidating. Most grantees, she thought, worked in faraway places she knew little about.
Then chance stepped in.
At an unrelated workshop, Elizabeth struck up a conversation with the woman beside her: Sally Olson, Board Chair of The Hope Project Liberia. The organization operated an orphanage and school in the world’s fourth-poorest country, still struggling to recover from Liberia’s civil war and the Ebola epidemic. Elizabeth immediately saw a way to help.
Although initially unsure of herself, she became an invaluable sponsor. Her thoughtful questions and practical ideas helped shape Project Redwood-funded training programs in sewing and cooking in 2019 and 2020. Executive Director Jackie Frazier later said, “The wise fingerprints of Elizabeth’s insight and support left me full of deep gratitude.”
Even after Elizabeth passed away in 2023 following a long illness, her impact endured. Executive Director Frazier visited Elizabeth in her final days, and recalled “Her wit and humor stayed intact, even when she had to type it out, one finger at a time.”
With Joe Hamby (MBA ’80) taking up Elizabeth’s role as sponsor, Project Redwood later funded a third vocational program for electrical technicians. Today, The Hope Project continues to provide tuition-free education to 1,500 students while training members of the local community.