Volunteer Profile: Meet Enny Cramer

Every Wednesday and Friday morning, Enny Cramer comes through the front door at the Women’s Law Project, ready to encourage, inform, and cheer on the women waiting for her help as a telephone counselor. “This is the ideal place for me to work,” Ms. Cramer says with a smile. “I love it because I have a legal mind and a master’s [degree] in both social work and public health.” She does not mention her enormous compassion, which is the perfect complement to the abundance of skills and experience brought by one of our oldest volunteers.

She speaks Dutch, English, German, French, and some Polish and has worked on behalf of women for her entire life. She “love[s] the mission [of the Women’s Law Project],” which she succinctly captures as “helping women help themselves.”

Ms. Cramer was born in the Netherlands and graduated from law school before marrying an American and moving to the United States with him. She settled in Pittsburgh, where she worked for the Family Planning Council of Western Pennsylvania, completed two master’s programs, and raised two daughters; she now has three grandchildren as well. In 1988, Ms. Cramer moved to Philadelphia and became the Executive Director of the Joseph J. Peters Institute, a nonprofit, outpatient psychiatric clinic for sexual abuse victims and offenders. The Institute is unique in the United States as it is the only place that treats both victims and offenders exclusively.

After retiring as Executive Director of the Institute, Ms. Cramer embarked on an adventurous mission when she joined the Peace Corps and went to live in Chelm, Poland at age 66, taking a two-year position to teach English conversation and American culture at a small Teachers College. For health reasons, Ms. Cramer returned to the United States a few months early. When she recovered, she found herself again looking for something meaningful to do. One day, nine years ago, she saw Evelyn Bouden walking on the street near where the two live and reportedly asked the telephone counselor “where she was going.” Ms. Cramer was already familiar with the Women’s Law Project from serving with WLP Executive Director Carol Tracy on the board of “New Directions,” a helping organization for women with criminal records. She jumped at the chance to join the telephone counseling team, and she’s been with us ever since, minus a few sabbaticals for world travel.

Ms. Cramer is a Democratic Party Committee person, a position that she takes seriously despite her joking pronouncement that this elected position makes her the “smallest cog in the democratic machine.” She is a member of Christ Church and continues to enjoy traveling, a hobby that soon will take her to France and Amsterdam. Working at the Women’s Law Project “is very good for me,” she says, “and I love the other volunteers and the staff. It’s such a nice atmosphere.” And what better way to “help women help themselves” than to listen fully to their troubles and then make them see that they have the strength and courage to move forward.