Where are they now: Eveline Rivers-McCoy shares life after 1989 award

As we prepare for the upcoming Amarillo Globe-News Man and Woman of the Year announcement on New Year's Day, we're looking back on some of our past recipients, sharing where they are now and recognizing some of their achievements and accomplishments following their original receiving of the award.

"I can't sit back; I think God put me here to accomplish whatever I could. None of the things I'm doing were my idea, ... but I love it and I'm glad he put me here," said Eveline Rivers-McCoy, 1989 Globe-News Woman of the Year.

Rivers-McCoy shares about a life of hardships, joy and accomplishments following her 1989 recognition as the Globe-News Woman of the Year.

A different life calling

According to Rivers-McCoy, she never expected to find her life calling serving others in Amarillo, Texas. Rivers-McCoy said she was born in was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, was raised in Kentucky, and later attended the University of Arkansas where she studied to become a designer. She never dreamed she would find her husband, Wayne, at the university and move to Amarillo with him.

"I truly thought when I left the university of Arkansas, I was going to design and create beautiful wedding gowns, and so i told God, 'You didn't give me a manual on how to do this, so you better stick close because I'm going to have a lot of questions,'" Rivers-McCoy said.

She said that although this wasn't what she had planned for herself, she could see her life no other way.

The 1989 recipient was working at Glenwood Elementary at the time she received her award as Woman of the Year. Rivers-McCoy was honored for her efforts within the community and following her passion to give back to those in need through her "projects": the Eveline Rivers Coat Project established in 1979, initially serving 43 children with warm coats, jackets and scarves to wear during the cold Amarillo winters; and the Eveline Rivers Christmas Project, founded around the same time, providing gifts and holiday needs to area low income families with children.

For more than 40 years, the Eveline Rivers Christmas Project served the community and hundreds of families each year before, in 2019, deciding to phase out the project. Rivers-McCoy said the decision was hard but necessary, considering they knew they could no longer mass provide the wants of area children and chose to morph those resources to their Coat Project.

Pandemic changes Coat Project

Following the closing of the Christmas Project in December 2019, the global COVID-19 pandemic once again changed Rivers-McCoy's plans and brought their Coat Project to a halt.

"We were not going to risk the children. Oftentimes, we would have as many as 300 children in here to find their new coats, and we were not ever going to risk their or their families' or our volunteers' health, so we came up with a plan," Rivers-McCoy said.

However, Rivers-McCoy and her Coat Project team quickly came up with the idea to allow school children's counselors to determine who needed winter coats and help provide them. With the new system, counselors were able to reach out to families in need and get the names, grade level, sizes, and color preference of the child in need, as well as for each of their siblings, and provide coats, hats, gloves and scarves for all of the children with minimal exposure.

Rivers-McCoy said that the new system worked so well that, since the ending of the pandemic, they have continued with the system, recognizing the opportunity it created for the schools to become more involved with the families and the students to remain any wanted anonymity.

Education, housing projects help women

Prior to the pandemic, back in 2001, Rivers-McCoy, with both projects running at full speed, knew she needed to continue to help those in need and could do so through education.

"We realized education was the answer. If we could educate a mother and that mother becomes a role model for the children, and the children grasp the importance of education, then we have the opportunity to change lives," Rivers-McCoy said.

With this thought in mind, fate stepped into River-McCoy's life and offered her a chance to purchase an apartment building. After some time, deliberation, and renovations, Rivers-McCoy purchased the apartment building and transformed it to four fully furnished, newly renovated apartments. Those four apartments were the first of what is now known as the Eveline's Sunshine Cottage.

Following the cottage's establishment, she visited local homeless shelters and interviewed women who were seeking a way to better themselves. Rivers-McCoy said she was seeking mothers with determination and desire to stand on their own two feet through education, and change their children's lives, regardless of their background or what came before she met them.

Since its establishment, the Sunshine Cottage has grown to include 10 homes, each fully furnished, with financial assistance, supply accommodations and educational support. For the past 22 years, the cottage has had 26 college graduates with 93% earning a four-year degree.

Currently, the house serves 10 mothers, with 30 children, studying seven different degree plans.

"We have 10 moms, with 10 different paths, with 10 different personalities, with 10 different sets of children, with 10 different part-time jobs, with 10 different dreams," Rivers-McCoy said.

Working through hardships of her own, no plans of stopping

Since her award, Rivers-McCoy has also faced hardships as she lost her son, father, mother, and even her longtime husband, following his three-year battle with cancer. Rivers-McCoy also faced her own battle with cancer when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.

"Chemo was rugged, but I had to tell myself chemo isnt going to kill me, but cancer can. I did all the treatments; chemo was hard. Radiation to me personally was a breeze, but all I can do now is hug those with cancer and cheer them on and tell them it's a fight, an ugly fight, but you have to try and give it your all," Rivers-McCoy said.

Throughout her treatment, Rivers-McCoy was able to complete the battle with her current husband Dave McCoy by her side, whom she met in 2010 and married in 2013. Today, Rivers-McCoy is eight years cancer-free and lives her life to the fullest with her husband and her life passion.

Rivers-McCoy said that at the age of 80, she has no plans of ever stopping and will continue to serve the community.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: 1989 Woman of the Year Eveline Rivers McCoy serves community