VAIL VALLEY. Colorado — When Vail Valley resident Deb Luginbuhl met Lilly Ledbetter she was blown away by her story — Ledbetter has turned the discrimination she experienced into a fight for equality for women around the world.

Ledbetter was the guest speaker at the Women's Foundation of Colorado's Vail Valley steering committee's luncheon Tuesday. Luginbuhl, who is on the steering committee, said her speech was awe-inspiring.

The luncheon is the Foundation's annual Eagle County fundraiser, and proceeds this year go toward a statewide effort to reduce the drop-out rate of Colorado's school girls. While funds raised go to the state Foundation, that group has given back about $120,000 in grants to Eagle County nonprofits in the last 13 years.

“That's the power of our (statewide) collective giving,” said Lisa Pease, a Women's Foundation trustee and local steering committee member.

That giving has helped nonprofits like the Gore Range Natural Science School pay for programs like Girls in Science, an after-school program at Avon, June Creek and Brush Creek elementary schools that teaches science and helps girls “improve their overall science literacy, improve their overall academic achievement and get excited about science and confident about themselves as girls and as students,” said Natalia Hanks, Gore Range Natural Science School's development director.

The Foundation's luncheon guest, Ledbetter, is from Jacksonville, Ala.. She worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for nearly 20 years before she found out men working the same job were making as much as $18,000 more per year. Her lawsuit against the company reached the Supreme Court in 2007 and she lost when justices said the statute of limitations for such a claim had expired.

She didn't get a dime of the hundreds of thousands of dollars of she said she earned, but Ledbetter hasn't given up — she's traveling the world to stand up for women's rights to equal pay. President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which states the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit resets with each new discriminatory paycheck.

The Women's Foundation of Colorado's work toward lowering the state's dropout rates relates to paycheck inequality, Ledbetter said. Girls need to stay in school and go “as high as they can in education,” she said.

“Regardless of their circumstances, a good education will help them and benefit them in any choice of a career,” Ledbetter said. “That's why I do what I do.”

Girls' dropout rates in Eagle County are higher than the state averages, according Colorado Department of Education statistics.

Pease said reducing the dropout rate locally also helps reduce poverty and other problems such as teen pregnancy.

“The economic impact on a woman's life if she drops out of high school — she's almost certain to live under economic efficiency,” Pease said.

Local women already have it tough because the cost of living in high in Eagle County, said Pam Smith, a local steering committee member. The money from events like the luncheon with Ledbetter raise money for research about girls' and women's issues locally, Smith said.

“While the efforts might be statewide, the research is county by county,” Smith said.

Lauren Glendenning can be reached at 970-748-2983 or lglendenning@vaildaily.com