Viola Sanders, 76, activist for the poor

Viola Sanders, 76, of North Philadelphia, a community warrior for the underprivileged who cofounded the Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization, died of congestive heart failure Nov. 5 at Fairview Care Center, where she had been for two days.

"Viola believed poor people deserve respect," said Richard Weishaupt of Community Legal Services. "She was a smart, sophisticated woman who could explain the needs of those less fortunate and fight their battles."

Mrs. Sanders' battlegrounds were the streets of impoverished Philadelphia neighborhoods, the state Capitol, City Hall, schools, churches and hospitals - any place where she thought people's rights needed protection.

Mrs. Sanders was among the 40 welfare-law protesters who were evicted from the state Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg in 1983. The group set up house in the ornate hall for 13 days to protest the 1982 welfare law, dubbed "Thornfare" after Gov. Richard Thornburgh, that barred about 78,000 able-bodied people from receiving assistance.

One of 16 children born in the darkest days of the Great Depression, Mrs. Sanders was no stranger to poverty.

She married Hommie Sanders Jr. in 1949, and the couple raised five children in North Philadelphia. She worked in factories and demanded that her children get an education. Three of them are college graduates.

In the 1960s, she and her sister, the late activist Louise Brookins, founded the Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization, which provided social and legal services for 50 to 75 people a day with problems with housing, school, welfare or police. They adopted the slogan: "Welfare a Right: Education a Must."

"My mother gave poor people a voice," said her daughter, ChrisAnne Smith. "If a child needed eyeglasses, food or a home, she managed to get it. She fought battles for the poorest of the poor drawing upon her Christian faith with dignity and grace."

In 1977, Mrs. Sanders was named to the Department of Public Welfare's advisory board. She also was on the boards of the Greater Philadelphia Food Bank, Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, the Maternity Care Coalition, and the Child Abuse Prevention Committee.

Mrs. Sanders was active at Emmanuel Institutional Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday school, cared for shut-ins, ran a drug ministry, and sang in the choir.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Sanders is survived by sons Derrick, Lynn and Larry; 35 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; two sisters; four brothers; and a stepmother. Her husband died in 1973 and her son Ronald died in 1990.

Friends may visit at 9 a.m. today at Emmanuel Institutional Baptist Church, 1730 N. 22d St. A funeral will follow at 11. Burial is private.