Our local nonprofits need your support now, more than ever. With the looming uncertainties of federal funding, our local nonprofits are navigating many new challenges while continuing to provide essential services and resources for those who need them most. Many of the nonprofits' clients rely on Medicaid and SNAP benefits, which are at risk of being cut.

You can increase your impact for our community by donating this March through Match Madness. Participating nonprofits will receive 100% of your donation as well as a portion of $150,000 in matching funds provided by the Partnership, WellSpan Health, and The M&T Charitable Foundation.

Donate online, by check, or stock donation to the Partnership for Better Health in support of 55 local nonprofits participating in the Match Madness campaign. Donations accepted March 1-31.

Photo credit: Sean Simmers, PennLive

Q: Can you share your most impactful memory in your nonprofit leadership thus far?

My most impactful memory in nonprofit leadership thus far is when I mentored a father for several months before his release, once released, he found gainful employment (he never had a legal job in his life) and secured housing for his daughter and her mother. The mother told me she didn’t believe he could change his behaviors, attitude, and ability to hold employment. However, he has done all the above and, on many occasions, he told her that every time he thought about going back to his old lifestyle, he would tell her that he didn’t want to disappoint me because someone truly believed in him and his ability to change and how much he learned from the example that I set for him and the men in the group. She then said that she was planning on leaving him once he was released because she didn’t want to leave him while incarcerated, but he has changed so much and has become so responsible and a great father now she plans on marrying him. She thanked me with tears in her eyes, which made me tear up as well.

Q: How would you define health equity in your own words?

Health equity is that everyone, regardless of their background, should have access to the tools that are needed to be a whole human being. Resources should be readily available in every community when it comes to feeling safe and secure. Everyone should have the opportunity to get a good education regardless of the community that they happen to live in or be born in. Access to good food resources, health care, mental health, and housing. Also, feeling valued and healthy enough to contribute back to the community in which they reside. Therefore, being able to be a giver and not just a taker!

Q: You have participated on the Participatory Grantmaking Project Committee; can you describe your experience on this committee?

My experience on this committee was the opportunity of a lifetime, which gave me a voice to say that I feel that this amount of money should be given to the organizations that are doing the work. It also allowed me to feel what it is like to give and make an impact that I might never witness, but the impact will be felt by many. Hopefully, it will help to break some of the generational curses that most don’t even know that they are a part of. I also learned so much about the process of philanthropy and the great feeling of truly being able to just give back directly to the community in which I reside.

Q: Who inspired me toward a life of service?

I was inspired towards a life of service due to the work I started doing while incarcerated. During my incarceration, I and a group of men decided to build a healthy community inside the institution in which we were housed. This has had a real impact on the whole institution. Then, my son was senselessly murdered in a senseless act of gun violence during my incarceration. At first, I wanted to hurt the person who killed my child. 

Over time I was committed to not becoming bitter. My greatest priority was to honor my son, so I began to do the work that I do now while incarcerated. Plus, I was studying restorative justice, which taught me about crime, justice, and community. Once knowing these things, it became my responsibility to give back to the community in which I committed my crimes. Plus, there is no other way for me to honor my son but to live life in service to others.

Q: If you had 1 million dollars for grant allocation, how would you allocate the funds?

I would go into the community and ask what the real needs are and what resources are readily available. After I identify what services each organization is providing. Then, allocate the funds to the organizations that are providing health equity in the community. The focus would be on food sources, safety, education, housing, mental and physical health, and reentry in its totality. Reentry is not just for people coming home from incarceration. Reentry is someone entering a new way of thinking, feeling, and responding to life and the hardships and struggles that are faced in life so that each life is meaningful, impactful, and fulfilling.