Stories
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No Stranger to Challenge: An Immigrant Nurse’s Story of Opportunity
Read more: No Stranger to Challenge: An Immigrant Nurse’s Story of OpportunityChallenge has never been a stranger to Cristina Bass. Growing up an immigrant and DACA recipient didn’t stop her from pursuing dreams of helping her community, rather, they fueled her drive to ensure it happened. As the registered nurse and former recipient of the Felicia Brewer Opportunity Scholarship now finds herself working in healthcare during…
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A Mother’s Honor Becomes a Community’s Gift
Read more: A Mother’s Honor Becomes a Community’s GiftGlioblastoma. Diagnosis of this particularly aggressive form of brain cancer shattered their world in 2004. The next year, they said goodbye to Caroline—a wife, mom of three, daughter, sister, and friend. Today, this family is making a difference in the lives of others to honor the one they loved and lost. A PhD medical geneticist,…
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Banding Together for the Trees
Read more: Banding Together for the Trees“I believe that you just cannot do work on environmental issues at the local level without the community [being] involved,” says Elaine Chiosso, Executive Director of the Haw River Assembly (HRA). Her organization has spent six years advocating for better environmental protections to be required in Chatham Park, a 7000+ acre planned development community that…
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Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Wake County Update
Read more: Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Wake County UpdateDuring the 2018-19 school year, WAKE Up and Read’s book drive program distributed more than 138,000 books at 13 schools, 17 childcare centers, and various community events during the spring and summer. That’s 6,800 students in the program’s schools, and 1,300 children in its childcare centers impacted across Wake County’s growing “literacy rich culture.” WAKE…
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Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Orange County Update
Read more: Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Orange County UpdateThe Orange County Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (OCCGLR) aims to develop childhood readiness and reading by third grade, and, like its counterparts in Chatham, Durham, and Wake Counties, further seeks to address the disparities that exist in learning and reading for children from communities of color. In its early planning stages and before its invitation in…
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A Park with Community at Heart
Read more: A Park with Community at HeartA park for everyone, built by everyone. That is the foundational vision driving the creation of Dorothea Dix Park in downtown Raleigh. A place where play and adventure are as large as you can imagine, where lush meadow stretches as far as the eye can see, and where history is taught, rather than forgotten. “Dorothea…
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Giving Your Time: Why Serve on a Nonprofit Board?
Read more: Giving Your Time: Why Serve on a Nonprofit Board?For Michelle Pavliv, it happened by accident. In 2004, when her friend suggested they join The National Charity League Inc., a national nonprofit organization with local chapters providing ways for mothers and daughters to serve in their communities together, Pavliv saw it as good bonding time with her own daughter, and agreed. It turned out,…
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Care for all: Vidas De Esperanza
Read more: Care for all: Vidas De EsperanzaWe all want to go to the doctor when we’re sick, injured, or for regular checkups, but not everyone has access to medical care due to resources, lack of access to healthcare, or circumstances. It was with this in mind that Vidas De Esperanza, a local nonprofit health clinic, was founded. Ten years ago when…
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Confronting Poverty by Honoring Human Dignity
Read more: Confronting Poverty by Honoring Human DignityUp the stairs and around a corner, a hallway echoes with a child’s chatter and a mother’s hushed tones. Members sit waiting to get groceries, checking in with each other, and chatting with volunteers, who come to offer a hand. A peek inside Chapel Hill’s former Town Hall reveals a vibrant network of staff, volunteers,…
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Board Leadership Boot Camp: Helping Nonprofits Thrive
Read more: Board Leadership Boot Camp: Helping Nonprofits ThriveAbout 4 years ago, Michael Williams began volunteering for Executive Service Corps (ESC), helping them provide affordable consulting and capacity building services to nonprofits in the Triangle. Since 1987, ESC’s 72 volunteer consultants do pro bono work provide support nonprofits in Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake counties. Volunteers come from a variety of management backgrounds,…
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The Art of Giving
Read more: The Art of GivingAbout four years ago, Virginia Lee was in the locker room at her local gym and saw a flyer that intrigued her. The Art of Giving (TAG) was inviting women to join their philanthropic efforts and provide grants to support local nonprofit organizations. “I was at a point where I wanted to get more involved…
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Tools for Involving the Next Generation: the Donor-advised Fund
Read more: Tools for Involving the Next Generation: the Donor-advised FundMy clients don’t always come to see me with philanthropy foremost on their mind. Of course, sometimes they do, but often their focus isn’t on philanthropy. Instead, they have pressing family issues to cover that are a higher priority. Because of this, as their advisor, I believe that it’s often wise for me to bring…