Will you Give To The Max for Project Legacy? — Paul and Vicki's #WhyIGive Story
Over the past 6 weeks, we’ve been sharing stories of our inspiring Project Legacy youth, as well as some of the families and volunteers who have been instrumental in investing in the lives of our young people.
As we celebrate giving today, we ask for your thoughtful consideration and courageous contribution to our program — a program that provides unique empowerment opportunities for youth of color.
Over the past 10 years as an organization, we’ve used the resources we’ve had available to help hundreds of kids in our city. Dozens have become first-generation college students, others have found resiliency and recovery from trauma, abuse and substance use. We are proud to have observed life transformation, and know there is more to come.
Two people instrumental to this success are Paul and Vicki Friedman. Here is their #WhyIGive story, in their own words:
After the 2016 elections, we were dismayed by the acrimony and incivility in public discourse. We came across a Facebook post of someone who was building community, working to make a difference and doing it right here in Rochester, Minnesota. The program was called Project Legacy, and it was an empowerment program for youth of color. We were intrigued, ready to learn more.
We met with Karen to learn about what Project Legacy was doing. We were moved by her tireless commitment to our city’s young people, and by the personal strength and courage of numerous kids who had grown up in abusive settings, in poverty or with substance abuse challenges, who, through Project Legacy, reached out to grasp a helping hand to better themselves and help others.
We could see that Project Legacy was making a big difference in the lives of young people, and doing it right here in our own backyard. We decided to get involved.
We started small, initially preparing some meals for weekly circle groups, buying groceries for Operation Nourish, attending events and sponsoring two terrific college-bound youth through Project Encourage. As time went on, we got to know more of the kids, meet other volunteers and have a deeper appreciation for how lives were changed. It also became clear that while Project Legacy was accomplishing much with almost no overhead, it was limited in how many people could be helped due to inadequate and inconsistent funding.
With that in mind, despite having no background in development, Vicki volunteered to lead a fundraising committee and both of us were pleased to join the board. Since then, we’ve been contributing our time and helping inspire others in our local community to give — because we believe this program is worth it.
In a hands-on way, Project Legacy has taught us that like-minded people with a good heart can make a difference, because we see it every day.”
Project Legacy is at a crossroads. Our program has the opportunity to help an exponential number of youth — but we need your help. Giving to Project Legacy is a direct investment in the lives of young people, in their future and in the legacy of their life.