5 years down…
Imagine being 29, you just left a job you thought you would be at forever, two weeks before you moved into a new apartment, and now you have no source of income. YEP, that was me. I was beyond stressed and embarrassed that I was jobless with no plans on what to do next.
Thank god my now husband put the idea into my head that I should start my own nonprofit and use my families name who brought us success for many years to back the nonprofit. Being beyond scared to ask my family to believe in me and let me run with it was the first hurdle to get over. Then I hired a life coach who reminded me I had the confidence I would need to start a nonprofit.
After numerous meetings one must go through to start an organization, I eventually did it and it took just 6 months.
Since then, we have hosted over 50 events (remember it has just been me with a few interns and now two part time employees) and we have created three programs under the Pearce Family Foundation umbrella.
I always get asked why I decided to create a nonprofit, and it was because I saw a need that was not being fulfilled. I believe a child gets better faster when they are recovering in their home versus in a shelter or a hospital.
Creating the nonprofit has allowed me to continue my family’s legacy by connecting with businesses and people in a new way. The nonprofit has also reconnected me to friends I went to school with who we may have not crossed paths with again unless I was in this position.
PFF has been a blessing to me I have been able to help as many families as I can have a safe and stable living environment. I pray we continue to grow and receive the generous donations we have to keep us around. I am excited to see where the next 5 years will take us. But we have already found our forever home off 90th and Bell and have three amazing events we host every year.
If you want to build something on your own- do it. It will be scary as F**k but why not…if you don’t you will always wonder what if.