Life is slowing down a bit with the holidays around the corner, so I wanted to take some time to write and reflect on the past year. We moved to SC in the summer of 2023. I was living primarily solo and both of my kiddos had left for college. I wrote and published a book, became a homesteader (something I had dreamed of for many years) but I struggled to connect with people in the area. One of my neighbors at Chicken Creek ran a nonprofit, so I reached out to her to see if she could connect me with other like-minded folks. She introduced me to Melyssa and said she was starting a new nonprofit for girls called Leveling the Fields. What? A nonprofit empowering young girls? Totally up my alley! I had tried to make friends with several folks in the area and connected with no one, so I was reluctant to try again with Melyssa. But I knew she was my people when she opened the door that April weekend. She greeted me with a big bear hug and said “do you mind taking off your shoes? I am not a neat freak or anything, I just f-ing hate vacuuming. Oh, what is your comfort level with cursing? And our meeting time has a hard stop at 2:30pm so I can watch the USC women’s NCAA championship game.” We spent the next 2 hours talking like we had known each other our entire lives. That weekend was a challenging one for me personally, and I will always be grateful that it included meeting Melyssa. Not to sound cheesy or anything, but some higher power knew I needed to meet her that weekend.
I have always considered myself a go getter that can get shit done, but Melyssa’s energy makes me feel like a slack ass sometimes. The woman has BIG goals and the determination and energy to accomplish them all. We set to work to come up with a logo, Pitch Deck, and tackle that arduous 501c3 paperwork. In less than a year, we secured 501c3 approval, had a Launch Party with a Silent Auction, were featured as a Community Hero at the last Charleston Battery home game, and completed our pilot program at Philip Simons Elementary. Melyssa even found a opportunity for me to earn a nonprofit management certification at Georgetown University this spring. I was accepted into the program last week and cannot wait to put on my student hat again this spring. Our tiny but mighty team is growing every single day, and we figure things out as we go, some being easier than others. I cannot wait to see what happens in 2025.
I will close with a comment that one of the girls made when I did some focus group questioning at the end of the pilot program. When I asked her about the Empowerment Journal work she completed, this is what she had to say – “I didn’t know all the feelings listed in the Journal, but now I know what motivation is. It means to keep trying and never give up.” Melyssa definitely lives this every single day. Happy to be along for the ride.