We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gervonni Sherrod Leggett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Gervonni, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
Securing a building is one of the biggest challenges our organization and most non-profit organizations (NPOs) face. Through providing food boxes every two weeks, rent and utility assistance, auto repair, and financial literacy, our organization, Gervonni Cares, Inc., empowers and educates the people in the community we serve. We cannot fulfill the immense demand for our services on our own. We provide food boxes every two weeks out of our garage all year. Every month, we give more than 65 food boxes to families in the West Valley. We provide a variety of wholesome, satisfying meals that families like eating, which is why some families travel great distances to get here. Because of our limited capacity, we occasionally turn down food donations from other companies. We’re currently working with other nonprofit organizations to share a building. Since we keep expenses to a minimum, most of the money we get is reinvested in the community. Achieving this can be challenging when rent is rising.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m a wife and mother of five kids and four grandchildren. I have always supported giving back, as it was instilled in me growing up. I wanted to connect and educate the Arizona and Milwaukee neighborhoods that its founding member calls home; born of the unfathomable, I transformed the crushing hopelessness instilled in our families and discarded youth into a purpose. I dug deep to find the source of the issues that led our family to that tragic day, from the needless death of my son to gun violence. What I discovered were unsatisfactory middle-class government initiatives. Moms who work two or three jobs to provide for their children are placed in the care of street instructors. Ultimately, I understood that there can only be hopelessness and desperation without financial literacy. When we are in a bind, we often take any necessary action to escape. At that point, Gervonni Cares showed up.
We are a nonprofit dedicated to community action. Numerous needs are addressed by our efforts, such as those related to financial literacy, preventing eviction, utility support, food insecurity, homelessness, and auto maintenance.
The “working poor”—those who frequently battle to provide for their families while fighting unanticipated financial situations, low levels of education, and poverty—are the main focus of our organization.
By connecting them to our programs that have a lasting impact, we hope to make significant headway in assisting these families to live more prosperous, successful lives.
Community members in Arizona and Wisconsin who are Stuck in the Middle can receive cash assistance from Gervonni Cares and financial education. These people are everywhere; they labor nonstop to support themselves, their families, and society at large. They take great satisfaction in their profitable employment. Nonetheless, a sizable portion of the population earns an annual salary that is barely above the poverty line. They are not eligible for government aid because they are not well off. One unforeseen expense can potentially send them into a downward spiral of financial devastation that could result in years of debt, the loss of their job and house, and the ruin of chances for future generations.
Forming alliances with people and companies in Arizona and Wisconsin who share our vision and objectives will enable us to support people and families through difficult times and impart the financial literacy needed to be ready for life’s unexpected turns. A new sustainability system is developed through collaborations to fill in the gaps in society and government initiatives. It helps those in financial need keep their jobs and looks for measures to stop similar things from happening again.
Our effort is to provide financial awareness and tools to adolescents and community members we serve who are Stuck in the Middle (SIM). We’re proud to be an organization that reclaims the streets and establishes a path from poverty and violence to secure financial prospects.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
We required funding to realize our vision. Our board members donated funds to keep our organization’s immediate operations afloat. To augment our original funding, we developed many fundraising initiatives. We came up with Summertime Sno, our youth program. Our youth program allows children between the ages of 9 and 15 to “FUN” raise and collect money for our organization by selling sno-cones at youth events held in different community parks in exchange for prizes. As a young person, you will get the chance to improve your math abilities while developing your self-worth, customer service, and early volunteer learning skills while engaging with other young people in your neighborhood at youth-focused events held in different parks. You will be eligible to receive incentives based on the number of hours you have volunteered. The freshly prepared “Food dinners” we sell yearly before the holidays were another item, we have available.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
One of the hardest things I had to do as a mother of five was bury my nineteen-year-old son Vonnae, who had been killed by gun violence at the time. I never imagined that I would have to take on this task. I didn’t have the strength when I started my organization to create a nonprofit for women who had lost a child. Therefore, I ensured I worked together to give back and receive advice. After attending the 2022 event, I sponsored the HP Foundation for their Mourning Mimosas event in September 2023. A nonprofit organization called the HP Foundation helps grieving parents by offering them resources and support to help them get over their loss.
The HP Foundation was the driving force behind a program called Hopeful Hearts, and they wanted bereaved mothers who are prominent non-profit figures in the neighborhood to run it. The team comprises Brenda from Our Destiny Our Future, me, and Kamisha from the HP Foundation. “The heart of the community” will be the theme of our first campaign. We will spread the word about other small, locally run nonprofits that were started by grieving parents in order to help them and the people and families they assist in overcoming a wide range of obstacles. This gives us all the additional aspects of healing that we require.
I can talk about my son, mourn, and grow stronger without fear of upsetting or weakening other people. All of us in this program have experienced it and continue to experience it. My ability to transform suffering into empowerment, knowledge, sustainability, and teamwork makes me resilient.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gervonnicares.org
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/GervonniCares
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/GervonniCares
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/GervonniCaresinc
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/GervonniC
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/GervonniCares
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/Gervonnicaresinc
- Other: www.thread.com/GervonniCares