Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenni Baldwin.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started my career as a teacher and after a few years of teaching, I was lucky to find myself in two smaller independent school communities after having taught in a very large public school district in Washington in the early part of my career. I saw firsthand how much community shapes, inspires, supports, and challenges an individual through the growth of my students in these smaller settings. From an equity standpoint, I felt a deep sense of conflict that not every student has access to the same opportunities as the kids at these private schools. I began shifting my focus outward to the wider community, first working to meet the needs of our local, unhoused kids and adults and then adding in supports for education such as my book, school supply, and backpack drives, as well as the work I do as a Board Member for the Lake Washington Schools Foundation. Each of the volunteer efforts I lead is inspired by or to create community. We support kids who live in a local shelter by providing essential supplies that enable them to be fully equipped for their school community. We support our unhoused neighbors through a monthly collection of 1000 sandwiches for Search & Rescue to remind those who are living without shelter that they too have community. I work for the Lake Washington Schools Foundation to support kids across all Lake Washington Schools through essential needs such as weekend food packs and social emotional support, as well as academic interventions such as small group and 1:1 reading, updated equipment and materials, and so much more. Every November, I run an annual peer-to-peer campaign for NW Harvest, our largest coalition of food banks, programs, distributors, and organizations, to raise funds during a season of community gatherings. I am always rallying my community and friends to join in our efforts because it feels good to do good, but it feels great to do good together. Everyone deserves to have a little help – and we all need to give what we can when we can.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I am a glass half full always sees the bright side kind of person. In fact, my mom and dad’s nickname for me was Sunshine Girl because I always found the sunny side of challenging situations. These past two years have been incredibly challenging for me. In March of 2023, I lost my Dad to a shockingly short battle with pancreatic cancer. He passed away only a matter of weeks after we learned of his diagnosis. As he was my mom’s primary caretaker, and she had been in her own 20-year battle with cancer, this caused me and my sister to have to step in and manage mom’s care while we were both working full time. My mom ended up passing away about 9 months after my dad died, so I lost both of my folks pretty tragically within a year’s time.
These were my first real experiences with grief and I was surprised at how difficult it became to get through my day-to-day, let alone to find the bright side of life. Grief zapped my energy and caused me to feel anxious about the future, overly sensitive and insecure in my relationships, and physically and emotionally exhausted. In the year after my folks passed, I faced my own health struggles, including my own cancer scare (I’m ok!), changed careers, saw my husband through a job change of his own, and lost our 15-year-old dog. Somehow, I have managed to survive it all and still remain positive about the future. Each day that passes is a reminder that life goes on.
A big part of my journey has been practicing gratitude. Every Friday, over coffee at 4 am, I catalogue three bright spots from my week and share those on my Instagram. Even throughout the week if I’m having a hard day or moment, I pause and think of something good. I have five years’ worth of gratitude stories saved on my Instagram and it’s a reminder that even in the hardest weeks – when I’ve lost a family member or faced a health scare – I’ve still been able to find some good. Even in life’s darkest moments, glimmers of light remain. I guess I will always be the Sunshine Girl my parents dubbed me as a kid!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am definitely most proud of my community work and fundraising. In March, I was honored with my husband for five years of volunteering, fundraising, and advocating for Northwest Harvest, Washington’s largest coalition of food banks, pantries, programs, distributors, and organizations. This is an organization whose mission resonates deeply with me and my community. EVERY person deserves nutritious food, and NWH unlocks access to food for many people across our state. One of the things I love most about NWH is that they don’t turn down anyone. If you are experiencing hunger, you can go to their food banks and receive support. The paperwork and language barriers around applying for food programs like SNAP is often prohibitive to folks who don’t read English, who are not US citizens, or who aren’t able to travel to where SNAP benefits apply (to name a few – there are way more barriers than that!). NWH not only operates as a frontline support for those experiencing hunger but also working as an organization to advocate within Washington State Legislation to change policies that perpetuate food barriers, literally solving the root causes of hunger. In five years, my husband and I have raised over $140,000 for NWH through an annual peer-to-peer campaign that we run called The Baldwin Challenge. We have several hundred repeat / legacy donors and over 15 business partners who participate each year to support our neighbors in need. It’s an honor to do this work and it’s a legacy we are creating together to make change in our community.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
If I believed in luck, I’d definitely believe that I have bad luck given the tragedy and trauma I’ve experienced in the last few years. But, I think I’m a dreamer and an eternal optimist who always believes that better days are coming. I like to think of life in chapters – some chapters will be valleys and some will be mountains, but in the end you’ll have had an amazing journey and the hard phases will have made you appreciate the good phases all the more. I think this is why I have a strong work ethic and believe that it’s possible to change your circumstances with a little hope and “elbow grease” as my Dad liked to say. I’m really grateful that I am so rooted and strong in my emotions and mental health, and that I have such a healthy determination to succeed. If I set my mind to a goal, I won’t stop until I see it through. Hard work and a good attitude trump luck any day.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msjennibaldwin/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenni-baldwin-815016325/
- Youtube: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.king5.com/video/news/community/redmond-couples-baldwin-bag-challenge-feeds-the-community/281-73f9859a-fba8-4c18-ae15-45e98398e497&ved=2ahUKEwjNpL6Er4-MAxWKJzQIHTZ_IikQwqsBegQIERAE&usg=AOvVaw1uoQ_LaArnen4I7Ovf6ORs
- Other: https://www.king5.com/video/news/community/redmond-couple-inspires-others-to-give/281-b76e6217-eb6c-4cde-af50-cd2da8db400d
Image Credits
Only the photo in Dubrovnik is from Flytographer. The rest are my own.