We were lucky to catch up with Monica Magoon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Monica, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

The mission of the Sara K Foundation is: “To spread love, serve the impoverished and disenfranchised, and do good works through charitable contributions as influenced by the legacy of Sara K.” Sara was my daughter and passed away suddenly due to fentanyl poisoning. As you can imagine, a mother who loses a child is lost and doesn’t know how to deal with the loss. One thing that has always brought me joy is helping others so we as a family decided to share our grief, and in turn we rise by helping others.

Monica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As I stated in the previous answer, I needed an outlet for my grief and chose areas that Sara and my family want to make a difference. Our work for the homeless started when my daughter Ashley and her then boyfriend James stopped one Christmas morning at a park and handed out sandwiches to those sleeping there. This turned into my daughter Sara researching and organizing homeless bag project for our family. We started with 10 bags, then the next year we recruited more family and did 25 bags, then when we started the foundation we started up to 50 bags and currently we fill 200 bags in the Winter and 150 bags in the summer filled with snacks, toiletries, T-shirts when we can get them, socks, hand sanitizer, wipes, and whatever those involved donate. We have volunteers who now crochet or knit beanies for the Winter bags so we can focus monetary donations on other necessities for the bags. Our organization also partners with other nonprofits to provide volunteers for events and projects, we fill bags for food deliver at United Food Bank, we are also sponsoring a grief support group which is starting in the Globe-Miami Area for parents, grandparents and siblings who have lost a child in partnership with The Compassionate Friends organization. This year we are partnering with an organization called Downtown Market to hold an art contest, (Sara was a lover of the Arts) for those who use their art as an outlet for their grief, depression and/or those recovering from addiction or trying to overcome addiction. Our 4 Pillars are : Homeless not hopelessness, Mental Health & Grief, Disenfranchised Groups, and Addiction and Recovery. Our motto, we rise by lifting others.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

We thought long and hard on how to get the foundation started. We were fortunate enough to have one of Sara’s friends put together the initial funding and we had an account where we got donations from family and friends to get the foundation started. We are frugal with our donors hard earned donations and 95% of all donations go to our projects or to help other nonprofits further their projects. We are small but we make an impact.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn is privacy and keeping my feelings to myself. I learned that sometimes that is a very selfish thing to do. When you are hurting, you try to keep it to yourself and move through life feeling alone and private thinking that no one would understand. What I didn’t know is that others can benefit from knowing my grief and how I dealt with it. So many have lost children due to fentanyl poisoning and feel ashamed or if they could have just done something different their child would still be there. Believe my, I went through all the what ifs and if onlys and the same conclusion would have happened. I speak to other parents about my grief and talk to other children that one pill can kill and my daughter wasn’t an addict but she passed because she tried the wrong thing at the wrong time. It’s not easy putting yourself out there but if it can help others and it helps me not to be alone, it is worth it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sarakfoundation.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarakfoundation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaraKFoundation
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamagoon/