We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Woods a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

My hero is my late great-grandmother, Ella Mae Paige. She was born in 1911 in Tennessee. She spent a lot of time in the cotton field. Her faith in church was obvious. She was a farmer she fed her community and taught us how to be self-sufficient. She was a hairdresser, she helped raise all of her grandchildren. Momma is what all her grandchildren called her because that is who she was, everyone looked up to this amazing woman of God. My experience waking up early sometimes before the sound of the roosters alarmed every morning to bath water already prepared, to the scent of breakfast in the air which consists of oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon and bacon sometimes toast. And noticed clothes already hung up by pins on the clothesline. She was very organized and had a routine every day, as I was starting my way out to the garden to begin chores of preparing, harvesting, planting, and continuous labor out in the garden which consists of apples, oranges, pears, peach trees and rows of veggies and fruits and grape vines which was my favorite to hide in and enjoy. She canned all of her produce she had a cellar and a pantry that contained jars and jars of food to feed her family, from homemade jams to you name it, and shelf-stable foods. All of the meals she cooked came right out of the garden. My favorite was her bean soup which consisted of every bean she grew, I can still taste it today. She walked everywhere she went if her family couldn’t take her. I remember riding the bus often to get where we needed to go. She never took life for granted and made the best out of every situation and she enjoyed laughing and joking you would get told also, she always told you how she felt and didn’t care who didn’t like it. Momma wasn’t a woman to be taken advantage of at all. But she loved her family/ kids and you could not just feel it, but you could see it. She took her shirt off for anyone, I can tell a whole story about this woman. She never got the recognition that she deserved, and she is the reason and the purpose of my service that I prove for our low-income and disabled families and the program that is run to not only teach how to be self-sufficient but also put fresh food resources in our communities that we so desperately need! I feel the non-profit organization will run forever! I hope it triples the 106 years of life that she was a blessing to her community, her family, friends the church family that she was connected with. At the time I didn’t understand that it was a lesson that she was teaching behind gardening, the teaching of how to be self-sufficient, growing, planting, harvesting and so much more! She was and will always be my hero and the reason behind the vision and mission of my organization. Can We Ryde Inc. & Mae’s Paige Garden Program

Nicole, 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?

Well my name is Nicole Parker Woods I can write a book on my life. I was raised by a southern woman. I was Born here in Indianapolis, Indiana. I am married to John Woods I have known him over half of my life. We raised 9 boys and 1 girl and if my math is right 26 grandkids we have. Which I am so very proud of. While living life understanding the streets could potentially have an effect on my boys like the streets had me, being influenced and taken advantage of. I said that first I am going to make sure the boys were busy, with plenty of positive activities going on in their live sports was one. As I walked through my journey through life my parents did the best they knew how. They were not perfect, and neither am I. Being a parent does not come with rules guidelines and regulations you have to use your best judgment, especially when dealing with different personalities growing up in a household. But I weeded out all of the flaws. And I had to get myself together and find a job that allowed me to maneuver around the kid’s life. I figured as a bus monitor for years it worked where I was able to make surprise visits when they were needed in school and able to attend school activities and meetings and play a part in my kids’ lives to make sure they were on track which was one thing that was missing in my childhood growing up. I had to move with the growth of my family and take a step forward and make more money so I obtained my CDL license to drive the school bus so now I can help meet my husband financially, he is a CDL holder and also drives big trucks usually on the road and I had to make sure I kept everything afloat. Especially for the sake of my family. I drove the school bus I saw that I had to find my kids something to do, so I purchased a bounce house to give the boys a way to go out and earn legit money because growing up I was out in the world. As their mentor and mother that I am today to my kids, I promised I’d set an example for them. To teach them not only how to make money, but how to be self-sustained and not have to depend on anyone and keep them out of the streets. Bounce With – Me Bounce House Rentals LLC was born the kids made their own money to buy shoes, clothes, and what was needed. They were setting up and picking up inflatable houses. As they got older and started transitioning into adult hood my job was done as 100% providing for them and circling my life around theirs as they went in different directions in life. Before retiring in 2022 of May from driving the school bus I was thinking that this is not the problem with getting these kids to and from school. Parents can’t work because of daycare, transportation, and school issues and I had to figure out what could be done because I was that parent that struggled in the area where I could not be everywhere. And keep the kids engaged in activities, keeping them out of the hands of the streets, getting them to and from organizations like the boys and girls clubs. So then Our Kiddez Tranzportation LLC was born we transport Businesses, Institutions, and Corporations that are struggling with transportation issues. When I got going, I had to backtrack because I was not meeting the needs of our low-income and disabled families where there is a sliding scale for them to make it affordable to get these families to and from, work, school, grandma’s house daycare etc. So Can We Ryde Inc. & Mae’s Paige Garden Program was created 2 months later which is a nonprofit organization that transports families in need. We have transported youth from schools to grandma’s house, school to daycare, and our Haitian Community Mae’s Paige which is the program that raises funds for my nonprofit organization and teaches our youth community how to plant, grow and harvest fresh fruits and vegetables how to be self-sufficient. I grow 70 different fruits, veggies, flowers and herbs. I am USDA certified with the city of Indianapolis as I started to understand the impact that was made, helping disadvantaged families in the community. I wanted to make sure fresh resources of produce were accessible not just making transportation accessible for our low-income and disabled families. But putting food in our neighborhoods on the far east side and my partners that are feeding the community. And helping with my vision and mission. Which is the Homeless Family Shelter, getting fresh food to the facility to help with the need, Yes Program with the 18-24-year-olds and Youth Violence Prevention keeping these babies busy during summer while school is out teaching them the fundamentals of growing while they receive funds for the summer. Groundwork Indy helps to connect and engage the 18-24-year olds with knowledge that they can utilize in life to be productive. I run market stands and farmers markets where I accept EBT, WIC, and Snap for our families in need. Also, programs in Summer, Spring, and Fall to help these parents, so they can still work while these young people are out of school, to find their way in life learning and engaging in activities that they have not been exposed to getting them to or from my program or all these organizations out here that are doing wonderful things in our community. God has heard my cry for way too long now and we need a village! Although it seems as if I have seen and done and solved a lot of problems in our community! There are barriers I stand in need of a wheelchair-accessible van to help these families. I can’t accommodate the need. I need more knowledge in areas in this business to help expand and grow. I need land to distribute more resources to the community. Another barrier is a refrigerator unit, so I can deliver produce to and from the sites of partners in Brownsburg to help feed the community. Now I am delivering from my vehicle which has caused problems, depending on how far I must go to get produce to. I am opening up doors not just to feed and teach, and planting the seed, having knowledgeable people to help me harvest so we can reap the benefits of providing jobs in making access to food and transportation affordable and accessible to our community. ‘My vision and mission is bigger than Us’

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that just because you came from a world of un knowledgeable people in your life. That was not prepared for life and apart of different ventures. You have to forgive and forget and move forward for your sanity your family, life, buisness and turn that negative into experience so your kids their kids can have a road map of a journey that someone had to take. This trip that came with good and the bad. Filled with memories that you can’t get back. And being able to live in the moment because it doesn’t matter how much you tell your story can’t nobody ever be able to tell it like you! Although it seems like it can’t be accomplished. Even though Ella Mae Paige accomplished so much during her time of life. She wasn’t able to tell her story . Now her story becomes my story and my story becomes my kids story they kids story and on and on.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

What helped me build my reputation was looking at the life of my great grandmother that struggled in the area of transportation and the food she was able to provide helped to connect her to people that told her where the problem was and need , she learned with resources from others and she began to provide high quality performance’s, learning to deliver on promises, meeting expectations and going above and beyond for her community/ family/ friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://canwerideorg.wixsite.com/nonprofit/about-1
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maespaigegarden?igsh=Nzhmbmc2ZzJ2bmIz&utm_source=qr
• Other: https://grownby.app/farms/mae-s-paige-garden (https://grownby.app/farms/mae-s-paige-garden)https://www.wfyi.org/search?q=Nicole+woods