from the founder

History

Hello and welcome!

I would like to personally THANK YOU for visiting our website and exploring our different programs.  I hope our call to action inspires you to use your time, talents or treasure to help us develop and launch this program. I’d like to tell you a little more about my journey with Connect to Care and my vision for the future.

I am a firm believer that our experiences and decisions shape us and guide us to what we were meant to be. For me, I've always gravitated toward healthcare. Growing up, my mother was a nurse and I remember volunteering in the nursing home where she worked; the level of genuine care she provided was an inspiration to me. When I was 14, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor and spent a good amount of time in the hospital and clinics. As you can imagine, this was a very frightening time for me and my family, but the amount of compassion and care the staff provided left a lasting impression.  As a young adult, I decided to work in healthcare and I started my first job as a nursing technician. Eventually, I felt a pull to work with the population that I was once a part of and joined the pediatric hematology/oncology/bone marrow transplant team at the children's hospital. While in my undergrad, I become increasingly interested in the social nature of patients during their healthcare journeys and found a way to intersect my knowledge and experience through Grand Valley's Liberal Studies program. In fact, Connect to Care was an idea that was started in a GVSU classroom (Anchor Up!).

In the spring of 2017 I met a family who was having difficultly securing hospitality housing. Naturally I wanted to offer up a place in my home for them to stay, but there was the obvious RISKS AND CONFLICT of interest. This is when I thought of Connect to Care, a program that would connect guests in need to those in the community who want to help (minus the heavy liability) while also advocating for social equity. In fall of 2017, I decided to take a year off of my career in order to found Connect to Care. After many meetings with people in the community, I assembled the BEST, all women, Board of Directors who committed themselves to developing this much needed program. We look forward to seeing this organization come to fruition and ask that you consider supporting Connect to Care using your time, talents or treasure. 

I am dedicated to ensure the success of Connect to Care and hope that you share my story with others in the community. Thank you!