I am pleased to nominate Neldra Gasper for the Volvo for life Awards because she gives so much of herself in so many ways to help disadvantage children and their families. Neldra realized that her neighborhood provided no safe haven or place for the area’s youth. She saw too many of the kids-at-risk dropping out of school, going through the juvenile courts, filling the jails, and falling between the cracks in society.

She decided to intervene by establishing Helping Hands. This program began as a community pantry, gradually expanding its mission to offering a wider range of programs, from providing computer training, job readiness skills, academic-bolstering classes, principles of home ownership, résumé building, to sessions in conflict and anger management, health education, and community organizing.

As she built up Helping Hands, Neldra also experienced divorce, illness, and the loss of her own home. But Neldra continued her work to do good for her community. She has done all of this while working the third shift, riding public transportation to meet with public officials, city leaders, families, and volunteers. Her program receives no outside funding. Instead, Neldra and her volunteers pool their own paychecks together to keep Helping Hands open and serving their community.

Helping Hands still must struggle to reach its goals. Neldra doesn’t have the funding to hire a full-time staff to create new programs and expand and coordinate ones that exist. She needs more qualified staff to provide comprehensive after-school academic enhancement courses, including summer education. But Neldra has a sense of mission. She won’t stop demonstrating how change is possible in her community, even if she must build up her intergenerational community center one step at a time.

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