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Leader Tribute | LaChere Griffin-Denton

Leader Tribute | LaChere Griffin-Denton

LaChere Griffin-Denton is a lifelong resident of Hampton. She got involved in Virginia Organizing because, “I wanted to be more active in government. I saw the way my local community was being treated, and I really didn’t like what I was seeing.” Che...

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Gerie Fatundimu | October 2020 Leader of the Month

Gerie Fatundimu | October 2020 Leader of the Month

When a Virginia Organizing intern first stopped in Gerie Fatundimu’s consignment business in uptown Martinsville, Gerie was happy to talk with her and fill out a survey. Five years later, Gerie has become an active leader in the Martinsville/Henry Co...

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Sendy Portillo | June 2020 Leader of the Month

Sendy Portillo | June 2020 Leader of the Month

Sendy Portillo moved to Richmond from El Salvador in 2008. She was looking for an organization to get involved in when Virginia Organizing started developing a chapter in the Richmond area in 2019. Before the pandemic started, she helped recruit memb...

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Dave Rogers | January/February 2020 Leader of the Month

Dave Rogers | January/February 2020 Leader of the Month

Dave Rogers first came to Charlottesville when he was an undergraduate at UVA in 1965. After graduation, he moved to the Tidewater area to become a teacher, but he missed Charlottesville and soon moved back. He has lived here ever since, raising a fa...

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Kel BasAvraham | December 2019 Leader of the Month

Kel BasAvraham | December 2019 Leader of the Month

Kel BasAvraham grew up in Mississippi, and has lived in many places, but came to Abingdon in their 30s. They’ve lived in various places in Appalachia but moved back to Abingdon about 10 years ago. Soon after that they joined the Washington Count...

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Brandy Faulkner | November 2019 Leader of the Month

Brandy Faulkner | November 2019 Leader of the Month

Brandy Faulkner wanted to get involved with Virginia Organizing years before there was a chapter in the New River Valley, so she joined immediately when an organizer moved to her area. “I was really excited to see a grassroots organization with so mu...

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Tyran Green | September/October 2019 Leader of the Month

Tyran Green | September/October 2019 Leader of the Month

At the Grassroots Gathering this year, Tyran spoke about her experience over the summer as an intern for Virginia Organizing. She and the other interns held a living wage rally at a Charlottesville Chick-fil-A. The police were called because the road...

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Rebecca Sue Brown: July/August 2019 Leader of the Month

Rebecca Sue Brown: July/August 2019 Leader of the Month

Rebecca moved to Harrisonburg in 2010 after living much of her life in Colorado. Due to progressing symptoms of then undiagnosed Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, she had to endure nine surgeries over the next four years. She was mostly homebound during those...

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Connie Wright-Zink: May 2019 Leader of the Month

Connie Wright-Zink: May 2019 Leader of the Month

Connie Wright-Zink of the Staunton/Augusta County/Waynesboro Chapter (SAW) grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. She and her husband moved first to Northern Virginia in 1995 and then out to a rural area in the Shenandoah Valley where the...

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Karen Downing: March/April 2019 Leader of the Month

Karen Downing: March/April 2019 Leader of the Month

Karen Downing is a native of the Eastern Shore and its public schools. She went to Norfolk State University and then returned home in 1990 and got involved in service to the community. When Virginia Organizing began to form a new chapter on the Shore...

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LaVerne Jackson – January/February 2019 Leader of the Month

LaVerne Jackson – January/February 2019 Leader of the Month

  Originally from Ohio, LaVerne Jackson moved to Virginia because of her husband’s military assignment here. She raised her children and worked as a nurse in pediatric health care, retiring after serving for many years as the Clinical Director o...

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Gayle Bracy – October/November 2018 Leader of the Month

Gayle Bracy – October/November 2018 Leader of the Month

Gayle Bracy grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended school in Ohio and Maryland.  She graduated from the University of Maryland School of Business Administration. She joined the Air Force and completed her tour of service.  She was hired by the D...

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Terry White – April/May 2018 Leader of the Month

Terry White – April/May 2018 Leader of the Month

Terry White, “Bean” to his friends, first heard about Virginia Organizing when he saw a flyer in the grocery store. The flyer explained that people who had had their civil rights taken away could apply to the governor to have them restored. He contac...

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Jerry Hill – August/September 2018 Leader of the Month

Jerry Hill – August/September 2018 Leader of the Month

Jerry Hill grew up in Southwest Virginia, but he moved to Northern Virginia when he was young to become a teacher, administrator, and elementary school principal in Loudoun County. After 38 years of service in education, he retired and moved back hom...

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Lisa Taylor – February/March 2018 Leader of the Month

Lisa Taylor – February/March 2018 Leader of the Month

Lisa Taylor’s parents were from Lynchburg, but she grew up in New York while her father went to Cornell University. She came to live in Lynchburg more recently. Her son has grown up in Lynchburg and attended the Lynchburg City Schools. He’s in 9th gr...

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Eric Olson-Getty: September/October 2017 Leader of the Month

Eric Olson-Getty: September/October 2017 Leader of the Month

Eric Olson-Getty came to Virginia from North Carolina in 2014. He moved for a new church—his wife is a pastor of a Mennonite congregation—but got to Harrisonburg looking for a new grassroots organization too. After being a part of Durham CAN, an affi...

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Nagolia “Goldie” Wells: July/August Leader of the Month

Nagolia “Goldie” Wells: July/August Leader of the Month

Nagolia “Goldie” Wells was at the very first meeting of the Portsmouth Chapter of Virginia Organizing—and she hasn’t stopped since! “Meghan, our organizer, came to one of my civic league meetings back in 2016,” said Goldie. “A few of us decided to go...

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Tamara Cherry-Clarke: May 2017 Leader of the Month

Tamara Cherry-Clarke: May 2017 Leader of the Month

In May 2016, Tamara Cherry-Clark attended a school-to-prison pipeline community meeting with a friend from work. In the year since that first meeting, Tamara has become a leader in the New River Valley Chapter and a driving force in their local educa...

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Jennifer and Angel Romero: April Leaders of the Month

Jennifer and Angel Romero: April Leaders of the Month

Door-to-door canvassing. Agenda preparation. Planning meetings. On March 4, all of their hard work paid off. The immigrant rights workshop was a success! Jennifer and Angel Romero have only been involved in the Fredericksburg Chapter of Virginia Orga...

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Randi Carpoe: March 2017 Leader of the Month

Randi Carpoe: March 2017 Leader of the Month

Randi Carpoe first got involved with Virginia Organizing in August through a work study program for dislocated workers. Since then, Randi has been a faithful volunteer in the Charlottesville office — phone banking, writing thank-you notes to donors,...

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Jill Carson: January/February 2017 Leader of the Month

Jill Carson: January/February 2017 Leader of the Month

Jill Carson, a leader in the Lee County Chapter, was a founding member of Virginia Organizing Project’s original Organizing Committee back in 1995. Since then, Jill has stayed focused on helping real people make real change. “Meet people where they a...

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Martha Woody: December 2016 Leader of the Month

Martha Woody: December 2016 Leader of the Month

Since 2008, Martha Woody has been a strong member of Virginia Organizing. After participating in a series of meetings with legislators around predatory lending, health care, and more during the 2008 General Assembly session, Martha became active in e...

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Lee Irvin: October 2016 Leader of the Month

Lee Irvin: October 2016 Leader of the Month

Lee Irvin first joined Virginia Organizing in mid-2015 after meeting Lynchburg area organizer Haley Wilson. Since then, Lee has worked hard to build power for change in Lynchburg and across Virginia. "Virginia Organizing provided a great opportunity...

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Trish Philon: September 2016 Leader of the Month

Trish Philon: September 2016 Leader of the Month

Trish Philon has been a member of the Harrisonburg Chapter for many years and is particularly interested in criminal justice issues in her community. Recently, her Chapter developed a community-police relations survey to learn more about perceptions...

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Al Willis: November 2016 Leader of the Month

Al Willis: November 2016 Leader of the Month

Al Willis first learned about Virginia Organizing through his church, and he's been a leader in the organizing drive on the Eastern Shore ever since. “I want to help people empower themselves and make their community better,” he said. Since getting i...

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Lily Hungarland: August 2016 Leader of the Month

Lily Hungarland: August 2016 Leader of the Month

Lily Hungarland began her journey with Virginia Organizing in high school. She recently graduated and started at UVA this month. "I started learning about social justice issues and Virginia Organizing through church in middle school," said Lily. Her...

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Odessa Hudson: July 2016 Leader of the Month

Odessa Hudson: July 2016 Leader of the Month

Odessa Hudson is passionate about voting. For years, Odessa had her civil rights stripped away because she has a felony conviction on her record. She read about another returning citizen and Virginia Organizing Board member in her local paper and got...

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Dian Williams: June 2016 Leader of the Month

Dian Williams: June 2016 Leader of the Month

Dian Williams is a newer Virginia Organizing leader in Portsmouth who got active after learning about Virginia Organizing at a local civic league meeting. "When I heard about all the issues that Virginia Organizing works on, I thought, 'this is me!'"...

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Nancy Carpenter: May 2016 Leader of the Month

Nancy Carpenter: May 2016 Leader of the Month

For the past four years, Nancy Carpenter has been an active leader in the Charlottesville Chapter of Virginia Organizing. She joined Virginia Organizing because she was interested in supporting a local organization that addresses how state issues aff...

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Ronna Wertman: February 2016 Leader of the Month

Ronna Wertman: February 2016 Leader of the Month

Born to deaf parents, Ronna Wertman has been a bridge between deaf and hearing communities all her life. When her mom was in the hospital without access to appropriate interpretation services, Ronna got busy to make sure others in the deaf community...

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Ebony Guy: January 2016 Leader of the Month

Ebony Guy: January 2016 Leader of the Month

When Ebony Guy first moved to Danville, she was looking for community and a way to make a difference. Through Virginia Organizing, she has made real change in real people’s lives! Most recently, Ebony served as a leader in the Danville Chapter’s #Bla...

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Neal Mullins: December 2015 Leader of the Month

Neal Mullins: December 2015 Leader of the Month

Neal Mullins did not know much about natural gas hydrofracking three years ago and he had never heard of Virginia Organizing. After purchasing some land and seeing signs about potential fracking in the area, he decided to attend a Board of Supervisor...

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Phil Grochmal: November 2015 Leader of the Month

Phil Grochmal: November 2015 Leader of the Month

South Hampton Roads Chapter leader Phil Grochmal passed away this month following a sudden heart attack. He was known for his passion for his family and politics in the community. In his Chapter, he was known for his passionate organizing for access...

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LaKisha Mahone: October 2015 Leader of the Month

LaKisha Mahone: October 2015 Leader of the Month

LaKisha (Kisha) Mahone has been a volunteer leader with the Fredericksburg Chapter since February 2015. Kisha and her classmates were doing a research project and chose to study the school-to-prison-pipeline in Spotsylvania County when they came acro...

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Camil Davis: September 2015 Leader of the Month

Camil Davis: September 2015 Leader of the Month

Camil Davis has been a Petersburg Chapter leader for almost a year. She is actively involved in the local food desert campaign and has a passion for getting people active in her community. "Petersburg is a food desert, which means we have little to n...

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Ayu Yifru: May/June Leader of the Month

Ayu Yifru: May/June Leader of the Month

Ayu Yifru first became involved in the Harrisonburg Chapter of Virginia Organizing when she saw that changes were needed in her community and she wanted to raise her voice. "Virginia Organizing helps to raise the voices of traditionally silenced peop...

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Kay Meyer: March/April 2015 Leader of the Month

Kay Meyer: March/April 2015 Leader of the Month

Kay Meyer has been a leader with Virginia Organizing for two years. In that time, she has shown a commitment to leadership development and working on the issues important to her local Chapter and community. She spearheaded efforts to communicate with...

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Davon Miller: January/February 2015 Leader of the Month

Davon Miller: January/February 2015 Leader of the Month

Davon Miller got active with Virginia Organizing after a Charlottesville Chapter leader asked him to register to vote and he was unable to since his rights had been taken away. He decided that he wanted to help other people get their right to vote ba...

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Elizabeth La Grua: November/December 2014 Leader of the Month

Elizabeth La Grua: November/December 2014 Leader of the Month

Elizabeth La Grua has been a part of the Augusta/Staunton/Waynesboro Chapter for many years. She first got involved with Virginia Organizing from a partnership on peace issues in her local community. Since then, Elizabeth has worked on a variety of i...

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Daniel Willson: October 2014 Leader of the Month

Daniel Willson: October 2014 Leader of the Month

Daniel Willson is a Baptist pastor and Virginia Organizing leader in Martinsville. Daniel first got involved after students visited him to talk about Virginia Organizing, but he was already interested in learning more from driving by the local office...

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Jan Reeves: September 2014 Leader of the Month

Jan Reeves: September 2014 Leader of the Month

Jan Reeves is a Virginia Organizing leader in her hometown of Abingdon, Virginia. She lived in northern Virginia for a time and when she moved back to the mountains about a year ago, she was appalled that the county was considering hydrofracking in t...

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Eunice Haigler: August 2014 Leader of the Month

Eunice Haigler: August 2014 Leader of the Month

Eunice Haigler became interested in Virginia Organizing because of criminal justice work and Medicaid expansion. Eunice is one of the 400,000 people who would benefit from Medicaid expansion. She now works on many projects with Virginia Organizing. "...

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Nicholas DeFilippis: July 2014 Leader of the Month

Nicholas DeFilippis: July 2014 Leader of the Month

Nicholas DeFilippis started as an intern with Virginia Organizing in 2011 and continued to work with the Richmond Chapter as a leader after his internship ended. The work Virginia Organizing does is important to Nicholas because he wants to see impro...

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Ramona Sanders: June 2014 Leader of the Month

Ramona Sanders: June 2014 Leader of the Month

Ramona Sanders has been an active leader with Virginia Organizing for four years. During this time, she has worked on environmental, anti-poverty, predatory lending, and other campaigns in Harrisonburg, but she has most recently been focused on the i...

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Yolander Davis: May 2014 Leader of the Month

Yolander Davis: May 2014 Leader of the Month

Yolander Davis began working with the South Hampton Roads Chapter on health care reform and Medicaid expansion because she wanted to share her own health care story. Yolander is an adult foster caregiver and works with adults who have mental and inte...

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