The Advocates for Life Foundation has been a long-term vision of its co-founder and co-president, Teah Corley, and her team at EmployerAdvocates. Having a heart for people and tireless desire to give back to those in need, the team at EmployerAdvocates established The Advocates for Life Foundation as a way to turn excess into a reinvestment in people. The Advocates for Life Foundation is a private foundation supported by private donations. While much of the Advocates for Life funding goes to support existing non-profit community efforts, below are a few of the programs offered through The Advocates for Life Foundation:
Helping Hand Program
The Helping Hand Program was established a few years back when its founders began actively seeking to identify individuals who had found themselves in situations of hardship due to no fault of their own. The Helping Hand Program was the vision of Meghan Roper, a partner at EmployerAdvocates, and co-president of Advocates for Life. For years, Meghan has rallied team resources to help assist single mothers who have suddenly found themselves out of work to provide needed support for their families, and has ramped up efforts every Christmas season to ensure that families are able to experience the real spirit of Christmas.
Long before Advocates for Life, Meghan was hosting friends and family at her home each Christmas for the toy drive that she personally organized called, "Thrift and Gift." She was once found taping currency with thank you notes to her garbage can to quietly give back to the office cleaning crew, if even in a small way, to express gratitude for their service. Co-founder, Julie Patrick, has also experienced the joy of giving for years from helping low income families pay their utility bills to get into new homes, to performing random acts of giving such as spontaneously paying for a meal for another family while at dinner.
From helping others found in hardship situations pay off debt to covering the basics such as groceries and electric bills, the Helping Hand Program has been giving back for years, but it was the Advocates for Life Foundation that enabled this program to become formalized in 2015.
Pennies from Heaven Program
The Pennies from Heaven Program was established to recognize and give back to individuals who exemplify the spirit of giving. In a fast-paced world where there is great focus on “getting,” the founders of The Advocates for Life Foundation wanted to establish a channel for recognizing those individuals who had little to give, but gave anyway. Pennies from Heaven focuses on blessing those who bless others and who give what little they have to make a difference. Co-founder of the program, Kendra Hajek, remembers encountering difficult financial times as a child and her mother sharing hope and helping her focus on the silver lining each time she encountered a “found” penny.
The Advocates for Life Foundation Scholarship Program
The Advocates for Life Foundation Scholarship Program identifies underprivileged students in need of seed money to supplement their continuing education opportunities.