BCG Change-Maker of the Year Award

Be Inspired, Read the Official Nominations for Our Change-Makers!

Ahndrea Blue
It’s an honor to nominate Ahndrea Blue. She has been dedicated to community service for over 15 years and has the heart to serve others. She has been generous with her talents, time and resources. She is an accomplished business woman and attorney but yet she find time to serve others. Ahndrea’s accomplishments are phenomenal, amazing and outstanding.Her newest project is extend low income housing to veterans. She started a food bank called Eloise Cooking Pot two years ago in a low income neighborhood in TACOMA Washington. It is now serving 2000 people a week. It provides food, baby items, household items, pet food and person hygiene items. It also provide ethnic food to serve its diverse clients. She provides spiritual gifts and hand written letters to people who are going through challenges in their lives. The program is called the Joy Box Ministry and it was started by Ahndrea. This program is truly special. The actual “joy box” has 5 gifts and 5 personal written letters, which are sent anonymously through the US Mail to individuals who are experiencing challenges. The goal is to provide the individual with hope and encouragement each day. Ahndrea, with the help of volunteers have sent over 2500 boxes around the world in a short period of time. The joy boxes are free. Ahndrea also volunteers as a missionary all around the world. She has helped build classrooms in Santiago Chile, Tacna, Peru and Changmai Thailand.

She most recently, started a food bank with no government support to help people who are having economic challenges in this down economy. She personally funds and serves at the food bank each week. This includes providing the building, handing out the food to clients, coordinating and delivering food to the clients, procuring foods and doing whatever is needed. The food bank serves 450-500 people per week. She volunteers pro-bono at Matt Talbot and cooks and serves over 150 people a hot lunch quarterly. As an attorney, she provides probono legal services to the community and she services as a mentor to a number of young women of color and other entrepreneur women. Ahndrea annually speaks to disadvantaged and at risk children each year at a local middle school. Ahndrea actually spends the entire day at the school and speaks to 6 classes of 8th graders. She annually provides disadvantage children with Christmas gifts and holds an annual ginger bread housing building event for disadvantage children.She provides housing to single mothers and fathers, and senior citizens.
Ahndrea provides women of color who have defeated breast cancer with support, encouragement and gifts. She annually honors over 250 disadvantage women on mother’s days with gifts. She is truly a mother Teresa who always goes above and beyond, I cannot image a better community leader; she deserves this award.

Joshua Williams
At the tender age of five, Joshua became passionate about assisting the needy after viewing Feed the Children. He was in disbelief about the children who were suffering worldwide. His first solution to the problem was that his mother should adopt some of these unfortunate children and send money to help others. His mother was touched by his compassion and promised they would help in whatever way possible. Weeks after his initial interest in helping the needy, his grandmother gifted him some pocket money. Joshua’s true desire to help shined through when he chose to give the money to a hungry, homeless person on a local street. Though his mother advised him that she would prefer to give the able-bodied person food, Joshua insisted that it was his money and his decision to give the man his money. Following this experience, Joshua’s vision to aid the needy started to blossom.

Joshua was also inspired by the documentary War Dance, which focused on the atrocities faced by Northern Uganda children. With rebels taking the lives of their own people and using children to perform terrible deeds, many children were orphaned. Joshua was exposed to the dependence these children had on outside forces to sustain them. In the documentary, the children performed in a dance competition in Southern Uganda, and as a result, dancing helped to heal their suffering. The documentary motivated Joshua even more to help the less fortunate. Simultaneously, it stirred a desire to visit Africa at some point in the future.

These experiences prompted Joshua to want to start his own company to fulfill his vision; however, he had difficulty getting others to join him. He first sought adult assistance from his aunts. However, months of inactivity forced Joshua to “fire” them and to seek help elsewhere. Out of frustration, Joshua brought the situation to his mother’s attention. She had been unaware of the struggle he was having with getting her sisters to help him help the poor. Unfortunately, she too had an overloaded schedule and was unable to immediately assist him in his venture. Any other child may have become discouraged and given up, but Joshua resorted to new tactics. For several months, he prodded his mother daily for assistance impressing upon her the importance of having his goal attained. Finally, he made progress with his mother, and they began to give away food and other items to people in need. At this point, Joshua’s thought of starting a company related to feeding the hungry took hold. One of Joshua’s aunts rose to the challenge and pointed them in the direction to start a non-profit organization. The Joshua’s Heart Foundation (JHF) was born.

JHF has two primary goals: to “Stomp out World Hunger” and to “Break the Cycle of Poverty” in indigent and underprivileged communities along with people suffering from debilitating diseases that affect their ability to procure food for themselves and their families. Joshua’s foundation hosts small monthly and large quarterly food distributions around South Florida. Grocery items consist of healthy food and balance to last for one to two weeks. Grocery may consist of grains, pasta, protein, etc. To date, over 300,000 pounds of food has been given to over 7,000 people in need.

Joshua has inspired youths and adults all over to give back to their communities.

Joshua is always thinking about what is next? How can he continue to grow the foundation in ways that focus on people in need? As he travels throughout the country to accept various philanthropic awards and speak to people about JHF, he hopes to touch the hearts of young people so they become inspired to do something to make a difference for those less fortunate. He wants more people to have access to food. His idea is to help them learn about growing their own food and sharing what they grow with their families and others.

Joshua has attributed his mission to a vision he says he received from God. He feels that God has a purpose for everyone, and he has been given his.

Joshua truly appreciates the assistance he receives from his family members, even his aunts he initially had to “fire.” Without them, he knows his vision would not have come to fruition. Joshua’s humbleness and hopefulness is an inspiration to all. Through JHF, his generosity has begun to make a difference in this world.Everyone should have one of the basic necessities of Life “FOOD’ we all need it to survive.

Yodit Gebreyes
Yodit Gebreyes of Washington, DC is the originator of Spin In the City, an event that introduces something fun and fresh to a male-dominated DJ industry. The cornerstone of the Spin In The City Female DJ Empowerment Series is built on recognizing the best female DJ’s from around the nation and supporting local women serving non-profit organizations, in which has benefited The Society for Girls, Inc in the past. Guest are introduced to an uplifting social movement bringing together young women and men who are in support of empowerment programs and power connections. Spin In The City is an event to enjoy great networking, good causes and exclusive venues in the city! The event series is powered by strategic partners and provides a powerful platform for the distribution, exchange and discussion of information relevant to women while garnering respect for Lady Deejays from today’s social scene consumers.

She has had her hands in several philanthropic efforts throughout Washington, DC. Her Spin In The City event benefits female non-profit orgs all year & that alone should be recognized. Yodit is awesome… Her Giving heart is surpassed by no other and continuously sponsors and put on GREAT Awareness and FundRaising events for GREAT CAUSES!!!!

Tony Lewis, Jr.
Tony Lewis, Jr. is from Washington, D.C.; has lived here all his life. When he was 9 years old, his father, Tony Lewis, Sr., was sentenced to life in federal prison due to his “alleged” role in a drug ring (see Washington Post article below). Tony Sr. has been in prison for 22 years, 13 of which were spent in California. He is in a federal prison in Maryland now and he and Tony are very close. He loves his dad, but is quick to acknowledge the role his father played in diminishing the very neighborhoods Tony is trying to work to improve. Tony was raised by his mother, maternal grandmother and maternal aunt and while he had book smarts there was still that pull to be in the streets. And he was, but he also valued education (due to those three women pushing hard for him not to be like his father) and so he excelled in school, went to one of the top high schools in D.C., Gonzaga High (which is like SLUH) and he was one of very few black boys there. Plus he’d received a financial scholarship to attend. Then he went on to Howard, wasn’t really interested and dropped out. He picked back up and enrolled at the Univ of D.C. and graduated. He has lived in the same house all his life so he’s never left his neighborhood and as he can explain much better than me, he’s watched friends die and follow the wrong path and yet all that – along with his father’s experience – made him want to do better and help improve his community in the process. Personally, I find him to be one of the most giving people I’ve ever met and always very eager to help whoever, however, whenever. And he genuinely enjoys working with youth and has done so for about 12 years I believe. His “day job” as he calls it is as a workforce development recruiter who works specifically with ex-offenders to place them in jobs. He also created a group, Sons of Life, that consists of Tony and some of his friends whose fathers are serving life sentences. Sons of Life works with children of incarcerated parents and have held food, clothing and toy drives as well as served as mentors and just tried to help as needed with these kids and their families seeing as though they understand first hand what they’re going through. D.C. is like most cities in that there are issues with violence and Tony also works to try and resolve some of those neighborhood conflicts and such that often lead to tragic ends. He was nominated for and won the Steve Harvey Hoodie Award this past summer for Community Leader of the Year and was awarded a new Ford Explorer. The first thing he did after he picked that car up was go get his mentees and take them on a road trip. He has put together a mentoring program that meets weekly and Tony moderates it. He’s planned annual community days where there’s basically a block party from sun up to sun up with food, activities and music and all the neighborhood families come out to celebrate together.

Tony also co-hosts a weekly radio show that’s broadcast over the internet at http://elitedcradio.streamon.fm/. The show is called “Heart of the City” and Tony’s co-host is Silas Grant, chair of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in D.C. They use their platform to address the concerns and needs of citizens in D.C. and from time to time, they also highlight artists coming out of D.C. It’s a blend of topics covered on the hour-long show. Last week, they had a local D.C. artist who has a cd coming out soon and tonight’s show focuses on education as well as an interview with the organizer of this event, http://www.newerawalk.org/.

I’ve included a few links to stories and videos about Tony. I’m sorry this is so long, but I could go on and on about the things Tony has done. He is truly respected in this area and he’s gaining some national attention too. Tony loves his city and thought up the phrase, DC or Nothing, which is now not only a song on rapper Wale’s new cd, but it’s also the new D.C. anthem. (It was trending on Twitter nationally the other day LOL).

He’s 31 years old and already, he’s been at this for some time yet has so much more on his “to do” list. Truly an inspiration. There are so many who are pushing for him to run for mayor and while he usually responds, “Maybe one day”, he’s more interested in what he can do now with the strides he’s made. Tony does alot to build bridges between the communities and individuals in hopes of improving and empowering everyone.

Diane Latiker
Mrs. Latiker saved my sons life, I am crying as I write this nomination because I would be a widowed mother today if not for this woman. My son was lost to these streets and I couldn’t help him. He would just look at me when I talked to him like what I was saying wasn’t resonating. As a single mother of four, I was at a loss. I don’t know he found Diane or how she found him, but he started in her program about three years ago, getting tutoring and getting life skills. He really turned his life around, he finished high school and is now in school to be an auto mechanic. My son was part of Vicelords, he was headed for certain death and now he is headed to a certain future and I owe it to this woman. Mrs. Latiker started her nonprofit community with 10 kids in her living room in 2003. The program has really grown to become a successful mentoring site and haven for our kids. serving 300 kids last year. My kid was part of this success, she was recently featured on CNN, she deserves to win, especially from our community. Thank you Ms. Diane for saving my boy.