Do-Gooder Nikki Dragone
Meet Do-Gooder, Nikki Dragone!
The key to success behind many nonprofit organizations is their volunteers. The “behind the scenes” Do-Gooders who want to make an impact in their community and know that doing good feels good!
Meet Nikki Dragone, a busy mother of three and career professional who was exposed to community volunteerism at a young age through organized efforts at her school and also with her parents & brothers. She is a first generation American, so the desire to help others was something that was instilled in her at a young age from her parents.
A recent change in work schedule allowed Nikki some space and time to dig into volunteer opportunities in Charlotte. She turned to the SHARE Charlotte website to not only find volunteer opportunities for her family to engage in the community, but also identify nonprofits that could help teach her daughters and friends valuable lessons about the challenges in our community.
“What I love about SHARE Charlotte is that at any point I can go on and find something that fits my schedule and the group size of volunteers.” - Nikki Dragrone
Here were some of her favorite experiences for her girls and their friends:
- Volunteering with Classroom Central to make flashcards. Classroom central provides free school supplies to students and teachers. As a volunteer, Nikki drove her daughters and a couple friends to drop off the supplies and notecards in person and take a tour.
- Meeting the director of A Fresh Start Charlotte, an anti-human trafficking nonprofit that focuses on supporting survivors and their children by helping the family to grow, heal, and thrive together. Nikki’s daughters soccer team purchased and decorated canvas bags with words of encouragement to help their constituents.
She is also involved with the Go Jen Go Foundation which provides critical assistance to local individuals and families facing the financial burden of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nikki and her family have participated in their largest fundraiser 5K each year. This nonprofit holds a special place in Nikki’s heart, as it was founded by a dear friend and has helped another dear friend!
Finding opportunities to give back in our community has inspired Nikki to do more. Her hope is that volunteering becomes part of her daughters’ passions, and they can bring this passion to others as well.
Her advice - "Use your gifts to teach and help others. Acknowledge them as gifts and share them with the world - it will not only be a gift to others, but to yourself."
"Somewhere along the way, we must learn that there is nothing greater than to do something for others." Martin Luther King Jr.