Donation protected
This is 100% a surprise for Vicki so please do not mention, and be sure to let others know, if you pass this on.
Vicki Deal-Williams is an incredible friend, mentor, mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, advisor, colleague and giver - her time, her knowledge, her advice, her love, and resources.
She is celebrating a birthday in the coming weeks, and in typical Vicki fashion, she has asked for no gifts for herself. One thing we all know, however, is that Vicki gets the greatest joy when she is able to help others. This opportunity is an effort to create a special Vicki Fund, so that she can contribute and help in the ways and moments that she knows will have great impact and value. This is literally a gift that keeps on giving.
She sees potential and goodness in so many - sometimes more than they can see for themselves. She is wise, and has inspired many. - and knows that sometimes a random act of kindness or generosity can have great lasting value.
This Vicki Fund will go directly to her, to make donations that she knows will help make the greatest difference - targeted to help students stay in school. Read on for a personal story why this has become one of Vicki’s most important and special missions.
Why this matters to Vicki.
As a young woman attending Northwestern she was, like many students then and now, essentially putting herself through school - some limited help from her family, loans, working and trying to make it work. As she tells it, there came a day when she received a tuition bill for $734. A painfully large amount of money at the time, and she had no resources to pay this bill. She remembers the specific amount vividly. The weight of the burden, and the stressors of life of that time left Vicki exhausted and certain that she was going to have to drop out of school. She began to think of alternatives to the plans she had made. “Tired and hopeless” she said.
And then an “unfathomable act of kindness changed her life”. Mr. and Mrs. Shannon, parents to her then college-boyfriend, paid that $734 tuition bill. Though she knew them, she had no idea how they had learned of her situation, and especially then, did not know how they had the resources to help her in such a way, but that gesture changed things. In the years that followed and after coming to DC, where the Shannons lived, and long after the then college-boyfriend had been replaced by Hank, her husband, they would see the Shannons at the Washington Wizards games. They met Lana and Mia. Recently, and upon the passing of Mrs. Shannon, Vicki shared this story, and redoubled her own personal work and commitment to finding ways to replicate this kindness.
Added to this, her work with her congregation to produce a special day of celebration for the young men and woman that get in to HCBUs has been, in her own words, “ the highlight” of her week or month. She shares with many how much joy she gets, seeing the excitement and opportunity. Recently she shared another story about meeting a young woman, a waitress, and just talking to her and wanting to be able to find a way to pay off part of her college bills.
She sees more in others than they can sometimes see for themselves in the moment. We all know that. Maybe not headed to, or fighting to stay in college, but she sees the best In each of us and does everything possible to help us be our best and to achieve great things.
So, in honor of her birthday, in honor of Vicki herself, and the myriad ways she guides any and all of us, and with implicit trust in her judgement to do good, and knowledge that she will continue to help make lives better, this is the start of the Vicki Fund for Giving.
If you are so inclined, consider giving what you can. As Vicki would tell you, there is no need, but it is an opportunity to help goodness keep going.
As Hank says, this is going to “blow her away”.
special note: the GoFundMe page is set up to make giving easy. They do keep a small processing fee. If you want to make a donation directly, send a message and one of the family will let you know how and where to send to check or other payment directly.
Vicki Deal-Williams is an incredible friend, mentor, mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, advisor, colleague and giver - her time, her knowledge, her advice, her love, and resources.
She is celebrating a birthday in the coming weeks, and in typical Vicki fashion, she has asked for no gifts for herself. One thing we all know, however, is that Vicki gets the greatest joy when she is able to help others. This opportunity is an effort to create a special Vicki Fund, so that she can contribute and help in the ways and moments that she knows will have great impact and value. This is literally a gift that keeps on giving.
She sees potential and goodness in so many - sometimes more than they can see for themselves. She is wise, and has inspired many. - and knows that sometimes a random act of kindness or generosity can have great lasting value.
This Vicki Fund will go directly to her, to make donations that she knows will help make the greatest difference - targeted to help students stay in school. Read on for a personal story why this has become one of Vicki’s most important and special missions.
Why this matters to Vicki.
As a young woman attending Northwestern she was, like many students then and now, essentially putting herself through school - some limited help from her family, loans, working and trying to make it work. As she tells it, there came a day when she received a tuition bill for $734. A painfully large amount of money at the time, and she had no resources to pay this bill. She remembers the specific amount vividly. The weight of the burden, and the stressors of life of that time left Vicki exhausted and certain that she was going to have to drop out of school. She began to think of alternatives to the plans she had made. “Tired and hopeless” she said.
And then an “unfathomable act of kindness changed her life”. Mr. and Mrs. Shannon, parents to her then college-boyfriend, paid that $734 tuition bill. Though she knew them, she had no idea how they had learned of her situation, and especially then, did not know how they had the resources to help her in such a way, but that gesture changed things. In the years that followed and after coming to DC, where the Shannons lived, and long after the then college-boyfriend had been replaced by Hank, her husband, they would see the Shannons at the Washington Wizards games. They met Lana and Mia. Recently, and upon the passing of Mrs. Shannon, Vicki shared this story, and redoubled her own personal work and commitment to finding ways to replicate this kindness.
Added to this, her work with her congregation to produce a special day of celebration for the young men and woman that get in to HCBUs has been, in her own words, “ the highlight” of her week or month. She shares with many how much joy she gets, seeing the excitement and opportunity. Recently she shared another story about meeting a young woman, a waitress, and just talking to her and wanting to be able to find a way to pay off part of her college bills.
She sees more in others than they can sometimes see for themselves in the moment. We all know that. Maybe not headed to, or fighting to stay in college, but she sees the best In each of us and does everything possible to help us be our best and to achieve great things.
So, in honor of her birthday, in honor of Vicki herself, and the myriad ways she guides any and all of us, and with implicit trust in her judgement to do good, and knowledge that she will continue to help make lives better, this is the start of the Vicki Fund for Giving.
If you are so inclined, consider giving what you can. As Vicki would tell you, there is no need, but it is an opportunity to help goodness keep going.
As Hank says, this is going to “blow her away”.
special note: the GoFundMe page is set up to make giving easy. They do keep a small processing fee. If you want to make a donation directly, send a message and one of the family will let you know how and where to send to check or other payment directly.
Organizer and beneficiary
Team Vicki
Organizer
Washington D.C., DC
Vicki Deal-Williams
Beneficiary