City nonprofit to help even more with $75,000 grant
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A local nonprofit received a $75,000 grant from AllOne Foundation & Charities.
The My Vision 9 Foundation, located at 400 Market St. in Williamsport, was presented with the check at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
"I am super excited," said founder Channelle Johnson-Edwards.
The My Vision 9 Foundation had initially set a goal to help 42 people, but that number has "gone through the roof," Johnson said.
"The program has allowed us to transport people to appointments," she said.
My Vision 9 also works with counseling services and provides individual coaching and other forms of support for a wide range of people, including past offenders, people struggling with substance abuse and at-risk youth.
The foundation has been such a help to people in the community that some participants have listed My Vision 9 as their emergency contact.
My Vision 9 works with UPMC, AIDS Resource, Crossroads and the Lycoming County Prison, just to name a few.
"We've been the missing piece in your lives," Johnson-Edwards said.
A few participants of the program spoke about the difference My Vision 9, and Johnson-Edwards in particular, have made in their lives.
"I don't know how one person do what they do... but (Johnson-Edwards) was here," said Allen Williams, a participant of My Vision 9 who served 35 years in prison.
After he was released, My Vision 9 picked him up from the bus station, helped him with housing and medical care and served as a "spiritual spot" for Williams.
He "probably would've gave up" without the services offered by My Vision 9.
"I thank God ... for you and your organization," he said to Johnson-Edwards.
Another program participant, Rhoda Hancock, also vouched for Johnson-Edwards' character.
"I look at her as a support system ... family member ... and a best friend," Hancock said.
"Our mission is to improve access to health care," AllOne Executive Director John Cosgrove said when he took to the podium.
While AllOne Foundation & Charities has been writing grants for five years, Cosgrove said that My Vision 9 is "actually improving access to health care" by providing transportation to and from medical appointments.
Quoting Robert Kennedy, Cosgrove called My Vision 9 "that tiny ripple of hope" that can grow and "sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
"It's meetings like this that make me not give up," Cosgrove said.
"The ultimate tragedy would be if you gave up."
My Vision 9 was founded in 2018 and has been serving the Williamsport community since. Its website is www.myvision9foundation.org/.
Based in Wilkes-Barre, AllOne Foundation & Charities works "to make a real and substantive impact on the health and welfare of the people of Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania by improving access, affordability and quality of healthcare," according to its website, allonefoundations.org/.