What inspires our Advisory Board Member, Bob Leavitt
There are many people behind the scenes of Angels Among Us that have helped to shape and grow our organization into what it is today. Bob Leavitt has been heavily involved in various philanthropic organizations, including Angels Among Us.
We’re thankful he stumbled across our little organization when we needed help getting off the ground most. When we asked him how it all happened, we decided we’d give him a blog post to tell you all about it.
“Why my wife (Cheryl) and I got involved is related to a 6-year old girl in Denver who we never met but knew through our daughter who babysat for the family. She lost her battle with cancer 15 years ago. Cheryl and I were so inspired by her story we drove to Denver to attend her funeral. She taught us a lot about what’s really important in life. We made a vow to never forget.
Some time later in January, Cheryl and I were taking our annual anniversary trip. On the plane, we read an article about a start up non- profit called Angels Among Us. They had incorporated in the fall and their first fundraiser was in March. I suggested to Cheryl that their mission is something we can get behind and suggested we attend the event.
After attending the fundraising event I reached out to one of the founders and expressed interest in learning more. She invited me to sit in on an upcoming board meeting. As the meeting was getting started she asked me to tell their board a little about myself. After doing so, the next thing I heard was… “I nominate Bob to be accepted on our board” there was a second to the motion and a vote. Coming to this meeting to learn more, I was voted on the board. Not quite why I attended but our love and passion for Angels Among Us began.
After about 15 months I was asked to join the Make-a-Wish board. My company had been a Make-a-Wish sponsor for a number of years and I accepted that opportunity. Always loving and believing in the Angels mission, I was never too far away. Our friendship with founder Kelly Walsh kept us close.
When we learned Susie Nelson was hired, I reached out to Kelly to set up a meeting to meet her and we knew we were back involved.
What excites us most is the staff…. and as a result of this exceptional staff, we are excited about the future of Angels. Sheri with her years of service and knowledge of the Angels mission and families, Susie who has years of non profit leadership and is here at the absolute right time to lead us forward, and Ally, who is the upcoming shinning star as community relations and development director. We are excited about our future!
Going forward, we are excited about the ability to help families who need it the most! Angels Among us has established itself as one of the more significant entities providing assistance to families dealing with childhood cancer. The move into the Ronald McDonald House along with The Mustaches for Kids campaign puts us in the spotlight.. The community awareness created will assist in cultivating new donors going forward and will aid in our fundraising efforts years into the future.
With all of this momentum, our future vision for Angels Among Us is to provide the level of assistance a family needs to properly provide support and care for their child undergoing cancer treatments for as long as those treatments are ongoing. That’s our hope and dream and our prayer is that the community will share that dream with us.”
-Bob Leavitt
