March 2023 ~ Jacksonville Real Producers

Kindness in Action

Giving Back: Elizabeth Wells

Of the myriad reasons people choose to give to others—family tradition, faith, a tugging heart—one of the most compelling is the desire to help others escape a dark place they themselves once existed. Elizabeth Wells, advisor with Engel and Völkers First Coast - The McIntosh Group Real Estate, is one of these givers. She extends a hand each week to juveniles incarcerated in Jacksonville’s Duval Regional Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) through her work with The VERB Kind, a mentoring program that reaches the youth inside the walls of juvenile detention centers and gives them a second chance through mentoring, education and connecting them with community resources. Her helping hand comes with an authenticity found in walking a similar road as those young people she now hopes to

“All these kids are lovable,” Elizabeth says. “They are loved by someone… even those who committed the worst crimes. Their crime was only a moment in time, not who they are as a person.”

Hope and inspiration with a dose of truth—tough love—is what Elizabeth offers incarcerated teens during her visits each week in downtown Jacksonville. She is a current mentor with The VERB Kind and is now starting to work with Daniel Kids, the non-profit’s youth residential program available to at-risk teens. Residential programs, like Daniel Kids, help at-risk and previously incarcerated juveniles continue to build successful futures by changing course, a process that takes time.

“I once heard, ‘If not me, then who? So why not me?’” Elizabeth says of why she gives back. “Giving back means giving hope for a better future.” She’s certainly reaching her giving back goal, which is to “make a small difference in someone’s life. That’s all we can hope for.”

Elizabeth’s heart for giving back emerges from first-hand experience. She herself grew up in Section 8 housing. “My childhood wasn’t easy,” she shares. “I endured some real trauma that eventually led to low self-esteem and bad decision-making. My parents were strong, though, and they practiced tough love,” she reflects on her teen years. She married at 18 and had a child, Melanie. After the couple got into trouble partying, the State of California threatened to take Melanie away if they did not stay sober. Instead of trying to change course, her then husband left, and they divorced. “I think he knew he couldn’t stay clean,” she shares. Elizabeth, though, was determined to keep Melanie. “Halloween, October 31, 1984, is my clean anniversary,” she says of the long-ago date she still remembers.

Her path forward was tough. Elizabeth had to use all the state assistance available to her to take care of herself and Melanie. “I had to walk to my job at a local department store,” she reflects on the struggle involved in managing the responsibilities that accompany parenting and independence. At 20, she met her now husband, Gregg, who was in the military. After the two married, Gregg adopted Melanie, and they had a child together, Cassandra.

TOUGH LOVE

“We always told our children if they got into trouble, they would have to suffer the consequences,” says Elizabeth. She and Gregg agreed early on that they would practice tough love, if necessary, with their children. While Melanie, “was an adult her whole life, an old soul,” Elizabeth shares, Cassandra struggled with depression as a teen. Then in college, although Elizabeth and Gregg provided all the help available, Cassandra self-medicated.

Eventually, Cassandra stole her parents’ credit cards and took jewelry from her mother and sold it. “We turned her in,” Elizabeth says. “We told our kids from the beginning if they decided to take the wrong path, they would suffer the consequences.” After arraignment, Cassandra and her friends decided to rent a computer then try and pawn it. After that incident, Cassandra was sentenced to complete a state-mandated program to help her get back on track. “She wasn’t ‘working’ the program,” shares Elizabeth, and I kept warning her.” After failing to complete all the steps to the program, Cassandra found herself in jail, not juvenile detention, because she was 19 and considered an adult.

Today, now decades later, “Cassandra is doing amazing these days,” Elizabeth says of her youngest daughter. Elizabeth and Gregg are looking forward to Cassandra moving to Jacksonville soon. Melanie and her husband Ryan, and Elizabeth’s grandchildren, Lily (17), Liam (16) and Logan (11) are still in San Diego and doing well.

ELIZABETH’S “WHY”

These memories are the roots of Elizabeth’s “why”. She volunteers with The VERB Kind today because, “I know what it’s like to have the odds stacked against you. I know that a moment in time doesn’t define you. I know that only I could make the decision to fight for myself, but it took the support of family, therapy, mentor programs and more to make me successful. I made the decision, but I certainly couldn’t do it alone. That’s why I mentor these kids every Monday in juvenile detention. The event that landed them in detention does not have to define them.”

THE WELLS FAMILY NOW

Elizabeth is a relatively new Jacksonville resident and REALTOR®. She and Gregg moved from Bahrain in the Middle East to Jacksonville in 2020 about three years ago when Gregg received a job offer from the Department of Defense. Elizabeth received her real estate license a year later, in 2021, after a career in marketing and advertising. Elizabeth says she looks forward to continuing to build her roots and career here in Northeast Florida.

Elizabeth is an advisor for ENGEL & VÖLKERS FIRST COAST with the McIntosh Group.

If you are interested in mentoring youth and making a positive impact, “consider coming to jail with me,” invites Elizabeth. Reach out at (904) 432-5749 or TheVerbKind.com. Elizabeth welcomes your participation.