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FOR A GOOD CAUSE
{ SHIFT+CONTROL }{ FOR A GOOD CAUSE } YOU ARE ENOUGH. NORTHEAST KIDNEY FOUNDATION
BY NICOLE HEROUX WILLIAMS I PHOTOS BY NSP STUDIO BY BECCA DELANEY JOHNSON
Melissa Stephens President & CEO
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and your role with
the Northeast Kidney Foundation. I stepped into the role of President & CEO after the former President & CEO of 20+ years passed away unexpectedly. In many ways I feel like my background, skill, and circumstances has aligned me so perfectly for this role. For the last 15 years, I’ve had a successful career in development and fundraising, working for various non-profits. 14 years ago this July, I donated my kidney altruistically to a man who was battling with poly-cystic kidney disease, so the mission and work of the Northeast Kidney Foundation is very close to my heart.
What is the Northeast Kidney Foundation? What is it’s mission? Where are the headquarters located?
The Northeast Kidney Foundation is a direct lifeline for those battling kidney disease. We provide programs, services, emergency grants, physical and emotional support, as well as work as a network within the kidney community. Our mission to improve the lives of those living with kidney disease is one that we are proud of and we work hard every day to make sure we are providing the best possible services for prevention measures, early detection, intervention, and support. While we service the entire Northeast Region of the country, our main office is located in Albany, NY.
How did you become involved with this organization?
My first introduction to the foundation was probably about 7 years ago when I was introduced to Carol LaFleur, the former President & CEO. My boss at the time, who was a kidney recipient, introduced us since I was an altruistic kidney donor. Carol asked me to be a model in the Albany Catwalk for Kidneys charity fundraiser. Years later, Carol reached out to me as she was looking for part-time development support and asked if I could help out.
Why do you do what you do? What is your why?
Service and supporting community has always been a huge part of my life; giving back was the way I was raised. So it would only make sense for me to make a career of it. I truly feel called to this organization and this mission specifically – there is so much that we can do to support those living with kidney disease and after learning that it effect 1 in 3 Americans; that much of kidney disease can be slowed or avoided by prevention measures with diet, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle; that so many people are living with kidney disease and don’t even know it. I feel obligated to spread awareness and shed light on kidney disease.
How long has the NEKF been around and how did it get started?
NeKF was formed in 1972 by Ed and Rhoda Sperber. Ed’s young daughter, Barbara, needed a kidney transplant after learning that her’s was failing. During that time, the family learned that there was truly no support for people going through this process and wanted to create an organization that provided support and services. The family knew that needed to change and so the Northeast Kidney Foundation was created.
What has your organization accomplished that you feel most proud of?
Since stepping into this role in July 2021, I am very proud that we have continued to stay true to our mission of providing direct and immediate support to those living with kidney disease. Between the pandemic shutting us down, losing our longtime, iconic leader, experiencing a reduction in philanthropic giving, and many other internal struggles, we have never wavered in our support of this community. We continue to not only offer existing programs and services, but we are also expanding our reach and getting creative in how we provide care. I am incredibly proud of that.
What are the goals for the organization this year? What would happen if your organization was not able to accomplish its goals?
This has truly been a rebuilding and revisioning year for the foundation. While losing a long-time leader has been
incredibly difficult, we’ve really taken this time to evaluate what we have been doing and reexamine what we can be doing better. I’m excited about launching some new, upcoming services including an Online Grant Portal and a Live Help feature on our newly reimagined website. This will help us respond to the needs of those we serve much quicker that we ever have been able to in the past. If our organization was not able to accomplish its goals, thousands of our constituents would not have access, support, grants, resources, or a network to depend on. Our work is critical.
Give me your best example of the way you’ve seen your organization’s work make a difference?
Whitney, my colleague, always tells this story, but it’s so impactful! We receive emergency grant requests on a daily basis. These requests can range from asking to help purchase groceries to paying utility bills; whatever the kidney patients needs to help them focus on their health. After fulfilling one of these requests, we received a handwritten thank you note on a napkin stating how grateful he was to receive the aid. It was incredibly touching to hear and see just how powerful this work can be.
Who is someone that inspires you and why?
There are SO many people who inspire me and drive me to be a better person every single day. I am inspired by my own family, namely my mom, who immigrated to this country over 40 years ago. She taught herself to speak English, to read, to cook American foods, to cross stitch and sew anything, including clothes! And she never quits – she is always challenging herself to do more and learn.
I am inspired by the bravery of our kidney community – not only the patients, who battle this exhausting disease day in and day out – but also their caregivers and loved ones who also act as advocates for them.
Our incredibly loyal volunteers inspire me. The show up to everything with a positive attitude and a feeling of gratitude, ready to make a difference in whatever we are doing. Their drive to make our community a better place is admirable.
I am a firm believer in you are who you surround yourself with. Attitudes and habits are contagious. My personal friends, professional colleagues, mentors, and network is very representative of individuals who strive to put their best foot forward every day. They inspire me daily, working towards the goals they want to accomplish.
What has been one moment that has impacted your life for the better or
worse since working with the NEKF? Losing our long-time President & CEO, Carol LaFleur, has really impacted my life, but also the trajectory of NeKF. It’s difficult to explain because losing Carol was a huge setback to the organization yet is also allowed us to have a fresh start. Carol impacted so many lives throughout her career and filling her shoes has been a challenge to say the least, haha! But at the same time, it really gave me and our Board of Directors the opportunity to throw everything out the window and start fresh with a new perspective in terms of what the kidney community was asking for in support. We’ve taken this enormous tragedy and worked really hard to refocus and envision how to transform our work. It’s been a long road and there is still so much more to do, but I am very excited about the progress we’ve made so far.
What are areas of opportunity for your organization? What could you do better?
One of the biggest areas for opportunity is for us to expand our footprint to reach every single corner of the Northeast that we cover. I really believe we can be doing so much better of a job in this area and it’s a key focus of mine. Kidney disease effects 1 in 3 Americans, so there certainly isn’t a shortage of those impacted. Reaching out and educating people on what we do, who we are, what kidney disease in, prevention measures, etc. is something I would like to be better at.
What results does your organization achieve?
Impacting more lives and educating people are kidney disease prevention is a focus. Right now, we serve about 8,000 people a year. I’d like to see that number increase to 10,000 and then grow by 5-10% each year.
Where is your leadership team strong, and where does it need development? Passion, tenacity, and resolve to get things done are strengths of ours. We work hard each day to ensure we are meeting the immediate and urgent needs our those we serve. There are only two of us who work full-time for the Northeast Kidney Foundation, so it’s a lot to cover with a very small team. We have to be creative, focused, and experts
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Expanding our team so we can have a bigger reach and bringing on others who have different skill sets will be key to our growth and success.
What do you, personally, spend most of your time on?
My time and focus varies day to day but my biggest efforts are on fund development, advocacy, and education on kidney disease and what we do.
What are your goals for the next three to five years? What priorities will help you achieve them?
Goal 1: Build a solid foundation of capital that will allow us to achieve our organizational goals.
Goal 2: Expand our reach to cover the entire Northeast Region as we are intended to do.
Goal 3: Offer more comprehensive programs and services that are focused on kidney disease prevention measures.
Tell us something people may not know about the NEKF.
I think people hear that we are a Foundation and assume we are this large entity but in reality, there are 2 full-time staff (myself and Whitney), 8 Board of Directors, and about 10 consistent volunteers who get it all done. Of course, I’d like to expand in so many ways and bringing on more staff will be crucial in that growth plan.
Whitney Malone Director of Operations
#1 Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and your role with the Northeast Kidney Foundation. I joined the NEKF family in October of 2019. My initial role with the organization was as an Event Coordinator/Office Manager. Then in June after we lost Carol, our beloved CEO, I stepped into the role of Director of Operations. I am an organized person and a task master so it has been a great fit from the beginning. This new role has allowed me to step back and really see the big picture. I, along with Melissa , our CEO, have really focused on running the organization at maximum efficiency in order to be productive and meet the needs of our kidney community. I have always wanted to have a job that made a difference in people’s lives. Before working for the Northeast Kidney Foundation, I worked at a bank for six years. In many ways, helping people with their financial lives helped me tremendously in being able to meet the expectations of my current position with NEKF.
How did you become involved with this organization?
I became involved in the organization through a mutual friend of one of the employees at NEKF at the time. I met with Carol and we hit it off almost immediately. I began working for the organization the following week.
Why do you do what you do? What is your why?
My why is twofold. I lost my father five years ago to pancreatic cancer. I know and can sympathize wholeheartedly with the desperate desire to help your loved one when they are sick. When someone is newly diagnosed with kidney disease, the diagnosis can be incredibly overwhelming for the individual and their family. It truly is a family disease. I know, firsthand, the worry and pain that comes with it and want to offer support wherever I can. My other why are my two daughters. I want to set an example for them. I want them to see that helping others is an extremely rewarding job.
What has your organization accomplished that you feel most proud of?
Being able to meet people’s immediate needs and having that connection with them has been so rewarding. I am also so proud of the team we have in place. Our Board of Directors, along with Melissa and I share a passion to make a difference. The excitement and energy over the work we are doing is infectious and drives us all to work hard every day to make a difference.
Give me your best example of the way you’ve seen your organization’s work make a difference?
One of our grant offerings is a transportation subsidy program. We have many people that are struggling one way or another to even get to their doctor and/or dialysis appointments. Dialysis in particular is a life support treatment. These appointments cannot be missed. A little over a month ago, I received a handwritten note from a patient who had received our grant. He was so thankful and appreciative just to be able to pay for transportation to get to his dialysis appointment. He thanked us profusely. It’s moments like these, when you realize the lifethreatening struggles that people are having and how important it is to be able to offer them some help.
Who is someone that inspires you and why?
My mother has been a huge inspiration to me. She worked for a nonprofit for years. During her tenure, the organization experienced tremendous growth and was able to support and reach so many people in need. I think about her often when I am making decisions for the Foundation. She led by example, all the while always putting my brother and I first. Any parent knows there is no balance between work and personal life but there is a way to do it all.
What has been one moment that has impacted your life for the better or worse since working with the NEKF? I had just started with the Foundation when we had our Catwalk for Kidneys event, our largest community event of the year. The whole day was truly inspiring. The individuals who walked in the show consisted of doctors, nurses, people in the community and patients and their families. Everyone had come together for a common goal: to raise awareness and give support to those with kidney disease. The last models to walk the runway were a couple and their four year old daughter. The dad had donated his kidney to his daughter and the procedure was a success. He had saved her life. The moment was so incredibly moving. There was not
a dry eye in the house. After the show was over, a member of the wait staff at the venue came up to the Executive Director and I. He was so moved by the event that he wanted to know where he could donate his kidney. It’s moments like these that you hold onto. It makes you want to hit the ground running and work twice as hard to help those in need. My main focus is on making sure the daily operations of the foundation run smoothly. I work very closely with Melissa to meet our daily and long term objectives. More specifically, I handle our grant requests. We have many that come in weekly especially since the onset of the pandemic.
Tell us something people may not know about the NEKF.
I think people may not know that we offer assistance to those with immediate needs on a local level. Melissa and I are available 24/7 for anyone who needs support.
Northeast Kidney Foundation 22 Colvin Avenue, Albany, NY 12206 800-999-9697 ext.101 | 518-533-7880 whitney@healthykidneys.org www.healthykidneys.org
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