LEXINGTON PARK, Md. – The Carolyn E. Parker Foundation has been making its mark on the Southern Maryland community as a non-profit through various programs meant to aid the youth, elderly, and homeless.
The non-profit foundation focuses on community outreach such as exposing the youth to different opportunities/mentorship, clothes for the homeless, restoring the impoverished and much more, according to Adrienne Somerville, the founder of the foundation.
“The Carolyn E. Parker Foundation, we take pride in exposing the youth to things that they don’t ordinarily have access to,” Somerville said.
Somerville’s vision for The Carolyn E. Parker Foundation is to establish a group of leaders to serve as mentors in the community, shaping and influencing the lives of the youth, the homeless or impoverished, and women, according to Somerville.
Somerville named the foundation after her grandmother, Carolyn E. Parker, who had developed Alzheimer’s and passed away, because she was Somerville’s first mentor, she said. Somerville describes her as a giver, pouring words of wisdom during the darkest of times.
“My grandmother always added clarity that allowed me to align to a purpose and so for me, she was my first mentor. My first exposure to the power of mentorship was my grandmother,” Somerville said.
As a result, Somerville recognized the value of mentorship and that her purpose and passion was being a difference maker to people, she said. The foundation aims to be a role model for the community and takes the responsibility of mentorship very seriously.
“How we show up in the community, how we show up as leaders, we take that very seriously. So it’s not just anybody who is going to lead this organization. We focus on being that role model personally, spiritually, socially,” Somerville said. “We focus on demonstrating our abilities by transforming the lives of those that we encounter with the resources we have.”
The foundation specifically mentors girls and takes them to college and career panels, hosting financial management workshops, dietary discussions about health and wellness, self-defense and mind-mastery workshops, she said.
Programs include Project Cinderella, ensuring girls attending significant school dances/celebrations (eighth grade, homecoming, prom, and graduation) are afforded an equal opportunity to participate by providing a variety of formal and semi-formal dresses.
“The dress tells you, you are worthy of this celebration. You have earned the right to graduate and to be celebrated regardless of your financial situation in your household,” Somerville said.
In addition, The Project Kennedy Center, an arts infusion field trip offers middle school girls an opportunity to embrace the fine arts to achieve positive youth outcomes, despite any social, economic, and personal challenges that undermine youth well-being and pathways to adulthood.
“Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot to do something impactful. People think ‘I’m gonna help when I become a millionaire, I’m gonna do that when I become rich.’ You don’t always have to be rich to be impactful,” Somerville said.
To support all programs and initiatives, the foundation is hosting its first Charity Golf Tournament on Friday, September 27, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event will have raffles, music, food, and games. Tickets to participate in the tournament start at $100 and can be bought online.
The proceeds from the event will additionally be used to invest in student’s who will pitch a business idea, according to Somerville. Based on the pitching idea, the foundation will give the student money, as well as mentor and coach them for a whole year.
Students in the community have brilliant ideas that are unspoken and there is often no one to listen, Somerville said. She encourages students to attend this event as a chance to pitch their idea.
“This idea may change your dinner conversations and change our community,” Somerville said. As a mentor Somerville plans to give the youth a platform and expose them to community leaders, business partners, and leaders from other corporations that will also serve as judges to make their ideas into reality.
“Come share your idea, allow us to invest in it, allow us to mentor you, allow us to see where you go,” Somerville said.
Somerville wants the community to show up for the event and support the tournament even if they don’t play as it’s the organization’s biggest fundraiser yet for the kids and the youth.
“We’re doing great things in the community. We don’t do it alone either. We do it in partnership and collaboration and we need our community leaders to come out and support,” Somerville said.
Somerville’s final message to the community is they don’t have to go through things alone.
“I see you, I hear you but more importantly like my grandmother believed in me, I believe in you, and with the help of mentors in my organization you can and will be successful guaranteed,” Somerville said.
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