About Us
Our Story
In 2014, we witnessed first hand how quickly a family can go from being ‘comfortable’, to suddenly unable to manage daily family activities due to circumstances outside of their control. Close family friends received terrible news that their 5-year-old son had been diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The financial burdens that accompany this news can be devastating, and a family’s lifestyle can drastically change, even for the most well-planned family.
As medical bills begin to pile up, often times at least one parent is unable to work because of numerous doctor visits, and the child’s need for constant care. The paralyzing fear and stress wreaked havoc on our friends’ close-knit family. We started a ‘Go Fund Me’ campaign to help raise money, but our eyes were opened to the severity of this life-changing and the emotional and physical toll it was taking on them.
Our own family couldn’t help but think of the thousands of other families going through similar circumstances on a daily basis without a strong support group to help them through. Helping Hands for Little Hearts was then created; and we’ve made it our mission to help as many families in ‘crisis’ as we possibly can, no matter the cause of their hardship.
Our Mission
“Our mission is to help those families in need of support, whether it be financially or emotionally, who are experiencing hardships by unforeseen circumstances. Abuse, disabilities, sudden death of a family member, or a cancer diagnosis. These families need help and we want to be able to provide that for them.”Our Vision: Helping Hands for Little Hearts was created to help families, with young children, through negative and sudden, life-changing, circumstances/events.
Values:
Community:We are bringing community to those families in need of life & financial support.
Compassion: You are not alone. We provide assistance, relief & comfort when you need it most.
Initiative: Our volunteer teams are here to help, no matter the circumstances.
Collaborative: Working together with families to collectively lift each other up.
Impact a Child’s Life
Our Team
Co-Founder/Director
Currently, Amanda acts as the Director of Helping Hands for Little Hearts. In this capacity, she engages volunteer staff to coordinate events, develops relationships with area businesses and creates community partnerships. She has an undying passion for helping those in need. Her infectious, high-energy personality shines through in her daily pursuit to provide assistance to families during challenging times.
During her time in Florida, Amanda was an active volunteer with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast, where she provided Big Sister mentorship, and assisted with various fundraising and planning capacities for two major events. In addition, she volunteered at the Sarasota Coalition on Substance Abuse (SCoSA) where she co-coordinated fundraising efforts.
Amanda holds her Bachelor of Science in Human Development & Family Studies from the University of North Texas and is a mother to two children.
Co-Founder
As Co-Founder, Graham helps his wife Amanda drive the vision of Helping Hands Little Hearts. In this capacity, he leverages many years of experience building successful startup businesses to create a non-profit operational structure, secure facilities for staff, volunteers, and community events.
Despite his many business ventures, Graham always believes family is first. With this, he provides HHLH an authentic, sincere love for helping families in need through kindness and humility.
Professionally, Graham is an accomplished Managing Partner, Operations Executive, Founder, and VC Investor of multiple companies with a proven track record of building hyper-growth companies in competitive markets. He believes in the power of problem-solving, and our willingness as humans to adapt to change in order to create great businesses and a sense of community. This ideology naturally lends its support to HHLH mission to help families in need.
Graham holds his Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from Marshall University.