Empower4life is a nonprofit organization that was founded in 2015 by Jennifer Cox, who created this nonprofit after her experiences working in education and volunteering at Eastside Family Emergency Shelter in Rosedale, Maryland. I got the opportunity to talk to founder Jennier Cox to learn more about what Empower4life is all about.  

I began by simply asking Jennifer, what is your organization all about? “Working with kids in poverty, and to be able to remove barriers and allow them to grow.” Kids that are in poverty have tremendous disadvantages when it comes to having the correct resources to excel in school and life. Jennifer’s goal with Empowe4life is to break these barriers and show kids no matter their background they deserve the same opportunities and chance of growth. From her experiences of being a teacher and seeing first-hand how tough poverty can be on these kids Jennifer “wants kids to be able to grow to their full potential.” 

Empower4life works with many children but specifically “any child in poverty is automatically a group we work with. We also partner with school systems and kids in foster care.” Through all of the programs run by Empower4life, they are working with around 1800 kids in Baltimore and Harford County. With the help of volunteers and the Empower4life team they have collected over 125,000 pounds of food, 100,000 items of school and home supplies, and conducted over 700 group help sessions.  

There are many ways to get involved, volunteer and be a part of the change. Some programs that Empower4life hold are Take Action Thursdays, which is the gathering of resources that are needed for specific groups. Starting on Thursday night at 9:00 pm and ending Sunday night at 9:00 pm people in the community can come and drop off items that will be sent to children and families with dire needs. For the holiday season one program is the Holiday Drive. Jennfier says, “one event we do is ‘adopt a child’ where you buy one top, one bottom, and one gift for a child in the shelters. The goal is to have two people per child so the child will receive 2 tops, 2 bottoms and 2 gifts for Christmas.” This is a great way to help give back during the holidays.  

One can also volunteer their time by participating in gift wrapping, delivery and transporting presents and supplies during the Holiday Drive. Volunteers are the ones that allow this organization to keep running; without them there would be no Empower. I asked Jennifer what the best part about being a volunteer is in which she said, “the hands-on experiences, watching first-hand the impact they are making.”  (For more information on volunteer opportunities please visit Empower4lifemd.org). The holidays are a busy time for all so “anyone is welcome to come out and help wrap, and delivery volunteers are always needed!” 

From the beginning in 2015, the Empower4life organization has taken off. Bringing awareness to a cause like this opens the eyes of the whole community and shows how important it is to make a difference. I asked Jennifer what the best part about seeing her organization has become today. She says, “seeing impact and growth, I love seeing we have made a positive impact on as many children as we can.”  

Empower has grown exponentially in the past 8 years and Jennifer and her team are very excited about the future of this organization and where it is going. She closes with, “I am excited to keep growing in all accepts I would love to see a growth in educational opportunities and continue making a difference in each child we meet.”