Melissa Black
Haven of Hope Coordinator-Envisioner
Early in 2004, Melissa submitted a story to We Survive for the WOW Magazine—“To Live Your Life.” This story reflected on how Melissa’s dad…”inspires me to live my life to the fullest…he fought for his life and won.”
On August 10, 2004, Melissa volunteered at Media Mania held at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. Media Mania was a dual Press Conference and Media Promotional event.
The WOW Team held a Press Conference introducing new initiatives to the press and then did a promotional radio talk show on “Big Talk on Small Business.” As a volunteer with the WOW Team, Melissa greeted people as they entered the conference and was a guest on Big Talk on Small Business.
From that moment on Melissa became a permanent part of the WOW Team. One aspect of WOW is training youth to facilitate writing programs and mentor on the talk show—Get in the NOW with WOW. Melissa wanted to do both.
Melissa became part of the production process for the WOW magazine and talk show. As Melissa says, “these are skills that provide tremendous advantages.”
In 2008, Melissa changed directions and wanted to see more activities at We Survive’s Corporate Headquarters. She started a campaign to garner help and gave the headquarters the name—Haven of Hope.
Melissa, a big believer in creative expression, took Moody Cecil’s vision and was able to envision what Moody wanted…”a real hands on learning lab outside of the classroom—nurturance in nature.”
The first Haven of Hope—Day of Hope—Health and Wellness Day Camp was held in the summer of 2009.
From 2009 until the present, Melissa was busy recruiting volunteers in order to expand on that first Day of Hope experience, created a logo, sought donations of materials to revitalize the old farmhouse, headed to college, got married, has a family and is the Haven of Hope Coordinator.
Melissa recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Louisville.
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