Meet Charlene McKnight

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Charlene McKnight . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Charlene below.

Charlene, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Today, I get my resiliency from my trauma and the need to use my experiences and knowledge to help others. Hence, Four Giving Hearts came to be. Four Giving Hearts (FGH), a 501(c)(3) organization, was founded June 18, 2018, in the memory of RJ McKnight and Jon Paul McKnight, two of the “four” giving hearts. The logo colors represent the birthstone colors of the four McKnight children. Everything I do is in memory of my brothers. I miss them immensely.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I serve the community through Four Giving Hearts (FGH), and this is my passion. Serving is my “why” as they say, and I am able to do so in various ways. Specifically, FGH serves the Pee Dee and Low Country regions of South Carolina under my leadership as the founder/executive director and the leadership of the founding board members (Chenella McKnight, Dorothya Nero, Jessie Welch, and Nakell Williams). The organization fosters “for” giving hearts and responsible citizenship by focusing on 1. Health, 2. Family, 3. Education, and 4. Community! FGH supports various causes continuously. Many of the organization’s efforts coordinate with the assigned awareness day, week, and month for each cause, etc. FGH, however, advocates for mental health awareness, period poverty awareness, and sickle cell disease (SCD) awareness/sickle cell trait (SCT) awareness year-round. We aim to educate those near and far about SCD in memory of RJ McKnight, one of the hearts in “Four” Giving Hearts, and ALL warriors. Additionally, through various partnerships, support from the community, and initiatives, such as With Lots of Love from FGH, With Loads of Love from FGH, FGH’s Redbox Initiative, FGH’s Community Baby Shower, and GriefConvo with FGH, approximately 16,000 essential items- academic and pragmatic resources-(hygiene items, laundry items/funds, food, clothing/shoes, schools supplies, diapers, awareness information, and kindness) are provided to community members in need each year.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The journey has definitely been a process. There was much to learn about founding and operating a successful nonprofit. I, however, have been blessed to have amazing professionals who volunteer their time to serve as board members. Additionally, our supporters, donors, and volunteers are the absolute best. Hence, with the support of others and my educational background/skills (skillful educator, communicator, and researcher), I have been able to establish and lead effectively into our sixth year of existence. With that I say, put in the work to achieve your goals and keep learning/growing.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Much of my success is due to effective collaboration with people who have a desire to give back to the community intentionally and selflessly. Therefore, it is my hope to continue to do so with those people and organizations we currently have a partnership with while developing new partnerships concurrently.

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