LMAD
LMAD

It all started with a rickety old grill and four hotdogs – In 2000, Michelle L. Powell headed out to Ray Mellert Park in Medina, Ohio, set up her grill, which she had to prop up with a rock just to keep it stable, and cooked the hotdogs to give away to children at the park. What was just a minor kind gesture at the time grew to become a full-fledged nonprofit organization, Let's Make a Difference (LMAD), and turned Powell, known as 'Miss Michelle' to the more than 700 children she helped, into a local legend.

Powell was born to an impoverished Black family in Medina, and she was placed in a Special Education class, leading her to believe that she wouldn't amount to anything. After leaving school, she and other members of her family began selling drugs due to the lack of opportunities and to support her two children. Eventually, Powell was arrested, but this run-in with the law was the start of her turning her life around.

Jim Bigam, the Detective who was at the station while Powell was giving her statement and had busted many of her relatives, told her: "Sometimes, you have to go through the storm to see the sunshine" and these words stuck with her. Powell was sentenced to two years' probation, which was later reduced to one.

"I was at rock bottom, and I was on welfare at the time," Powell says. "One day, on my way home from church, I heard a voice telling me to go to my refrigerator and share its contents, even though I was waiting on food stamps."

She dusted off the grill, set it up at the park, and started cooking. That first day, four children came: they ate, played kickball, and left with smiles on their faces. Every week, Powell returned to the park with snacks and to play games, and after several weeks, around 60 children were regularly showing up.

With the growing number of children attending her weekly sessions, Powell asked a friend to write a letter to solicit art supplies from schools and stores. Different people also started contributing to the growing effort, and it was featured in the local newspaper. A local attorney, John Jeandrevin, approached Powell and offered to work pro bono to set up a proper nonprofit structure.

"I'm from the hood, and I didn't even know what pro bono meant," Powell says. "But he helped me create a financial structure, form a board of trustees, and gain 501c3 nonprofit status, without charging me a single dollar."

Since then, LMAD has grown, instituting various programs such as an after-school tutoring program for disadvantaged students known as ACE, which stands for Achieving Connections through Education. The organization also has a summer enrichment program that includes field trips, and one of its recent projects is a Girls' Book Club that empowers young girls through reading and self-affirmation.

In 2021, Powell retired from her role as LMAD's Founding Director and Executive Board President. However, two years later, she returned to the organization to lead it once again. She says that the children and parents were incredibly attached to her, and vice versa. Without her, LMAD simply wasn't the same, the organization knew it, the parents knew it, and most importantly, the kids knew it. This led to the realization that there is no LMAD without Miss Michelle.

The efforts of Powell, the rest of the staff and volunteers of LMAD, and the donors did not go to waste. She says that out of the more than 700 children of various ethnic and racial backgrounds that LMAD has helped, none have gone to jail. Many of the children were able to get into college, finish their studies, and make a better life for themselves by owning homes and starting businesses. Alumni of LMAD's programs also give back to the organization, with three members of its board of trustees – Jasmine Rogers, Malik Tuck, and Malicia Tuck – being former LMAD children.

"It started with a desire to help repair the community I helped destroy through selling drugs," Powell says. "The four hotdogs were all I had at the time, and I believe it was God telling me to share them, and it all grew from there. I believe that every person, especially children, has a desire to be loved. So I made sure to love each and every child that came through LMAD as if they were my own. I hug them every time they come in and before they leave. Having them feel safe, welcome, and loved is important, and everything else will follow."