BRINGING THE POVERTY LINE WITH HER rising above:

After hoping to see a change in her community and beyond, tired of waiting for others to act, Miami Palmetto Senior High School junior Condoleezza Alexis decided that the change was up to her. Consequently, Bleeding Hearts Across America was born: a non-profit organization that aims to help people living on or below the poverty line.

Alexis has always been involved in her community, both inside and outside of MPSH, serving as the President of the Women of Tomorrow club, Vice President of the Debate club, Vice President of the Creative Writing club and the Treasurer of the Italian Honor Society. Yet, Alexis continues to follow her dreams of serving and helping others.

Alexis’s ambition for long-term change became the catalyst of Bleeding Hearts Across America. While attending a meeting for Women of Tomorrow, she heard about a drive the club was planning. This was the moment that her incentive for innovation manifested itself.

“We were talking in Women of Tomorrow about having a feminine hygiene drive and we were going to do it for one month only. So, with the drive being a month, I just thought that did not make sense. As a woman, you get your period every single month, so it was like, why only do it for one month? That is not really going to help in the long term,” Alexis said. “It is not just for products like that, but also for other products people need more regularly, like baby products. Not just for mothers, because there are also single fathers, and also families who struggle to get baby products..”

Upon learning about the drive in Women of Tomorrow, Alexis wanted to do more, thinking of all the people that she could help. Alexis coupled her motivations from the drive to her annual visits to her home country of Haiti, bringing her to the realization of how fortunate she is and how many lack the resources others may not think twice about.

“I do know that a lot of people struggle [in Haiti] with things we take for granted here, and it makes you want to do better, especially with all the things going on in the world. Just thinking about it, in general, does make me want to make a difference,” Alexis said. “You see with every country, there are obviously people who suffer, but there are a lot of things here that we have that we take for granted. For example, electricity. I am pretty sure that when you go home and you turn on the light or water, you do not think about these things, but there are countries where it is genuinely harder for people to obtain these things. Even things as simple as food are very hard to obtain.”

In starting her organization, Alexis swiftly organized her efforts connecting needed positions withand individuals who could fulfill them. Still, Alexis had the most significant strengths of all: determination, passion and open-mindedness.

“She is very organized, she is a bit intense as well, in a good way. She makes sure that we do not fall behind or that we are not missing out on meetings, because even though this has not been going on for as long as other clubs or organizations, it is still important to get a jumpstart on it,” MPSH sophomore and Bleeding Hearts Across America board member Cameron Solomon said. “She is very loud and expressive about this; she wants people to know, and I think that is admirable because she does not hesitate to tell people about it. She is very passionate about this project, which I just find fascinating, and I want to be able to be a part of that good feeling that comes with creating something like this.”

When recruiting board members, Alexis worked precisely and punctually with events, plans and activities. She encourages all members to spread the word about the non-profit and its goals, with their most recent goal focusing on their feminine hygiene drive, sponsored by Women of Tomorrow. Alexis chose to establish her drive as president of the club and in accordance with the sponsor, Algebra II and Mathematics for data and Financial Literacy teacher, Trisha Jarrett.

“Bleeding Hearts Across America, I think those goals are really catering to the lack of feminine care and hygiene issues. At its primal nature, you need necessities. If you do not have the basics, it is hard to function…you need certain things in order to be successful or accomplish other things in life. If you are worried about not being able to have proper hygiene, that does affect your confidence and how you portray yourself to your outward community,” Jarrett said.

Many describe Alexis as welcoming, and her warm personality makes her easily approachable and trustworthy.

“She is always just trying to think about ways to have an interactive community and bring people together. Her personality plays a great part in unifying not only our club but other organizations she is involved with. I see her leadership style, and she is willing to fill in the gaps, even if she is not a part of a board position. She is willing to step up where there’s a need,” Jarrett said.

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