SPOTLIGHT Lisa Sloan & The Givers Changing Lives with Compassion

Story by Chelsea McConnell/Staff Writer

Lisa (Breedlove) Sloan is the founder and facilitator behind the local movement and Facebook page called The Givers. Through The Givers, Lisa acts as a philanthropist and a community servant. The Givers is a charitable community group with a different take. The Givers doesn’t seek donations for its organization. It seeks donations for groups or citizens in need when the need arises. In this regard, there is no money to be exchanged. When a need comes to Lisa’s attention, she shares it via The Givers page and anyone who is interested can help fill that community need directly. Lisa helps facilitate the giving in any way possible and/or necessary.

Lisa’s story with philanthropy started about 11 years ago. Lisa herself was going through a very hard time when she had her lightbulb moment about helping others. She was lying in bed one night, unsure of what would come next and feeling like she was at the end of her rope. Unable to sleep, she got on Facebook and saw a post from a woman who needed a heater. Lisa had an extra heater and decided in that moment to give it to the woman in need. At one of her lowest points, her heart told her to help someone else and she hasn’t stopped since. Lisa puts it this way, “When I had that little moment, I decided you have to be the change you seek. Sometimes if you don’t have joy, you can find it by giving, and that’s what I did.”

From there, Lisa began facilitating all sorts of projects for community members in need. She would see a need and think of a way to fill it or find her heart hurting for a person or group of people and know instinctively that she could help. Lisa initiated a coat drive one winter. Over 1,000 coats were given out to citizens in need at that one event. In 2016, The Givers hosted the Queen for a Day event in support of the Domestic Violence Shelter & Outreach Services. This event was a day of pampering for women from the Domestic Violence Shelter. The Shelter was filled with women trying to get back on their feet despite the hard blows life had dealt them. Lisa shares about how this event came to light, “I started thinking about how hard that would be, to need to be