Janine Saulsbury

For Janine, what began as a regular night at Skate Key Roller Rink located in Bronx, NY, ended up altering her future. A stray bullet grazed Janine’s chest. While the shot missed its intended recipient. Janine believes it was meant for her as a wake-up call from God, which ultimately gave her a second chance at life. Admittedly, she was venturing down the wrong path in life and began following a Christ-led route after her brush with death. “Yes. It started there but growing up in Harlem in the 1990s where there were lots of drugs, crime, and poverty;

I was traveling down a path of self-destruction where there were not a lot of positive role models.” This experience birthed her non-profit organization; Share for Life, Inc., which targets the New York City Housing

Authority (NYCHA).

People are often inspired to act when they encounter eternal obstacles; others react to the need to achieve something internally. Janine’s motivation stemmed from the latter. “When I look back, I know there were organizations that provided programs such as P.A.L. (Police Athletic League), and the YMCA. Many people are not aware of the services offered in their community. One of the biggest issues faced in getting people involved in our programs was “How would they find out? Therefore, we work very closely with resident association leaders for each housing authority”. Share for life focuses on helping at risk youths and seniors in public housing communities. One program offered is Arts Education. When asked about the importance of providing this and specifically the STEAM program, Janine replies, “I think people are visually stimulated. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) remains a field where minorities are underrepresented. Minorities, of course, are highly intelligent; they need to be provided with the same opportunity as the elites”. 2020 introduced an abrupt shift in life with COVID-19. Many businesses were harshly impacted but Share for Life was able to thrive and serve the community. “I spent a lot of time praying and asking God; “How Share for Life could make a difference?”. We started the program, “500K Masks for NYCHA,”; and the next day, Governor Cuomo introduced a similar initiative, so I called his office. We partnered with them because they had masks, and we had experience working with resident leaders throughout the five boroughs.”

Another COVID-19-relief effort that

Share for Life embarked on was a food program. “We began a food program because pantries throughout the city were running out of food. A friend introduced me to a Chef Millie Peartree, from the South Bronx. She had a restaurant that closed before COVID-19 and wanted to give back to her community. Chef Millie raised funds and provided kitchen space, Amazon donated kitchen appliances, and Audi partnered to deliver food. Chef Millie now partners with our organization and provides 200 meals a day. We have now provided over 70,000 hot meals to these communities thus far”. You can find out more about Janine Saulsbury and Share for Life Foundation, Inc. at Shareforlife.org.