Amelia Sebastian, Manager of Tax Services, just completed Ignite Louisville’s annual service learning component, the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge. Her group, Team Ignition, helped Hand in Hand Ministries develop a strategic plan to start an immersion trip in West Louisville. The team succeeded in their challenge, and went even further hosting a pilot project of Saturday, September 17th in the Parkland neighborhood where 26 volunteers provided approximately 160 hours of work cleaning up alleys and roadsides. Team Ignition wanted input from local leaders, so before planning the pilot project, they met with various people at Metro Government, Reverend Vincent James of Elim Baptist Church, and other community leaders to develop lasting partnerships to help sustain this Urban Immersion community service program.
Thanks to the development of the new program, Hand in Hand secured $65,000 per year for three years to rehabilitate houses in Louisville.
“To refer to our Ignite team as a game-changer somehow seems too simplistic. They have not only altered the course of the game, but launched a winning program that we would not have had the time or resources to do on our own. Without them, this program would still be an idea. With them, it became a reality. They have put us on a collision course to change Louisville, one community, one family, one person at a time. Thank you will never be enough!”
From left to right: Marla Cautilli, Hand in Hand Ministries; Team Ignition members Nick Kilby, Leadership Kentucky; Amelia Sebastian, CPA, Dean Dorton Allen Ford; Bailey Roese, Bingham Greenebaum Doll; Whitney Sweeney-Martin, KentuckianaWorks; Colin Drylie, Humana Inc.; Shara Parks, Louisville Metro Police Department; Ellen Hauber, Hand in Hand Ministries.
“I am extremely grate for the opportunity to have participated in the IGNITES Louisville Challenge.”
Ignite Louisville teams have worked with over 80 nonprofit organizations since the inception of the IGNITES Louisville Challenge in 2004.
