Supporting Children in Medical Crises with Healing Spaces
When looking to support a nonprofit, it’s common to want to know more about the organization, the people who run it, who it serves and the impact it has. Because one of the keys to any organization’s success and ability to have a BIG impact is the people who make it happen.
Meet Megan, the program director for Savvy Giving By Design.
Megan brings a broad portfolio of experience and empathy to her work at Savvy Giving. From raising three daughters of her own, supporting their extracurriculars, working in marketing, event planning and fundraising, and now as a substitute teacher in the Poway Unified School District, she understands the needs of children and their families.
When did you first hear about SGBD? What brought you here?
I met Susan in 2010 when I joined her search and fundraising team in the wake of the desperately sad disappearance of Chelsea King. When a local teen, Kasey Harvey, was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and Susan decided to do a room makeover for her, I was immediately drawn into this next mission and opportunity to support the community. With daughters about the same age as Kasey, who also played soccer like she did, I felt connected to Kasey’s story and was compelled to once again get involved.
Since that first room renovation, my three daughters and I have continued to support Savvy Giving by Design. We’ve contributed to fund-a-needs, organized the high school soccer team to make welcome home posters, and my daughter, Natalie, of Sparx Bakery, bakes the custom cupcakes that accompany each and every room makeover. It was an easy decision then in 2021 when Susan asked me to join the team officially. It’s a mission I have been invested in since day one, and I’m honored to be aligned with it.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity?
In the last six months, I have been really focused on revving up our Pop-Up Designer Program. This program allows us to extend the expertise of Savvy-trained designers into communities where we don’t yet have an Affiliate Chapter and to foster relationships with individual Make-A-Wish chapters nationwide. This means we have the chance to share the healing power of well-designed spaces with even more kids. By leveraging technology to meet with and design for families over Zoom, the opportunities to serve are limitless.
What has most surprised you about the work?
Every time we show up at someone’s home, we unload a crazy assortment of packages, accessories, furniture, and mattresses. And then Susan [or another Savvy-trained designer] waves a magic wand and … POOF … in a matter of hours, this collection of seemingly random things is absolutely transformed. I guess I’m most surprised that I continue to be surprised by the depth of her talent!
And then each and every time, I get a front row seat to see that very same magic show through the eyes of a child when they open their door for the first time.
“Seeing that surprise never gets old.”
What is the greatest need?
We are a small non-profit with big dreams matched only by the out-sized dreams of the children we serve. Sadly, there is no shortage of children suffering medical crises, and our ability to serve them all depends wholly on the generosity of others. Financial donations are naturally paramount, but so too is getting our community to follow us on social media to spread the good news of what we are doing. And finally, building our network of Savvy-trained designers so that we can start helping kids in every state, city and community across the country.