In 2018, the Dan & Margaret Maddox Charitable Fund celebrated its 10-Year Anniversary. As part of the celebration, we made three $10,000 grants for nonprofit organizations to create fellowship positions that give young people the chance to be meaningfully engaged in nonprofit work.
One of the nonprofit organizations to receive this grant is FiftyForward, a Nashville-based nonprofit organization that works toward improving the life of those 50 and over. Aleyda is originally from New York but has been in Nashville for the past seven years. She graduated from Overton High in 2014 and is currently a senior at Middle Tennessee State University. She’ll be graduating this May with a Bachelor’s in Social Work.
For her fellowship, Aleyda spends her time helping at the FiftyForward Station on Rains Avenue. One of the most surprising things for her was just the amount of work needed to make a nonprofit function while meeting its mission. Aleyda is exposed to a lot of different experiences and is building on a variety skills. As a bilingual speaker, she is uniquely positioned to contribute to FiftyForward’s work and is doing outreach in Nashville’s aging Latinx community.
Aleyda is thankful for FiftyForward giving her this opportunity. At the end of her fellowship, Aleyda sees herself continuing to work in the community and hopes to pursue a masters degree in social work or public health.
