by Brennan Nardi, Goodman Development Committee Member

Brennan Nardi is a member of the Goodman Board of Directors Development Committee

Be part of something larger than yourself. It’s a ubiquitous message most of us receive in many different ways throughout our lives.

My parents instilled this mantra in me, and then reinforced it by their own good deeds. Dad was a college career counselor and a scholarship administrator. He loved helping students plan their futures while reducing the price tag of a good education. Mom helped launch that same university’s STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — education program. She also helped found our community’s first domestic violence shelter.

My parents’ passion for helping young people create positive pathways into adulthood and my mom’s lifesaving volunteer work had a profound impact on me. They are among the reasons I have always looked for ways to support my own community.

When the folks at Goodman Community Center asked me to volunteer a few years back, it was an exciting honor and a no-brainer. As a neighborhood resident and former local business owner, I’ve watched the center grow and flourish over the last three decades. Now, I am grateful for the opportunity to be more directly involved in the making of its future.

In 2024, GCC will mark its 70th anniversary of strengthening lives and securing futures. To celebrate this major milestone, the center launched the Love & Legacy Campaign in August to strengthen and secure its own future. The goal of the campaign is to inspire and document 70 planned gifts by 2024 — just in time for GCC’s 70th birthday.

These planned gifts will make an everlasting impact on GCC. To inspire potential supporters to make a planned gift, Goodman is announcing a community challenge gift of $70,000. GCC’s board of directors and committee members have come together to fund the challenge gift. If you make the commitment to leave a planned gift to the center in your will or estate plan as part of the Love & Legacy campaign, an additional $1,000 will be donated to GCC’s annual fund in your honor.

I invite you to join me in creating as much love and legacy as humanly possible — for the little ones in our pre-K programs, for the kiddos in our after-school programs, for the families we serve and for the older adults we support. It’s community building at its best.

One of the things I love the most about Goodman is how I can actually see the results of its good work in action every day. I get to be part of something larger than myself — and in my own backyard.