How we are involved in the community
Lisa-Gray Vick is Windjam’s Director of Community Engagement, bringing with her a strong background in both experience and education. Graduating from Meredith College in 1992 with two Bachelors Degrees in Education and Psychology, she went on to attend N.C. State University where she graduated with honors and received her Masters in Special Education with a certification in Learning Disabilites for K-12.
Now, in the years since completing her education, Lisa-Gray has found multiple areas that have allowed her to reach out to individuals, as well as the community, to make a positive impact. After earning her Masters, Lisa-Gray began work as a member of the program staff at the Cary Family YMCA where she was part of the team that designed and organized the very first Camp Rising Sun. She then went on to work with Project Enlightenment in the Demonstration Preschool which is now a nationwide model, and from there became a Special Needs educator in the Wake County school system. It was during this time working with special needs students that she began to offer private tutoring, which eventually became a full time endeavor.
Lisa-Gray Vick
Director of Community Engagement
Community outreach has now become Lisa-Gray’s main focus. From working with children at Loaves and Fishes helping to improve their literary skills, to organizing her local Shoebox Project for Samaritan’s Purse, to volunteering at the Special Olympics, she has been instrumental in organizing local efforts to help and make improvements in the community. She dedicates many hours to a great number of organizations throughout Raleigh and Cary such as the Clothing Ministry at First Baptist Church in Raleigh, Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen, Stop Hunger Now, the Read and Feed program, and the Raleigh Rescue Mission where she has worked closely with a single mother and her two children, advocating for them in the community and in their schools. She has also had one of her dogs go through training to receive therapy dog certification and they now make regular visits to local nursing homes, retirement centers, and after-school character programs.
Lisa-Gray Vick finds her greatest joys in life by being of service to others, and she is happy to be part of the Windjam Development team. By seeking out ways to help non-profit organizations through sponsorships and continual engagement in outreach programs, Windjam Development hopes to continue building strong relationships with its community members. Lisa-Gray loves the challenge presented to her to help accomplish these goals, and working together with Windjam, she looks forward to all of the future opportunities to be a partner with these wonderful organizations and an active member of our community.
Our Partner Organizations
Our Complete List of Organizations that Windjam Development Supports
Clothing Ministry of First Baptist Church, Raleigh
Provides for the distribution of clothing which has been donated. It strives to provide adequate clothing for families, homeless persons, those in transition from relocation or re-entry into the workforce, or any person with an identifiable need. Over 1,000 people are served each month. See more.
Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen
Provides food obtained by donation and served by volunteers. See more.
Special Olympics
Provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympictype sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. See more.
Samaritan’s Purse Shoebox Project
Presents an opportunity in more than 100 countries to invite children into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ – 11,213,010 shoeboxes were collected and distributed in 2015. Each shoebox has the potential to transform the lives of children and their families around the world through the Good News of Jesus Christ. See more.
Therapy Dog Certification
Lisa-Gray and her dog Sequel participate in reading with children in schools, visiting colleges during exam time, regularly visit in nursing homes and retirement centers, and help with after-school character-building programs. See more.
Food Bank of CENC
Provides food for people at risk of hunger in 34 counties in central and eastern NC by distributing food to soup kitchens, food pantries, and shelters. See more.
SAFEchild of Wake County
The only child abuse prevention agency in Wake County working directly with families. The goal for each family turning to SAFEchild is the same – to build a stronger family and create a healthy, nurturing environment which allows children to thrive. See more.
Brown Bag Ministry
Prepares and delivers over 1,000 brown bag lunches to the hungry and those in need every single Saturday. See more.
Cary-Kildaire Rotary Club
Is an international service organization whose stated human rights purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. See more.
Life Experiences
Is a non-profit organization that offers a choice of satisfying work experiences for adults with varying disabilities, while allowing those adults the self-esteem of earning a wage for their work. See more.
Miracle League of the Triangle
Provides children with special needs the opportunity to play America’s favorite pastime. See more.
Memory Café
Provides meals and entertainment to people with Alzheimer’s or dementia and their caretakers. See more.
Passage Home
Strives to break the cycle of poverty for the communities they serve in Wake County by connecting families and neighborhoods with resources and opportunities. See more.
Interfaith Food Shuttle
Is an innovative hunger-relief organization serving seven counties in and around the Triangle (Wake, Durham, Orange, Chatham, Johnston, Nash, and Edgecombe). See more.
Dorcas Ministry
Helps area residents with financial and food assistance, education scholarships, childcare assistance, job training, and more. See more.
Back Pack Buddies
Is just one branch of the Interfaith Food Shuttle. This program provides children from food-insecure homes with healthy weekend meals during the school year. The backpacks, which are packed by volunteers, contain six balanced meals and two healthy snacks at the end of every week. See more.
Note in the Pocket
Provides needed clothing to children who are identified by various schools and social service agencies in the community as impoverished or homeless and in need of clothing to wear to school. A note is put into the pocket of each shirt or pair of pants telling the child “they are loved.” This is a newer but quickly growing non-profit. See more.
Sweet Potato Gleaning
Takes place after the annual sweet potato harvest. Food gleaned from the fields is given to the Interfaith Food Shuttle who then distributes is to local organizations. See more.
Hope Elementary School
Invites the Rotary Club to teach the Rotary Four-Way Test and talk with the kids about how they can apply it to their lives. The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say or do —- 1. Is it the TRUTH? 2. Is it FAIR to all concerned? 3. Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned? See more.
Global Run4Water
Is an event put on by Rotarian raising funds for water projects internationally. During the first three years over $40,000 was raised through sponsorships, matching grants, and community support. Funds were used towards water sanitation projects in Dominican Republic, Honduras, Lebanon, Bolivia, Uganda, and Guatemala. See more.
Blanket Bundles for Raleigh Rescue Mission
Is a project that fills blankets with canned food items. Those blankets are given to the Mission’s residents, as well as the homeless, to help them stay warm. See more.
Eradicate Polio Projects
In 1985, Rotary launched its PolioPlus program, the first initiative to tackle global polio eradication through the mass vaccination of children. Rotary has contributed more than $1.5 billion and countless volunteer hours to immunize more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries. See more.
Camp Comfort Zone
Is a nonprofit bereavement camp that transforms the lives of children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. The free camps include confidence building programs and age-based support groups that break the emotional isolation that grief often brings. See more.
