Since 2009, I have volunteered a significant amount of time to a particular non-profit organization. The non-profit organization in Phoenix, Sojourner Center, is the largest domestic violence shelter in the United States. This shelter serves about 225 women and children every day that have escaped horrific lives of domestic abuse. The Executive Director of Sojourner Center, Connie Phillips, has been serving these women since she came to the shelter as a volunteer in high school. Having returned to the shelter after graduating from college, Connie Phillips has transformed Sojourner Center from a six bed house in 1977 into a shelter that now serves over 2,900 women and children annually. Connie Phillips is one of the most humble and dedicated people I have ever had the privilege of working with. Her charisma is inspiring, and her approach to her work is one solely out of compassion, faith, and hope for others. Simply put, Connie Phillips works to save lives. The hope that Connie Phillips keeps, even in spite of tragedy, is extremely poignant and her work with each and every woman and child is a testament of love in action. Each and every day, Connie works for and with these women and children, not for her own benefit, but for theirs. Connie has dedicated her career to providing women and children with safety, empowerment, and finally a transformation. All three are necessary for victims to be able to begin a new life of freedom, hope, love, respect, and integrity. Her one-on-one counseling and late-night group discussions with victims, paired with a firm belief of the capacity each person has at achieving anything is what makes Connie Phillips so instrumental in the transformation of each woman and child who walks through the gates. Connie serves as a role model of what it means to not only have, but to practice one’s faith; what is means to be a woman for others.

Signed,
Jeff Rightnowar