“She worked up until the week she died,” Taylor Thompson, said of his mom, Maureen Thompson. “Her real passion was architecture. When she went to the office, she wasn’t Maureen with breast cancer, she was Maureen the architect.”

As an architecture student, Maureen Thompson, designed a Habitat for Humanity house that would forever change the lives of dozens of families – including her own.

When he was just 17, Taylor — who aspires to become an architect, too — was literally following in his mother’s footsteps. In honor of her memory, Taylor raised an astounding $85,000 to build a Habitat home — right around the corner from the one his mother designed.

Every Saturday, Taylor worked alongside the future homeowner, single-mother Annette Lopez, to build what will be a game-changing two-story home in Austin, Texas for Lopez and her four-year-old daughter, Isabella.

After Taylor finished the Austin home, he expanded his work with Habitat for Humanity, working alongside former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter to build homes in Memphis in 2016 and again in Edmonton earlier this year.

Now he’s raising money to sponsor a second Habitat home in Austin – this one to honor women who, like his mother, have battled breast cancer.

Taylor says “doing one thing, no matter how big or small, has the power to change the world” – we couldn’t agree more.

Taylor Thompson

Giving Hero of Habitat for Humanity

Ifeoma Egwuonwu, a Nigerian nurse, was amazed to discover she was living in the childhood home of the founder of The Atlantic Philanthropies, Charles Feeney, in New Jersey. It inspired her to read a biography written by Irish journalist, Conor O’Clery, about the philanthropist’s life and his motivation to give away the bulk of his personal fortune for the betterment of humanity.

“I read this book, I felt goosebumps,” Egwuonwu wrote in a 2016 letter to Feeney. “Like your mother, I am a registered nurse raising three children, working ‘double shifts,’ and struggling to pay the bills month to month.” She also sought to follow, in her own way, in Feeney’s footsteps.

In 2010 Egwuonwu founded a non-profit organization, Hope Alive Africa Charities (HAAC), an organization that provides health services in Nigeria. This year, Egwuonwu earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT to better serve this nonprofit organization.

To-date HAAC has treated more than 1,500 villagers with chronic and acute health issues in two villages. Incredibly this includes guaranteed ongoing medication management for 424 hypertension and diabetes patients over the next two years. Left untreated, many of these conditions are life-threatening.

Egwuonwu’s story makes one wonder whether the next inhabitant of the house she called home will continue the tradition of giving.

Ifeoma Egwuonwu

Giving Hero of Atlantic Philanthropies

When Mary Caraccioli, Chief Communications Officer at Lincoln Center, asked the Lincoln Center Education team to share their Giving Hero, the decision was unanimous. At Lincoln Center, the word “giver” is nearly synonymous with Jean Taylor.

John Holyoke, the Lead Instructional Specialist at the world-renowned venue’s education division, called Jean “the unspoken leader” of LCE. “She is respected by everyone, at every level, from every angle, and with good reason.”

For decades, Jean, a teaching artist, has been generously sharing her time and talents, helping teachers and students learn more about the arts and creating a pathway to greater fulfillment for teachers and their students in their classrooms and their lives.

“Jean has given her adult life to the pursuit of fostering access to powerful experiences with the arts, both in her artistic life and in her work as a masterful teaching artist and mentor. She has rightfully earned respect and admiration of countless artists, educations, teaching artists, and program designers around the world, due to her passion, brilliance, curiosity, and tireless rigor,” said Melissa Gawlowski Pratt, Assistant Director of School Programs.

Jean’s dedication to the arts shows in her work, but her commitment to the Lincoln Center community shows in the countless lives of teaching artists and students she has brought joy, creativity, and expression to throughout her life.

Jean Taylor

Giving Hero of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Davidson and Davidchen Joseph were biking to karate practice, but tragically, only one of them would make it there alive.

As young boys growing up Harlem in the 1990s, the fraternal twins spent much of their time at the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), mostly after school. Their single mom sent the pre-teens to take karate classes, get homework help and do art projects.

One day, on the way to a karate practice, the 15-year-old boys were biking through a local park when they were confronted by several youths. It escalated quickly, a gun was drawn and Davidchen was killed.

The organization rallied around Davidson and his mom, providing both love and consistency for them, a gesture that Davidson would never forget. He continued coming to the HCZ, eventually became a junior community organizer and eventually, an AmeriCorps volunteer, working in the local public schools, where he learned of his talent for working with children.

Years later, after obtaining his bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in education, Davidson returned to the Harlem Children’s Zone and became a middle school teacher. He now spends much of his time helping children, like he once was, through their middle school years.

Davidson Joseph

Giving Hero of Harlem Children’s Zone

When Hurricane Harvey slammed Southeast Texas, Heather Harrison booked it from suburban Sienna, Texas to downtown Houston to help her fellow Texans as soon as she could.

After hearing the Houston Food Bank was in need of volunteers, Heather spent an exhausting 86 hours volunteering over 10 days.

Based on an estimate from the Houston Food Bank, Heather alone provided an incredible 5,160 meals in just 10 days.

Though the Houston Food Bank received gifts from over 40 countries and from all 50 states, Heather’s heroic effort caught the attention of the Food Bank’s Chief Development Officer, Amy Ragan, who says Heather is a true giving hero.

Heather recounted her experience on Facebook and said to her friends, “Houston we’re strong. Sienna we’re strong. Let’s keep going with that strength. Let’s do it all year round. Not just when there’s a disaster. Find where your place is, and let’s give back.”

While she’s back to her regular job, we’re pretty sure Houston Food Bank hasn’t seen the last of Heather.

Heather Harrison

Giving Hero of Houston Food Bank