As a community health worker at the Bon Secours Petersburg Center for Healthy Living, Loretta Simmons-Jackson never knows what her day is going to look like. As a member of the Violence Response Team, she routinely helps victims of community violence. But she just as easily might help someone with groceries or transportation to a medical appointment. 

Thanks to you, she is able to be there for everyone in Petersburg who needs a touch of kindness. 

“Once I come in the building, I don’t know what is going to be in my path,” Loretta says. “I’m not sure how God wants to use me that particular day.”

Loretta’s blessed with an ability to connect with people. Coupled with her desire to help, she is able to find out what people need and help them get it with the support you provide. 

“Normally, when I meet people, I just chit-chat. I’m a talker,” she says. 

She recalls one recent morning where God sent her in many directions at once. 

“I was in the lobby waiting for a patient I’ve been working with when I saw a lady sitting there. Turns out she and her daughter were victims of terrible domestic abuse and she’d fallen through the cracks,” Loretta says. “So, I’m learning all I can about how to help her, when a man with a service dog is dropped off at the front door. He’s in the wrong place for his appointment. So, I get him a ride where he needs to go, get the woman connected to a patient advocate and with food assistance since she had nothing for her or her daughter to eat, and then my patient shows up and I help him. So, that’s a day in the life at the center.”