Dorothy

Community Resources Guide
Memphis, TN

Dorothy has always been a caretaker. She cared for both her mom and sister, who both lived with many health issues. When her sister passed away, Dorothy gained custody of her sister’s son, who has autism. Due to her sister’s poor health and limited mobility, Dorothy’s nephew was developmentally behind and needed extra help to catch up. He is now a thriving teenager. Dorothy has raised 3 of her own children, and 5 additional children! In her previous role, Dorothy worked with youth to keep them in school, out of the office, and out of trouble. 

Dorothy’s work at firsthand has given her a different perspective on the human condition. She’s learned to meet the individual needs of those she works with by meeting them where they are, and to never project her opinions of what those needs might be- they may need something totally different than what she expected! To be effective, she believes our scope of care truly has to be individualized, and that if you put everyone in a box, you’ll miss a whole lot of pertinent information. 

While Dorothy works extremely hard to improve the conditions of the individuals she works with, she also encourages and rewards individuals when they take steps of self-improvement, even if they are small. She also helps them to open up their definition of what success looks like, and to celebrate each success.

Dorothy is inspired by people all the time. She’s also amazed by them. People can do amazing things in some of the most horrendous situations, and, in her words, still “have the audacity to be happy”.  Seeing others persevere in the face of adversity has helped her reflect on herself and what is truly important. Her nephew is her greatest teacher. He is thankful for everything, and helps Dorothy stay grounded and realize that things are never as bad as she might think they are in the moment. 

Her advice to anyone struggling is to be true to yourself and own your circumstances. If you can accept that there is an issue, you can fix it. The way we gain control of our life is to own our circumstances, get in front of them, and ask- what are the choices I can make to better my situation? 

She is so proud to be part of the firsthand team, which is not only designed to be effective, but  is proving to be effective. At our core, firsthand is people-focused, and for Dorothy, that’s everything.