Today we’d like to introduce you to Debbie Hansen-Bosse.
Hi Debbie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a 3rd generation hospital volunteer, following in the footsteps of my Nana and Mother. Both gave tirelessly and daily to volunteering at hospitals while raising children. I started out volunteering at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey, then The Special Olympics and went onto BrightFutures4Kids. Having raised twin daughters to adulthood (with some pitfalls along the way), I became aware of how many parents need an organization like what I founded; The Flora May Foundation.
Our Mission is helping families in crisis with their infant, child or teenager. We receive hundreds of calls per week from frazzled parents and typically are able to help. In the event we cannot help find a solution, we have over 30 hand-selected partners who can. Some of the areas parents call to us for help:
– Newborn in the NICU/critically ill
– Struggles with your child at school or home
– Teenage substance abuse
– Runaways
– Depression
– Anxiety
– Oppositional
– Truant
– Defiant
– Undiagnosed mental illnesses
– Suicidal ideations
– Failure to launch
The Flora May Foundation has won many awards and accolades but the highlights of 2022 include:
– Silver Stevie for “2022’s Outstanding Non Profit”, The American Business Association
– Myself, for winning a Silver Stevie for “Woman of the Year”, The American Business Association
In 2022:
– We created over 20 partners in the nonprofit sector (including Girls Inc, StraightTalk, Project Cuddle, Santa Claus Inc., Honorary Godparent, Extraordinary Lives Foundation (ELF), Men With A Vision, TEKChills Foundation, Susie Q’s Kids, Kids in the Spotlight, EmpowerHer Institute, Straight Talk Counseling, BNI Treatment Centers, The Priority Center, The BILY Group and many more).
– Donated 100,000 teddy bears to underserved children
– Donated 25,000 children’s books to CHOC/Children’s Hospital of Orange County NICU
– Donated large quantities of mosquito netting to North African schools, who often have class outdoors.
The Flora May Foundation gained notoriety for helping parents in crisis with their children and created programs that benefit entire households. Working Women Winning (WWW) is an 8-week work development program that helps women become gainfully employed. The Flora May Foundation is aggressively seeking funding to continue and expand WWW to neighboring counties. The course offers women;
– Loaner laptops
– Training on Microsoft Office Suite
– STEM/STEAM career exposure
– Personalized assessments
– Interview preparation
– Personal finance
– Email etiquette
– LinkedIn & how it can help jobseekers
– The importance of DEI
– Female CEO guest speaker
– Role playing
– Job placement assistance for 1 year
– Certificate ceremony
The future of The Flora May Foundation is endless but wouldn’t be possible without our Grantor’s and Donors contributions. Our primary focus is our program Working Women Winning and ensuring more underserved females are given an opportunity to participate in it.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I didn’t realize how many hats I’d be wearing in the beginning! I became a grant writer out of necessity and spend half of my time composing each of them. I didn’t anticipate my days would be dictated by grant writing, which is why I try to save it for the evenings or early mornings.
The Flora May Foundation has enjoyed a very smooth path as a 501c3. Our very first grant we applied for was to a sportswear company and we won! That was precisely the encouragement I needed to continue writing effective and winning grants.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The Flora May Foundation was fortunate to have attracted top-notch talent on our team. We’re 100% female owned and operated, with 90% of our team being Mothers who’ve raised their own children. Our Board of Directors is made up of successful businesswomen and all are Mother’s. Our volunteers are bright student interns and community members.
The community recognizes The Flora May Foundation as a resource to parents struggling with their child’s choices or issues, whatever it may be (physical or developmental). Having partners like Girls Inc, The BILY Group, StraightTalk, Kids in the Spotlight and Santa Claus Inc. has allowed us to provide options to parents in crisis with their child or teenager.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
– I was an electronics broker before I founded The Flora May Foundation. – My nickname outside of nonprofit is “The Hammer”
– I’m of Mexican decent
– I do a form of exercise called gyrotonics!
– My daughters were in movies and tv shows since they were born through early childhood (Old School, The Good Girl, X Files, NYPD Blue)
– That I’m 1 of 9 children of Flora May Hansen, our namesake.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thefloramayfoundation.org
- Instagram: @The_Flora_May_Foundation
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076528032937
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-flora-may-foundation/?viewAsMember=true
- Twitter: The Flora May Foundation/ @debbie45854712
- Youtube: @debbieh.2977
