Ray Nell Jones (32)
CEO/Founder, The Allignment Chapter 

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Ray Nell Jones went from receiving 25 requests a day to 180 requests a day for packages of daily essentials her nonprofit collects and distributes to single mothers.

For Jones, who became a single mother at age 19 due to domestic violence and faced the practical as well as mental challenges so many single mothers face, The Allignment Chapter is her passion.

“If you want to get up and go to work every day but you hate the job you do, you’re not going to be passionate about it,” she says. “It’s the same thing with a nonprofit. When you’re passionate about it and you show people you’re passionate about it, you’ve had that experience, things can happen more quickly than you can expect.”

With volunteer help, The Allignment Chapter also conducts a six-week financial literacy course for moms who receive help from the program, which began in 2019 and has already expanded to 35 states.

Next up is fundraising for moms who can’t afford school-activity fees and a Boots for Moms Drive.

“If the moms are not OK, how are the children going to be OK?” Jones says.