The more grief she experienced, the more she gave back

In 2020, Zodelia Williams lost over a dozen of loved ones, which changed her outlook on life forever.

Williams lost her father, former boyfriend, three uncles, two cousins, and a lot of friends due to Covid. She decided to channel her grief into giving back to others in 2020 and continues to do that to this day. Williams, who is the founder and executive director of 3 D’s Community Empowerment Center in Baldwin, helped feed 170 essential workers breakfast back in 2020, but her selflessness hasn’t stopped there.

“I think for that whole time in 2020, we were just giving to the post office, sanitation, UPS, and other organizations,” Williams said. “And then since then we actually give free care to a lot of community members at 3 D’s.”

Through her community center, Williams worked with Assemblywoman Taylor Darling to give out 300 meals for Thanksgiving last year. Williams went door to door to hand out these Thanksgiving meals. She also partnered with Hempstead Caring Hearts and gave away about 85 meals to senior citizens in the Town of Hempstead.

“So we’re always partnering with other organizations to give away either food, recourses, free care, or doing something in the neighborhood,” Williams said.

Williams realized that during Covid when she gave out breakfast to 170 essential workers that the community was all that they had for each other. She said that all the organizations that she helped were so “gracious” and “appreciative” that she was able to help them. Now, her relationships with these organizations are stronger than ever.

“I have good relationships with all these different organizations and workers because they valued the importance of our connection during the pandemic,” Williams said.

After losing several people close to her, Williams said that pouring into the community is what helps her grieve. She says that it is important for her to empower, educate, affirm, and elevate her employees so that they can affirm and elevate young students. Williams is trying to “live for today” because she feels fortunate to be alive.

“I’m still alive,” Williams said. “So I have to give back because God could have took me out the same way he took the other people from me so I don’t take this life for granted.”

Williams said that she learned through Covid that the human race is more capable of many things than we think we are. She mentioned that during Covid, there was no divisiveness as everyone was going trough the same challenge.

“We are resilient,” Williams said. “We can face adversary and be united.”

Williams also mentioned how Covid taught her the importance of self-care. She says that she learned how to value her time alone. Williams realized that she had a lot more tools and strategies in her toolkit to deal with being alone than she originally thought.

“I am more resourceful,” Williams said. “I believe in my community and in Baldwin, we really showed up for each other during Covid. And that’s one of the most important things that I learned that we in Baldwin really are community conscious.”