DJC Donor Rock Stars, edition 1!
Today is Valentine’s Day and in the spirit of showing love, we are highlighting two of our amazing donors! We appreciate EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE of our supporters — not only people who give money, but also give time volunteering or giving access to their information and resources. You're all priceless. To celebrate, I want to highlight a couple donors who have participated in building us to this point. Thank you all 💯
BL Shirelle
Deputy Director
Antonette Fry
BL: I just want to take this time to thank you Antonette for being a supporter of DJC. We really appreciate our supporters over here so we want to take the time to highlight you.
Antonette: Thank you. I really appreciate that.
BL: For sure! So what got you into DJC?
Antonette: Well even though I didn't know you very well (when we were upstate) in our small interactions you were real, you were short with your words, always smiling... so when I seen you were with them it felt authentic so I figured why not 🤷🏾
BL: What do you do in your spare time?
Antonette: I make my candles. If I had the money I would travel. I get in my head about the planning of it all though, but I look forward to traveling the world soon enough.
BL: Well, I wouldn't consider that spare time, but I digress. Do you have a word for those having a harder time adjusting?
Antonette: YES, be patient, give yourself grace, allow mistakes to happen, but don't wallow in it. Learn from it, and move on.
BL: Perfectly said. Congratulations on opening your store in the mall! That's big business 💪🏾 and you deserve all the success coming your way. I'm proud of you, and I truly appreciate you.
Antonette Fry is a formerly incarcerated business owner from Harrisburg, PA. Her business Uptown Candles specializes in luxury candles.
Support her here: https://uptowncandles.com/
Mary & BL
Mary & Fury
Mary Hamrick
BL: How did you get involved w DJC?
Mary: I saw it online, because I have an interest in issues around incarceration, I've been heavily involved in the abolishment of the death penalty in North Carolina. When I see stuff that reflects that I follow through with extending support and resources that I'm privileged to have. So I donated and Fury called me and said we have art for that amount, and he came and dropped off the art. He talked about Die Jim Crow and immediately I knew this was something I would be honored to be a part of. I just love music, I love people who make music. My mom was a singer, and she took me to tons of concerts as a kid.
BL: It's indeed a beautiful thing how our love for music has created a love for each other. Two people from such far away vantage points of life…
Mary: YES, Product started coming out and it was so exciting. I appreciate the honesty, transparency, and the difficult questions are so empowering.
I trust your instincts. I never felt like my confidence has been misplaced. I appreciate that you’ve been able to keep your eyes on the prize and stuck with it. It’s gonna take time based on the amount of quality you put in. The albums are wonderful. Like I don’t listen to a lot of rap but I listen to you. I listened to more rap because of you. When I watch Insecure I'm like you don’t know anything about being a Black woman in the US. I appreciate the eye in.
Everything about being Black is outside of my experience. Here's some people willing to educate me on somethings I didn’t know about. I also didn’t know about being a Jew in Lower East Side.
BL: What do you enjoy in your spare time?
Mary: Well I love animals, my pets, my dogs and my cat. Watching my birds. I read voraciously, anything really. Trash detective novels, non fiction, whatever. I love puzzles, I still get a paper copy of the news so I can do the puzzles!
BL: Well Ms. Mary I'll tell ya what, you are the puzzle. So open, so giving, so full of love... I’m still trying to figure you out! Nevertheless thank you for all your support 💙
Mary Hamrick lives in North Carolina. She's a mother, wife, an all-around bad ass. 💯
