Delaware Jefferson Awards honors some of the state's best community volunteerism
With tears in her eyes after winning a Delaware Jefferson Award for public service Monday night, 23-year-old single mother Giovanna Andrews looked out into the crowd at The Queen and thanked her inspiration: her 14-month-old daughter Isabella.
When Andrews was pregnant with Isabella, she walked a mile each week from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania to a crisis pregnancy center. There, she was taught how to take care of her baby, earning "Mommy Dollars" she could exchange for gently-used and new items for her baby.
It was that experience that led her to found Harper's Heart in August, an organization that hosts giveaways for expectant and new mothers, providing everything from diapers and clothing to baby wipes and baby furniture.
Andrews was one of a dozen winners announced at the Wilmington event, which drew dignitaries such as Gov. John Carney, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki.
The Jefferson Awards were started in 1972 and its founders included former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Sam Beard, a Delaware resident, who presented awards Monday.
Andrews said the idea for her charity came to her as she was dressing little Isabella in a onesie that had been donated to the clinic and that she earned with her points.
"I just thought to myself, 'I'll never be able to thank the donor who gave me those clothes. I could walk past them in the street and not know who they are. I'm so blessed to have a family and a community to come around me and help when I really needed it. How can I give back?'" she said. "I'm not a 501(c) organization, I'm just a young mom who made it her mission to help other moms."
Now, Andrews spends time searching online for possible donors and has found success, receiving cases of diapers and other goods from both businesses and individuals, allowing her to help others who are in the same position she was only a short time ago.
She does it all with helpers, in between taking care of her child and working her new job with Wilmington City Council where she is social media and web content coordinator for Council President Hanifa Shabazz.
After Andrews accepted her award, she stood with her mother and Isabella in the hall of the Wilmington theater, taking in the moment.
She will be one of three Delaware Jefferson Award winners to advance to the national Jefferson Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., in June.
“This is unbelievable. I feel like, 'Is this a mistake?'" said Andrews, whose Thousand Diaper Giveaway distributed more than 2,500 diapers to the local community in January at the Kingswood Community Center in Wilmington.
"When I think about the Jefferson Awards, I think about huge organizations, not little ol' me," she added.
This weekend she will host her next big giveaway.
Harper's Heart's Thousand Bib & Book Giveaway will be held Saturday, noon to 3 p.m. at Wilmington Public Library, 10 E. 10th St. The giveaway will include children's books, diapers, baby clothing, baby furniture and more to anyone who comes and asks.
Andrews was honored in the Outstanding Service Benefiting Local Communities category, which also included two other winners.