Hope Strengthens Foundation is proud to announce the addition of our newest Director, Kerry Brothers. Kerry brings an incredible background in healthcare and volunteerism to our team. She is a natural leader and will serve as a strong voice for those who we are privileged to support.
Kerry grew up in Oklahoma and went to the University of Central Oklahoma earning a degree in Community & Public Health. Throughout college and even thereafter, she worked in Retail Management for Banana Republic for over 18 years.
Banana Republic moved Kerry to Dallas in 2000 and shortly after, she began working for a non-profit called The Senior Source assisting low-income seniors with their prescriptions and enrolling in various programs like Medicare Part D and other state aid programs. She ran case management for the seniors to determine what other needs besides medications they needed help with; utility expenses, groceries, home repairs, and transportation.
From the success of this program, Kerry was recruited to Baylor Hospital to work in their Transplant Department to establish a hospital program similar to what she was running for The Senior Source. There she assisted pre and post-transplant patients who were not financially prepared for the cost of having a transplant. Kerry served as a liaison to help patients obtain the monthly medications at no cost that would on average range from $5,000-$7,000 a month that the hospital was having to write-off due to the patient being unable to pay for them.
Ultimately, Kerry helped save the hospital $1.6 million per year through the utilization of various government and Pharma programs while still getting the patients the critical medications that they needed for their survival. If patients weren’t eligible for various company or state assistance then she helped them find ways to fundraise for the small things that were slowly adding up like gas for transportation to and from hospital appointments or a hotel for the family to come visit while in recovery.
After her move from Dallas to San Antonio, Kerry and her husband Jody moved to the Bay Area where Kerry finished her career with Banana Republic and went on to work in the redwoods in a national park and then Kate Spade, where she continues to work today in Florida.
Kerry has always tried to keep her hand in volunteering where ever she lived in order to stay connected to the community. In Dallas, she served as a mentor to teen girls at Hope Cottage Pregnancy and Adoption Center and was part of the Speakers Bureau for social services and ran the benevolence program for her church. In San Antonio, she volunteered with the Boys & Girls Club helping serve youth in afterschool programs. In the Bay Area, Kerry volunteered as an interpretive ranger and in Florida she is teaching American Sign Language to seniors and working with her new church to address the immediate need of its members.
Kerry lives her life motto/mission by Proverbs 31:8-9 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the right of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Please join us in welcoming Kerry to our team!