Angella Southerly believes that a single act of kindness, no matter how small, has the power to change someone's life.
After health issues led Southerly to leave her career in the medical field, she founded Light A Lamp in 2014 as her own small way to give back. At first, she focused on recognizing folks who went above and beyond in their communities by making and delivering gift baskets to them.
"I just had a lot of guilt about not being able to work because of my health," she says. "I've always volunteered and always been a caregiver, so this was something I could do to recognize my community members."
Southerly realized she wanted to do more though, so in 2019 she applied to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. While still continuing her previous efforts, she partnered with Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center to provide specialized gift baskets for kids with cleft lip and/or cleft palate and their families. Southerly still works with these families, but that part of Light A Lamp transitioned into its own nonprofit, Inland Cleft & Craniofacial Group.
Then in 2022, Southerly and the Light A Lamp Board of Directors, mainly composed of people working in education or the medical field, decided to shift some of their focus to youth struggling with depression and anxiety.
After the pandemic, about a third of Spokane County 10th graders reported having depressive and anxious feelings, and 18.1% of them said they had contemplated suicide, according to the 2023 Washington Healthy Youth Survey. Both statistics were higher than the statewide totals reported in the same survey.
"We got together and said, 'Man, our kids are struggling tremendously with their mental health after COVID,'" Southerly says. "So what we did for the older kids in the cleft lip and palate program, we realized we could do for kids in local schools."
The day after deciding to focus on youth mental health, Southerly reached out to Rogers and North Central high schools to begin offering gift baskets called "health packs" to students who might benefit from them. Light A Lamp calls the endeavor "Project Lift Up."
The Project Lift Up team delivers a handful of health packs to counselors at participating schools each month to provide to students who may need them. The packs include food and drink coupons, snacks and hygiene products, alongside more fun — but still useful — items, such as journals, fidget toys and drink tumblers. Southerly ensures that contact information for local mental health organizations are included in these packages.
Although it may seem minor, Southerly says this small act of kindness can have a large effect on students' mental health.
"These baskets that we're giving are just a conduit that allows [students] to see that people care for them," she says. "It lets them know that they're not alone and they're cared about — even though it's sent from someone that doesn't personally know them."
Project Lift Up has grown quickly. During the 2023-24 school year, Southerly says the nonprofit served 17 schools throughout the Inland Northwest, including schools within the East Valley, Spokane, Tekoa and Reardan-Edwall districts. That's expected to grow in the 2024-25 school year, with at least 25 schools participating.
Light A Lamp doesn't receive federal or state funds — it relies on private donations at its annual June fundraiser, "Light Up the Night." This year, the nonprofit raised enough funds to fully support Project Lift Up at 15 of the 25 schools it plans to serve. Other funds will come from local businesses, which can sponsor these efforts at a single school for about $2,500.
However, that may change soon as the organization has grown large enough to hire a grant writer to find and apply for other sources of funding. Light A Lamp is also searching for an office, so it can move operations out of a shed (delightfully called the Lighthouse) on Southerly's Mead property.
"My dream is that we'll be in every school in the region," she says before correcting herself. "It's a goal that we're going to make happen." ♦
