Today we’d like to introduce you to Jackie and Neal Zeigler.
Jackie and Neal, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m a native of Shreveport, Louisiana and Neal is a native of Chicago, Illinois. We both moved to the Dallas area in 2005, but we actually didn’t know each other at the time. When we were dating many years later, it became apparent that we both had a passion for service. We’d both been active in the community volunteering, serving on boards as a way of giving back, and we both had a deep desire to give on a greater level. We’d visited Puerto Rico in 2015 for a friend’s wedding and we were at the beach talking out our dreams, as we often did and still do. We’d been talking about starting a nonprofit organization and had been doing some research in the little spare time we had from our busy professional lives, but that day, on that beach, we decided it was time to pull the trigger. We were in the process of planning our own wedding at the time and it seemed like a good addition to this start of a new chapter in our lives.
This idea had been years in the making. After witnessing the lack of access to healthcare in our everyday work in local healthcare systems, and then seeing the disparity on an even more massive scale when traveling abroad, we felt compelled to take action. We both have always been active in volunteerism, board service, etc., but knew that there was more that we could do. While there are other medically-focused organizations out there, we felt that our experience in multiple aspects of healthcare gave us a unique perspective to help close the healthcare gap in impoverished communities. Promoting health education and increasing access to treatment could make a difference for thousands of people. Meeting basic needs could improve health outcomes, empower people and provide hope for a chance at a brighter future.
In 2017 MPACT for Mankind was founded with this goal. We weren’t sure about the who, what, where or how at first, but we knew we had to start somewhere. So we took our first trip to Haiti in August of that same year. It was a life-changing experience, after which we were unable to return home and resume life as usual. We had experienced something that showed us that life was so much bigger than just us. We are determined to use the resources, skills, and knowledge that we have been blessed with to make an impact in our corner of the world. It’s a calling for us and we believe that we can impact families for generations to come through the work that we do.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like with any new business, and yes nonprofits are indeed businesses, there are challenges. It takes resources, both in time, people, and finances, to accomplish your goals and most startups don’t have an unlimited supply of those resources. MPACT For Mankind has dealt with many of the typical obstacles that startup entities encounter. A primary challenge has been obtaining funding – the vast majority of our budget goes directly to programs and services, which leaves little for the very necessary administrative functions. So, you have a couple of people wearing a lot of different hats and serving in multiple roles. We obviously use volunteers as much as possible, but it has been a challenge to find volunteers to fill some of the more behind-the-scenes, administrative functions.
As we grow, we’d ideally like to have the ability to delegate some of the more routine duties and spend more time developing and operating programs, fundraising, building relationships, and other activities that contribute to growing our impact.
A related issue is marketing. There are a lot of organizations out there doing good work, so we have to constantly be aware of the latest best practices in reaching our target audience and standing out in the crowd. It is important that we reach the people that share and support our vision and connect with them in a meaningful way, so that they want to be a part of our mission, whether that is through volunteering, donating, or serving as advocates for the organization. As a new organization, it takes time to build credibility and a reputation of excellence, which are necessary to get volunteers and donors to share their time and resources.
Lastly, I think an obstacle has been finding balance. We are both very driven and have a big vision for the organization. We also have our work outside of MPACT For Mankind, so we are constantly on the go. Sometimes it’s easy to get consumed with it all. We have to make sure that we take time for ourselves and our family and friends.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
MPACT For Mankind is an IRS approved 501(c)3 nonprofit health and human services organization. The organization exists to help the underserved have healthier, fuller lives. Our mission is to transform communities by improving health outcomes, enhancing knowledge, and provide hope while promoting sustainable growth. We focus on four pillars of impact: access to medical care, proper nutrition, clean water, and health education/literacy.
We accomplish this by providing multiple services, including but not limited to providing basic resources and healthcare to our local community, facilitating medical mission trips to provide free health care internationally, food drives to help combat nutritional deficiencies, medical supply donation to medical providers with limited resources, and health literacy projects to educate our clients about better health choices.
We are proud that we have been able to provide healthcare and resources to thousands that otherwise would simply have little to no access otherwise, and that we have been able to bring awareness to many people who have, often for the first time, made personal contributions to those in need.
Unlike many entities that desire to impact healthcare disparities, the leadership of MPACT For Mankind has extensive front-line experience in the healthcare arena. Our direct involvement and varied interactions (administrative, clinical, philanthropic, etc) give us a deeper understanding of the problems and informed perspectives about real solutions. Between us, we have over 30 years of combined experience in healthcare. Jackie draws from her years of experience serving across various levels of the healthcare industry. Starting as a speech-language pathologist, she has also served as a hospital executive for a national healthcare system and for a large, multidisciplinary physician practice. In addition to her expertise as a healthcare administrator, she has proven success as an operational leader and consultant to small businesses. Neal draws his experience from being a board-certified emergency medicine physician, as well as opening and being a part of the leadership of an urgent care practice and multiple freestanding emergency rooms in the DFW area. He holds multiple medical directorships and leadership roles in numerous medical ventures and is an entrepreneur at heart.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
We have such a great desire to help as many people as we can that sometimes we fail to just celebrate where we are and what we have accomplished thus far. I think our proudest moment as it relates to MPACT For Mankind was just recently when we stopped to take stock of what we’ve accomplished over the past couple of years.
Although we are a young organization, we are proud to already be making a difference. Locally, we have distributed coats, blankets, and gloves to the homeless. We raised funds for more than 300 “MPACT Kits” – first aid kits that were distributed to the homeless and low-income families. We contributed to the fight against hunger in our local community of Dallas, TX by providing 5,088 meals to St. Philips School’s food pantry, serving the south Dallas community, and Our Calling, an organization that serves the homeless and unsheltered.
We took our first medical mission trip to Haiti in November 2018. We spent three full days providing free medical care. Our team of volunteers saw 458 patients and dispensed over 1,000 prescriptions. Not a single person was turned away. We followed up with a return trip in September 2019, during which we provided free medical treatment to 455 patients and dispensed 2,103 prescriptions. We also provided dental care, including fluoride varnishes, checkups, extractions and education for the 72 kiddos at Coreluv’s Myan Children’s Village (local orphanage), as well as approximately 50 members of the surrounding community. We have also engaged with the village of Bibogobogo in the Democratic Republic of Congo and have routinely sent medical supplies to support the local medical clinic.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mpact4mankind.com
- Phone: 469-998-1381
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @mpact4mankind
- Facebook: @mpact4mankind
- Twitter: @mpact4mankind
- Other: linkedin.com/company/mpact4mankind
Image Credit:
Tyson Pough, Tyson Pough Photography
Micah Ennis, Coreluv International
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