Congregations For Kids
The idea of us all working together is so appealing. The word “community” is so quickly used. In reality, we believe the strong have a more substantial obligation to help those in need. The well secured among us can do more. It’s that simple. This core belief has led us to partner with Congregations for Kids in Charlotte (CFK).
CFK equips and empowers the community to be champions for children, families and social workers in the foster care system, envisioning a city where every child has a champion.
INITIATIVE
CFK has four simple pathways to help you become a champion for kids in foster care: Foster. Mentor. Serve. Give. Various members of the SouthPark Capital team are engaged in the Mentor program, volunteering at events, and the firm works with CFK as a corporate sponsor as well as frequently participating in the CareNow platform, which meets immediate material needs identified by social workers. In these ways, our team is lifting up the larger CFK efforts. In fact, by working on this project internally we learned that one of our own employees used to be a foster kid herself. The amazing thing is that she’s decided to coordinate our efforts with CFK at SouthPark Capital. We couldn’t be more inspired.
WHY CFK?
George Terlizzi, SouthPark Capital founder, worked as a child in his father’s church that operated buses into some of the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago. George’s job was to run into the “projects” and gather up the kids who wanted to attend services, a small break from their bleak day-to-day experience surrounded by drugs and violence. Although George was in humble financial circumstances himself, this experience helped him to realize that there were children all around him in truly extreme need.
“Once I first learned about the CFK program I knew immediately I wanted to get involved in some form or fashion. I’ve always been a big believer in supporting kids that may not have had the same resources I had growing up even though my own childhood wasn’t a perfect picture either. Being able to be a small chapter in a kid’s life that I could dramatically change this child’s path into a much brighter future gives me the greatest fulfillment and purpose as a father and husband. One of the greatest attributes about CFK is they have so many ways you can get involved and lend a helping hand. One of my goals is to ultimately get my own kids involved and teach my youngest boys that they can help those in need and learn that not every child their age has the same opportunities growing up in which they are experiencing now. I couldn’t think of a better way to give back locally to children in need here in Charlotte.” –
JON HOGAN
Partner/Wealth Advisor
Leaving a Legacy
Fast forward to today and George learned his own church in Charlotte was supporting CFK which allowed him the opportunity to continue the lessons from his youth generationally with his own daughter who has grown up in far more comfortable circumstances than he did.
Once that began, it was only a matter of time until what the family was doing at home became a part of the extended work family at SouthPark Capital. And while George’s daughter is growing into adulthood with a heart softened by her experiences, now Jon Hogan, George’s Partner at SouthPark Capital twelve years younger than George, thinks of his own young sons and the lessons he seeks to impart to them.
