This week’s Hometown Hero is Maggie West, a UNC alumnus and engaged member of the community. West co-founded the Community Empowerment Fund in 2009 while she was a student at UNC as a sustainable way to help the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless in Orange and Durham County.

“We work with people who are either homeless or at risk of being homeless in Orange and Durham Counties,” said West. “[CEF] provides relationship-based support to help make sure that each member gets the support they need to gain employment, secure housing and build savings.”

CEF is comprised of 250 student volunteers from UNC and Duke, who serve roughly 1,000 members of the community per year. The initiative includes a co-working space that helps to generate additional income while providing a productive environment for those who need it.

“We’ve met some incredible people who really transformed our understanding of the gaps in our system and services to support people in transitioning out of homelessness and staying out of homelessness,” said West.

Maggie West was also named “Citizen of the Year” by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, “for her daily pursuit of social equity and her uplifting leadership.” West is well-known for her connections and volunteer work in a large variety of local organizations who inspire positive change in the Chapelboro community. Organizations such as Project Connect, Point-in-Time Count, Highlander Research and Education Center and Farmer Foodshare, where she serves on the Board of Directors.

Farmer Foodshare provides fresh, local food to people who struggle to maintain access to a steady supply of food while also building a sustainable food supply system and providing jobs. West’s service as a board member has helped Farmer Foodshare support over 500 local farmers while distributing over 190,000 lbs of fresh food to more than 43,000 people across North Carolina.

As this week’s Hometown Hero, Maggie West will continue to spread positivity and energetic pursuit of bettering our community into 2017 and beyond. Her inspiration to UNC students to become agents of positive change and to all of us to take notice of the world around us is what Hometown Heroes are all about.

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