H-E-B Family: Meet Lead Volunteer, Princess Najuma-Dawkins

After moving from Jamaica with her family to start a new life, Princess never expected to become a single stay at home mom. Despite the challenges, Princess knew she wanted to be a part of her community in a special way. 

Princess joined a local church, Meadow Creek Baptist, where she reached out to her pastor’s wife about community volunteer opportunities. Through this discussion, Princess learned about 6 Stones Mission Network's Operation Back 2 School event.

She wasted no time in applying to become a volunteer. 6 Stones Operation Back 2 School Event not only prepared her kids to go back to school but gave her a trusted community to serve alongside.

Today, years later, Princess serves as a lead volunteer and says, “This year it has me thinking more, and with everything going on with COVID, it’s an ongoing process where I continuously think about how I’m going to help, how I’m going to make a difference.”

“While everybody is affected, these are like low income families or middle class families where you take away that income and they start thinking, ‘Oh wow, how am I going to provide for my kids, how am I gonna do stuff,' and for me, that was also in my mind because I’m a single mom right now, and I have to think how am I gonna provide?”

While COVID-19 has brought a lot of stress and uncertainty to families sending their kids back to school, the volunteers at Operation Back 2 School are helping relieve those anxieties one backpack, box of school supplies, and a warm (masked) smile at a time.

“Be a part of your community, be a part of an organization that is giving back. It is worth the while to see the smiles on the families face. It feels good to know that you’re helping. 6 Stones, they’re like family. They make you feel like family and I appreciate them being apart of the HEB family because it helped me.”