By Jamie Null
Photo by Burns Exposures Photography.
When it comes to nonprofit work, patience is hard for Dewayne Dickens, the executive director of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Southern West Virginia. Dickens, a native of Whitesville, WV, and a graduate of Marshall University and West Virginia State University, has built a career around his passion for bettering the lives of the families in his community. The most important lesson he has learned has been that not all things happen in our time and life isn’t perfect, and his response to this is to help as many of his neighbors as he can.
“There are so many families in our region who are in need of assistance,” he says. “The needs differ, but it is our responsibility as friends and neighbors to help those in need. I feel like I was placed on this earth with a compassion and desire to help others. Personal wealth has never been my ultimate goal. I enjoy waking up each morning and starting my day with a mission in mind to help others.”
Dickens began his nonprofit career with the YMCA of Kanawha Valley, where he fell in love with the act of helping those around him.
“In the summer of 1999, I began working as a camp counselor for the YMCA. I was studying to become a teacher and thought this experience would be a good one for my future career,” he recalls. “During my time at the Y, I worked with a variety of children who would not have had a camp experience without the availability of a scholarship program. This opened my eyes to the true impact a nonprofit can have. I quickly fell in love with working for an organization that benefited the entire family.”
Dickens has spent his entire career as well as his personal life participating in community work. He has served as president of the Ruffner Elementary School PTO and a member of the Nitro Little League board of directors, YMCA board of directors, Ronald McDonald House Charities Capital Campaign Committee and other civic event committees.
After spending several years at the YMCA, Dickens accepted the executive director position for RMHC of Southern West Virginia in 2007. Under his leadership, the organization has seen tremendous growth. The number of full-time employees has grown from one to four, and fundraising efforts have increased 30 percent. He also helped complete a $3.5 million capital campaign and oversaw the construction of one of the newest Ronald McDonald houses in the world.
In August 2010, three years after joining RMHC of Southern West Virginia, Dickens’ daughter, Juliet, was born eight weeks early. It was then that he stepped out of his role as executive director of an organization that helps the families of sick children and into the role of a parent whose child would require a lengthy neonatal ICU stay. This experience gave him the opportunity to see what thousands of families with sick children from Charleston and Southern West Virginia go through each year. According to Dickens, the mission of the RMHC of Southern West Virginia is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and their families.
“Many families travel far from home and spend several weeks or months to get treatment for their seriously ill or injured child—that’s a long time to be away or divide a family,” he says. “And for children facing a serious medical crisis, nothing seems scarier than not having Mom and Dad close by for love and support. A Ronald McDonald House is that home away from home for families so they can stay close by their hospitalized child at little or no cost. My own experience gave me a greater appreciation for what our families face during their stay at the Ronald McDonald House.”
Dickens finds motivation by focusing on his children and the children in the region. At the end of the day, he invests his time and attention in helping families in need because he wants to leave the Mountain State a better place.
“I’m a proud son of Southern West Virginia, and I am honored to have dedicated my career to making it a better place for children and families,” he says.
