Filter heroes statewide, by region or by cause.
Alison Jakubcin
Alpena
Hero Story
Alison has worked very diligently at becoming a well-known community member that volunteers her time to various causes in Alpena. While Alpena is the largest city in her area, much of the programming she works to support carries across the counties surrounding the Alpena community. Her time spent with United Way of Northeast Michigan has been critical in two ways: first of all, her time as co-fundraising chair raised money that served many of the local non-profits that rely on the support of the United Way of Northeast Michigan. After serving two terms in that position, she realize that with the long-time Executive Director retiring, the transition period of not only losing long time leadership, but the funds that she was able to help raise, may be a lot for the organization to overcome, so she accepted a board position and now has helped navigate that organization to the different and exciting new direction that will continue to impact Northeast Michigan.
Alison isn't just inspiring in her dedication to helping behind the scenes in so many of the good causes she supports, but in 2018 was diagnosed with a severe case of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The onslaught of RA has caused Alison to lose a tremendous amount of weight as her body battles against itself. While she has suffered mobility loss and battles other issues, she is determined to not let RA define her–and works hard at living her life before her RA flare-ups.
Alison has every right to ask for help from others. Some days she can't get out of bed. As she has found relief with a new treatment program, Alison continues to support the causes she so passionately believes in–despite working through her own private battle. The one bright side to her diagnosis is she has become an advocate for RA and has created a network of other people battling this disease on her various social media platforms. By bringing awareness to RA she hopes to not only empower others but teach others they are not alone in their battles.
On top of all the volunteering Alison does, while battling RA, Alison decided last year to head back to school to earn her degree! She is doing all of this while balancing her full-time job and continuing her education.
Alison Jakubcin
Alpena
Hero Story
Alison has worked very diligently at becoming a well-known community member that volunteers her time to various causes in Alpena. While Alpena is the largest city in her area, much of the programming she works to support carries across the counties surrounding the Alpena community. Her time spent with United Way of Northeast Michigan has been critical in two ways: first of all, her time as co-fundraising chair raised money that served many of the local non-profits that rely on the support of the United Way of Northeast Michigan. After serving two terms in that position, she realize that with the long-time Executive Director retiring, the transition period of not only losing long time leadership, but the funds that she was able to help raise, may be a lot for the organization to overcome, so she accepted a board position and now has helped navigate that organization to the different and exciting new direction that will continue to impact Northeast Michigan.
Alison isn't just inspiring in her dedication to helping behind the scenes in so many of the good causes she supports, but in 2018 was diagnosed with a severe case of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The onslaught of RA has caused Alison to lose a tremendous amount of weight as her body battles against itself. While she has suffered mobility loss and battles other issues, she is determined to not let RA define her--and works hard at living her life before her RA flare-ups.
Alison has every right to ask for help from others. Some days she can't get out of bed. As she has found relief with a new treatment program, Alison continues to support the causes she so passionately believes in--despite working through her own private battle. The one bright side to her diagnosis is she has become an advocate for RA and has created a network of other people battling this disease on her various social media platforms. By bringing awareness to RA she hopes to not only empower others but teach others they are not alone in their battles.
On top of all the volunteering Alison does, while battling RA, Alison decided last year to head back to school to earn her degree! She is doing all of this while balancing her full-time job and continuing her education.