Beyond the Call (Resident News)

Since Hearts 4 Minds was founded, Rebecca Ackerman has been there to put her heart into the organization and its mission. After all, its founder, Sheryl Johnson, is her aunt and Alex was her younger cousin by four weeks. In 2017, Alex passed away after a prolonged battle against anxiety and depression. When Ackerman saw Johnson begin working to transform that tragic loss into something bigger, she knew she wanted to be a part of it
and she has been part of the organization ever since.

While the world will always have its problems, Ackerman believes in the power of the helpers.

“I’m a really big believer of you can’t change the whole entire world, but you can change pieces of it,” Ackerman said.

The work Hearts 4 Minds has done to help break the stigma surrounding mental illness has done just that, Ackerman said: changed pieces of the world here in Jacksonville.

Beyond Hearts 4 Minds, Ackerman has always had a passion for philanthropy and being a public servant. With a background in public administration and nonprofit management, Ackerman gives back a lot of her time with several nonprofits in Jacksonville.

“[It’s] amazing because I just get to give back to the community that I have grown to love,” Ackerman said.

Oftentimes, she said, her work is more behind-the-scenes and it is this perspective that has taught her that people can make a positive impact regardless of the role they serve in a nonprofit setting.

“I’m not boots on the ground dealing with people in crises – I’m doing the back-end operations of it – but I can see that contributing in all these different ways and all the different ways of volunteering overall, contributes to the bigger problem and helping it,” she said.