True Hero

Jill Lerner-Adams’ passion for giving back started as a child — she was wrapping gifts like a professional by the age of 10. Her mother, Cindy Lerner, was part of a holiday toy drive for Voices For Children, which benefited foster children served by the Guardian Ad Litem Program. Leading up to the holidays, hundreds of gifts were brought to her home, sorted and then wrapped for different foster families. “Youth in foster care typically have suffered from abuse and neglect and therefore many of them haven’t had much to celebrate,” she says. “Voices For Children provides the community with a way to bring some joy and fulfill wishes for these children all year round.” In 2014, she launched a buying & selling group on Facebook for Miami. It was through this group that she came up with the idea and inspiration to further her philanthropic efforts. That same year, she started the Voices For Children Donation Drive. Over the next few years, she expanded her audience and enlisted the help of friends, family and local schools, which dramatically increased the donations and allowed for hundreds more foster families to receive gifts for their children. With three small children of her own, Jill has been able to share and educate them on the importance of philanthropy and giving back. “To have them want to help pick out and purchase a gift for a child or even want to donate their own holiday present only demonstrates that these memories and lessons will live on in them forever!”; BeAVoice.org.