2018 Issue 2 Mar/Apr - Focus Mid-Tenn Magazine

Pam Sheffer
spent 23 years
in corporate
health
insurance sales
before she took
a leap into the
unfamiliar non-profit
arena.
“It was a really lucrative
career,” she said. “But as I
got to that 40-something
(age) window of time, I
started to realize, ‘You
know I’m going to be
working for at least another
25 years. Is this really what
I want to be doing with
the rest of my professional
life?’”
She started to examine
her life and her passions,
and realized she wanted
to work to make a positive
impact on people’s lives.
“I knew that what I
was doing was not what
I wanted to be. It was
something that I was doing,
but it was not who I wanted
to be.”
After some soul
searching, she sat down
with family and friends, and
asked them to tell her when
the last time they saw joy in
her life. Her mom gave her
a simple answer: She really
liked to color — anything
artistic.
She talked with old coworkers
and asked the
same question, and got a
unanimous answer.
“It was training, and
educating, and leading,”
she said. “Those were
things where they saw me
shine in those respects. So
that was helpful.”
She identified three
points of passion:
Addressing suicide in
LGBT+ youth, addressing
the plight of homelessness
ABOUT JUST US
Just Us is a group of programs at Oasis Center dedicated to helping lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and questioning youth to achieve their full potential. Specifically, Just Us provides
LGBT high school students a liberating space where they can be authentic and celebrate the
fluidity of identity. For more information, visit justusoasis.org.
BECOME A SUSTAINING DONOR
The best way to help Just Us and other programs at Oasis Center is to become a sustaining
donor. Visit oasiscenter.org/donate.
for youth and addressing
the access of healthcare for
everybody, regardless of
ability to pay.
Those three primary
focuses were what drove
her to start interviewing
non-profit organizations
that did that kind of work.
She knew Hal Cato, who
was the president and
CEO of Oasis Center at the
time, through her work on
the board of advisors at
Community Foundation.
She approached him and
expressed an interest in
what Oasis Center had to
offer.
“I tell people I basically
stalked him,” she laughed,
“which I think is pretty
accurate. He was gracious
enough to give me an
opportunity to come in and
talk with him.”
“I told him that I
wanted to start an LGBT+
program at Oasis Center
to specifically focus on
the needs of these young
people.”
But in order for anything
to happen, she’d need
funding — and she would
need to include youth as a
part of the process. Then,
she said, Cato negotiated
the “best deal ever” for her.
“I could work for free, and
figure it out,” she said. “So
that’s what I did.”
Through her prior
preparations, she had
arranged it so that her bills
were paid and she could
take the time she needed
to come up with a plan to
meet her vision.
“I worked 40 hours a
week for a year for free
to figure out what (the
program) was going to look
like,” she said.
“I did a lot of focus
groups with LGBT+ young
people, with LGBT+ young
adults; I did one-on-one
interviews with them. I
held summits — anything
to bring their voices to the
table.”
She began her work in
June of 2010, and they
launched Just Us at Oasis
Center in July 2011. It
took a lot of hard work,
determination and a sharp
learning curve. Oasis Center
staff were supportive of the
work she was doing and
kept encouraging her.
“They knew I had the
passion, the brain power,
and the will power … it was
Good Deeds / MAR+APR 2018 / focusmidtenn.com / Page 11