MEET US| Carolina Cares NC Raleigh Durham Community Assistance Outreach

MEET US

Molly Alexander

Raleigh

Molly Alexander is from Raleigh, North Carolina, where she still lives in Raleigh with her beautiful family, just a short drive from the house she grew up in. She is rooted in Raleigh and Wake County, NC.

Molly is a bridge builder and people-connector and inspires others to get involved to help our community. She understands that everyone goes through hard times and that sometimes people just need a little extra help.

She saw people who were "falling through the cracks" of the system and needed help to make ends meet. Molly knew that one mom may need help getting 4T clothes for her child but that the same mom likely had 3T clothes to share and help another. She understood there were people who had already navigated the complex systems and organizations for assistance and that they had knowledge to help those who needed it. She knew that people could help each other, so in 2014 she created Carolina Cares, a Facebook "crowd-sourced" page to connect people to share available resources and knowledge. Molly started everyday help for clothing, children's needs, and food insecurity, as well as yearly programs to assist with the all major holidays and back-to-school needs.

Susann Wigger

Raleigh

Susann “Zanny” Wigger has a long history of civic and community involvement, driven by her compassion for the earth and love for all who live here. She has over 20 years of experience in marketing, consulting, and communications in both industry and in the non-profit sector.

She most recently started volunteering with Carolina Cares in 2015, initially helping prepare and distribute food and meals to the homeless and helping with events.

In 2018 she joined the administration for Carolina Cares, and in 2020 joined the Board of Bridge the Gap Mission to further both groups’ missions.

A life-long vegetarian, now vegan, she lives in Raleigh and does all her service work in honor of her late husband, who went through treatment for Stage IV Esophageal Cancer in a homeless shelter prior to their meeting. She believes in helping everyone attain dignity and self-sufficiency.

Laura Long Collins

Wake Forest

Laura Collins attended NCSU and loved Raleigh so much that she's lived here in Wake County ever since. She has 20 years' experience in business with a focus on project and program management. Laura is a Technical Program Manager at Oracle. She enjoys empty-nester life with her husband Scott and dogs, Cole and Marley, as her oldest daughter studies engineering at NCSU and her youngest, twins, are both United States Marines.

Laura learned about Carolina Cares several years ago and was impressed by how many people are helped by the small core group of volunteers and by the larger Carolina Cares donor community. She saw how everyone had such a willingness to help each other and was inspired to do more herself. Laura began working more closely with Carolina Cares in 2019 and helps manage the Carolina Cares Facebook community, as well as assisting with in-person events and governance work as needed. She is proud of the work that Carolina Cares does to serve our local community.