Last year, we celebrated how your support links us together. Like a friendship bracelet, each gift forming a chain of impact.

This year, we’re going a step deeper: highlighting the people, the threads, who make those connections possible.

Meet Konnie, Manager of Grant Development. Through her work, she helps turn ideas into action bringing energy, creativity, and new possibilities to life across the Foundation.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself!
Konnie: Fun fact: I’m a classically trained violist, with visions of grandeur to one day play for my local community orchestra… just as soon as I find some free time between being a loving mother and devoted wife.

Q: What’s a hobby or interest that energizes you outside of work?
Konnie: Food! I love trying new foods and feeding others. It’s built deep into my DNA. There’s something so soothing about cooking and baking. I also love having others try recipes from around the world and critique them so I can keep improving. My rating scale is: “No/Nope” (we don’t ever need this again), “Good” (satisfying and enjoyable, needs work, we don’t have to try again if we don’t want), or “Make again” (needs to be added to the standard rotation of common foods, highly enjoyable, aim for perfection!).

Q: If the Foundation were a bracelet, what kind of thread would you be?
Konnie: Iridescent green. Grounding and earthy, yet just a bit sparkly to catch your eye and intrigue you.

Q: What’s one moment at the Foundation that made you feel proud?
Konnie: Securing funding for a Foundation program after only eight months. Being so new, it can be hard to fully express what’s needed to secure support, so I was really proud to contribute to our goals so quickly.

Q: What’s your unofficial “superpower” at the Foundation?
Konnie: Ideation! The more I learn about what we do and have done the more ideas I have about where we can go in the future. Ideation into development is quite energizing as I love brainstorming and massaging until it forms something spectacular that we can then act on.

Q: How do you see the Foundation connecting people?
Konnie: The Foundation genuinely listens and then acts, that’s how it connects people. So many of those who reach out with a question, idea, or need help spark development of new programs or expand existing ones. When your focus is on people and improving peoples’ lives, connecting with them deeply and genuinely to understand their needs and fill gaps is not only meaningful to that one person but impactful for others in similar situations.

Q: What does “connection” mean to you here?
Konnie: One voice or one need, resounding with many, like a ripple effect. Once something is known, it can’t be unknown. It expands, informs, and unites. Connection can truly make all of humanity feel like one community.

 Q: How do your day-to-day contributions tie into the bigger picture?
Konnie: My efforts help continue the Foundation’s current programs while also expanding what we have to offer. Taking in what staff, members, volunteers, and patients have to say and crafting avenues to help make things possible.

Q: How do you hope the Foundation’s connections grow this year?Konnie: I hope we can keep expanding our community globally and doing good works. Stories are one way to tie us all together by giving insight into how others live, work, and dream. Pathology is not only diagnostic work but preventative work. Keeping the world healthy is one of the easiest things to care about and support. Don’t you wish that for yourself, family, and friends already? And what about the person you just learned a story about somewhere else in the world, who might have one little thing that resonated with you, don’t you now wish it for them? Good ideas are easy to support, that’s why it resonates with you as a good idea.

Q: If the Foundation had a theme song, what would it be?
Konnie: I have a few!

• “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor — perseverance and determination
• “People Have the Power” by Patti Smith — a call for collective action
• “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong — what’s possible when we truly connect and care

Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
Konnie: My family history and how I was raised lent itself to crafting a servant’s heart within me. I’ve dedicated my entire professional career to non-profit work and helping others. I truly believe in leaving the world a better place than how I found it and hope to share that passion with others. If we all do one good thing the ripple effect is exponential.

 Now Playing: Connected: The Foundation Playlist
As part of this campaign, we’re building a CAP Foundation playlist featuring songs chosen by our staff, board, awardees and donors. As the campaign unfolds, so will the playlist, with new songs added along the way. Listen along and hear the soundtrack behind the threads that hold us together.