Carla Delacruz Davila co-founded The WellStorm because she knew what it was like to go without.
Established in 2021 with Yesenia Arroyo, The WellStorm is a Southbridge nonprofit focused on combatting food insecurity and homelessness while addressing mental health needs through community fridges, peer-to-peer groups, and supportive programming.
These three pillars were inspired by the childhoods of the organization’s founding mothers.
After moving to the mainland United States from Puerto Rico as a child, Delacruz Davila experienced homelessness and food insecurity, living in a shelter with her mother and brother after leaving a domestic violence situation.
“When you go through something, we sometimes associate shame with it, and we shouldn’t, and then we don’t want others to know about it. But she used that to motivate her to help others,” said Suzanne Graham Anderson, founder and CEO of professional consulting firm Positively Suzanne in Worcester.
Graham Anderson met Delacruz Davila at a networking event in 2022 and was immediately impressed by her dedication to not wanting others to go through what she had to. Delacruz Davila is doing so through several efforts through The WellStorm that work together to break down barriers between individuals and the supports they need.
Her first initiative was to establish food drives, handing out boxes of food to individuals and families.
That project grew into The Bridge Fridge, a community fridge operating 24/7. The initiative originally provided individuals and families with groceries once weekly, but now offers them three times per week at its Southbridge location, featuring an upright freezer and pantry area where individuals can find non-perishable food items and sometimes essentials such as blankets. Volunteers come every day to clean and maintain the space.
The WellStorm partners with UMass Memorial Health – Harrington Hospital, which operates two Bridge Fridges in Webster and Southbridge, and the nonprofit is working to establish two more in Fitchburg and Leominster.
“I feel like we expand wherever we can,” said Delacruz Davila. “Every community is our community … I don’t feel like I have to be in just one place to make a difference.”
The nonprofit has grown nearly every year since its founding, rising from $11,669 in annual revenue in fiscal 2021 to $91,834 in fiscal 2023. In the most recent fiscal year, Wellstorm generated $61,440 in revenue and held $43,883 in assets, according to the nonprofit tracker Guidestar.
A licensed social worker, Delacruz Davila knows the consequences when mental health needs go unaddressed, and she has incorporated programming into The WellStorm specifically targeting those unmet needs.
Growing up in a Latino home, she has had first-hand experience with the stigma existing within her community around reaching out for mental health support.
Working her day job as program coordinator for Diversity & Student Success and case manager of the Coaching Program at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Delacruz Davila supports students as they navigate very real emotional and life challenges as they work to complete demanding degrees in the medical field.
“Sometimes people think about their past traumas and feel like ‘I can’t move on,’ and that’s when the drug abuse happens, or the alcoholism, or whatever the case may be,” she said.
This past summer, The WellStorm hosted a free, one-week children’s camp at Worcester State University, in partnership with its Latino Education Institute, providing 19 participants with emotional support through art.
Wellstorm hosts virtual monthly mom-to-mom peer groups aimed at addressing postpartum concerns in a space emphasizing maternal wellbeing. This year, the nonprofit launched a monthly virtual anxiety workshop.
Working collaboratively with other individuals and organizations has been fundamental to Delacruz Davila’s business strategy for her completely volunteer-run nonprofit.
In the nonprofit sector, organizations tend to balk at the idea of partnership because they see it as a threat to their already-limited funding, said Delacruz Davila.
But for her, collaboration is in fact a way to circumvent the issues posed by a scarce resource pool.
“What I’m asking is, ‘Let’s partner, and let’s get this grant together and work together, because the greater good is helping the community,” she said. “If we work together, maybe we can make things happen.”
Delacruz Davila doesn’t view organizations providing similar services as competition, said Graham Anderson. In fact, she goes and volunteers at other events without mentioning The WellStorm.
“If that consistently continues to be her drive and her mission, then I think that her nonprofit will continue to excel,” said Graham Anderson. “Because it’s not about her; it’s about the difference. It’s about the impact. It’s about the community.”
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
