Vote for me to win bonus grant money.
Natasha Williams will never forget the day her nonprofit was born. Six years ago, she was helping a young mother on Long Island, N.Y., who had no place to sleep for the night and no food for herself or her children—a nightmare for a parent.
But what struck Williams the most about the young woman wasn’t her need but her quiet strength.
Williams wondered how many other mothers in Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties were fighting similar desperate battles—unseen by those around them. “That’s when I knew this work had to grow,” says Williams. “Because every mother deserves to be given a real opportunity to rebuild her life.”
She’d been assisting unhoused mothers one on one with funds from her own pocket for the last 10 years. But she realized that she could use her 15 years of financial and real estate expertise in partnership with shelters to reach many more mothers than she could on her own.
The result was Impactful Lives. Today, the nonprofit serves 150 mothers and children every year in shelters throughout Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
Filling in the Gaps
More than 4,500 people were homeless on Long Island in 2025, a 13% increase from 2024 and the highest number reported since tracking began in 2007, according to the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless. Resources to serve the homeless population are limited, and that’s where Impactful Lives comes in. “We have more clients than staff or housing to help them,” says Danitza Auguste, a former senior case manager for Community Housing Innovations’ shelters. “Natasha has been that one stable person.”
“I do what I do because I can't imagine going to bed at night with a full refrigerator, knowing that a mom may not have enough food for her family or that a child may need formula, diapers or baby wipes.”
—Natasha Williams
Williams’ Fresh Food Run program helps bridge the gap between what a shelter can provide and what a young mother with growing children needs. Available diapers might be too big or too small for an infant. A child might have a food allergy that the shelter can’t accommodate immediately.
Williams takes moms to Costco or Sam’s Club to fill a cart with those essentials—food or otherwise—that they’re missing. She doesn’t give the moms a set shopping budget, estimating to several thousand dollars each year. Instead of focusing on a predetermined spending limit, she encourages each mom to select the fresh food her family needs without worrying about the cost.
And Williams, herself a mother, has stepped in more than once at the last minute to fill a need. “One of our clients was rushed to the hospital to deliver her baby,” Auguste says. “She was all alone, and I texted Natasha, asking her if she did baby baskets. The next day she delivered a basket filled with items for mom and baby.”
Opportunity Through Education
Williams, a broker with Cornelius Group Real Estate in Bohemia, N.Y., also offers workshops in shelters to help mothers move toward financial independence. Year round, she conducts classes on “upskilling”—adding to education and skills that the moms already have to build a resume that will be attractive to employers. She advocates for two-year certifications in growing industries, such as healthcare and the legal field, that can quickly make a difference in the mother’s income. She brings in admissions counselors from area universities and provides housing and job applications.
Attendees are urged to contact Williams if they need additional guidance. “She was honestly a really big help to me,” says Jessiqua, a mom who recently landed an eldercare job thanks to Williams’s coaching. “When I met her, I immediately felt a genuine commitment to actually helping us. We need more people like her.”
Williams also offers financial literacy workshops in budgeting, saving and investing. Through her relationships with the moms she supports, she has learned firsthand about some of the unique financial challenges they face. Mothers with income are required by the Department of Social Services to pay a shelter obligation, which can consume a significant portion of their paycheck, with some moms reporting obligations of up to 80% of their income. This can leave them with very limited income for other necessities and make it difficult to save the money needed to move out of the shelter and into permanent housing. At the same time, housing vouchers may not always cover market-rate rents on Long Island.
“I don’t pretend to have all the answers. When a mom comes to me with a problem, I say, ‘We'll get through this together. Here’s what I can take care of right now. Give me some time, and I’ll come back to you with more solutions.’”
—Natasha Williams
Other issues are common to all mothers, such as the high cost of paying for childcare. To meet these challenges, Williams champions a three-part process: prepare, plan, build. “I tell them, ‘You didn’t plan to be here. But you have to plan for your future,’” she says. “Moms do the hard things so our kids don’t have to. That’s what we do.”
A Day of Celebration and Hope
Living in a shelter can take a toll on a mother’s mental health, says Williams, and holidays can be especially hard. To give them a day to be seen and celebrated, Williams created her signature Mother’s Day brunches.
Each May, she hosts brunches at shelters mainly throughout Suffolk County, serving 20 to 30 mothers at each event. It’s a day filled with games and activities, inspirational speakers and gift bags which may also include electronics.
“They had clothes for the moms to pick from, toys for the kids and Mother’s Day presents for everyone,” says Michelle, who attended this year’s event. “Me personally, I’m never celebrated. So, it was amazing to feel like someone actually cared.”
Gifts and food come courtesy of Williams’ many partnerships with area businesses, which include famous names like Applebee’s and Panera Bread. She estimates that generous donors have contributed goods and services worth $80,000 over the years to the Mother’s Day brunches.
Her valued partners also include her fellow REALTOR® members. Colleagues from Long Island Board of REALTORS® and New York State Association of REALTORS® regularly volunteer. “As soon as they found out what I was doing,” Williams says, “they said, how can we help?”
At the end of every brunch, Williams asks the women to visualize their lives after leaving the shelter. And the Impactful Lives founder has a vision of her own: purchasing multifamily housing for the mothers to transition into, with individual apartments for each family, and space for daycare and educational programming. Moms could stay for up to six years while they pursue education and employment opportunities.
In William’s eyes, the future of every mother and child is bright. “I know that if I help one person,” she says, “I help generations to come.”
Natasha Williams of Cornelius Group Real Estate in Bohemia, N.Y., has helped more than 450 mothers and children by providing baby essentials, clothes and help with career and financial resources.