Celebrate Wendy's Legacy

Dec 5, 2022Celebrate Wendy's Legacy

Dear Friend:

As we near the end of the year, we are struck with gratitude and grief for our late Executive Director, the Wonderful Wendy Jackson, who passed away in October 2022 after a hard-fought battle with illness. Wendy, who was preparing for her retirement, served 26 phenomenal years with EOCP. Wendy’s leadership at EOCP was profound, and she will be deeply missed. In partnership, in service, and behind the scenes, she led our organization’s critical work of nurturing the dreams of people experiencing homelessness—and she did so with unwavering integrity, heartfelt commitment, and a deep belief in community-based collaboration.

Today, we begin to honor the vastness of Wendy’s impact by establishing the Wendy Jackson Legacy Fund. With this fund, we celebrate and acknowledge Wendy’s legacy and her commitment to the people of Oakland and Alameda County, and ensure that her memory lives on. Through Wendy’s leadership, EOCP reached tremendous milestones, including:

Developing a strong, organizational vision for holistic care that centers not just on housing, but each client’s well-being and ability to thrive in life.
Growing programming from a single location to a $10M+, multi-site community resource with residential and rapid rehousing initiatives, medical respite care, and focused offerings for Veterans and families—such as the recently opened Family Matters shelter.
Fostering instrumental relationships with city, regional, and national partners and organizations to sustain programs on an ongoing basis.
Building Crossroads, a state-of-the-art, environmentally green shelter - the only facility that has been built from the ground up in the heart of the Oakland community that continues to serve our community with dignity.
Cultivating and hiring a robust team of passionate staff, with many who hail from Oakland and keep EOCP’s work rooted in place.

None of this transformative work would have been possible without Wendy. Her vision for change guided this journey, but as Wendy herself often reminded us, we reached each of these milestones because of YOUR steadfast support and collaboration. We will deeply miss Wendy’s daily guidance and presence, and keep her vision close at hand. As EOCP transitions into its next chapter, we will continue to imbue the work with her legacy of community-led, dignified, and trusted care at EOCP.

Please join us in recognizing Wendy, her life, and her memory by donating to the Wendy Jackson Legacy Fund today. By becoming a founding donor, you will be helping to sustain a strong foundation to continue and expand EOCP’s work sheltering and supporting members of our community currently experiencing homelessness.

Contribute to the Wendy Jackson Legacy Fund by donating online or send a check in the enclosed envelope. Please don’t wait—we need you to help us build this anchor for the tireless work that EOCP does to support people fighting homelessness, every day.

In community,

Kevin Bremond
Board Chair
EOCP Board of Directors

Community-based Services