As New Jersey resident, Simone Gordon, prepared to celebrate her son’s 11th birthday, a deadly storm set out to rip apart the lives of Black and Brown communities across the state––causing ‘The Black Fairy Godmother’ to wave her magic wand and aid the people.

Heavy rainfall, catastrophic winds and rampaged tornadoes dominated N.J. earlier this month as Hurricane Ida tore across the eastern U.S. Bringing destruction to everything in its path, Ida claimed at least 25 lives while also severely destroying hundreds of homes and cars in the Garden State. Fortunately for New Jerseyans, the devastating impact made by the storm brought forth the help of the founder and CEO of The Black Fairy Godmother Foundation, Simone Gordon.

Despite her already heavy workload of fairy duties, Gordon activated her alter ego, ‘The Black Fairy Godmother,’ yet again to help Black and Brown victims recover from the second-deadliest storm to hit New Jersey. “I’m used to fighting the pandemic like I did before. But this hurricane had destroyed people’s cars, left many people homeless, and many without power and food. I just recovered from doing the emergency assistance fund across America, so I couldn’t do much, but I can help with the food,” Gordon said. The 35-year-old New Jersey native utilizes social media platforms to get resources from charitable people around the globe to marginalized communities in recovery. Through Instacart accounts, her foundation sends between $200 to $300 worth of fresh emergency groceries to families without a home, power or groceries.

With families still struggling to regain financial stability and essential life resources, the stomach-fulfilling gestures Gordon makes go a long way in their road to recovery.

After surviving domestic violence and other personal disasters of her own, Gordon wholeheartedly understands just how far gestures of help within marginalized communities can go.

In 2017 Gordon lost her job. The loss resulted in her struggling to pay the bills on a roughly $200/week unemployment check. Shortly after the financial loss, her 2-year-old son was diagnosed with severe autism. The back-to-back adversities Gordon faced left her in desperate need of medical support and resources for her son.

So, after receiving no tangible help from social workers, Gordon took to social media.

“Four women came to my aid and put their heads together. One contacted the local children’s specialized hospital. Whatever magic she did, within two weeks, got my son the therapy that he needed. Another woman decided that every month she was going to buy my son’s medical supplies so that I won’t have to worry. The two other women helped put me back into college. They told me that I have to expand myself, I have to uplift myself and understand there’s life after trauma. So, they paid my previous tuition and paid for me to get back into school, and as of today, I was 3.8 GPA,” Gordon said.

Since beginning her life after trauma, Gordon decided to pay the help she received forward. “Everyone deserves to get blessings. I’ve received some blessings, but I didn’t walk away with those blessings. I decided to give it back to marginalized communities across America,” she said.

With Hurricane Ida relief as her most recent way of paying it forward, Gordan’s magical assistance in helping the Black and Brown communities of New Jersey recover from Hurricane Ida shows that her mission continues to breathe life into disadvantaged communities.

“We don’t just help a person and just move on. That’s the problem with many nonprofits and shelters. A lot of people need emotional help. They need financial help. We need to uplift them so that they cannot continue to be in the same predicament each and every month, struggling,” Fairy Godmother said. “We decided to create a structured 90-day program that helps the families get at least 80% stabilized.”

The foundation’s 90-day plan supports families in obtaining trades, going back to school, building interpersonal relationships, perfecting their credit scores, finding safe housing and gaining other tangible life essentials.

CONNECT WITH THE BLACK FAIRY GODMOTHER

If you need help recovering from Hurricane Ida or other life disasters visit www.theblackfairygodmother.org and fill out an application.

If you want to get help from The Black Fairy Godmother Foundation’s mission visit www.theblackfairygodmother.org and join the ‘Adopt A Family Program.’