Sharing Prince George’s Committee Member Rufus Lusk III with Carl Cooper, Manager of the Port Towns Burger King.
Strengthening Community Connections
Rev. Rufus Lusk III has been involved with the Greater Washington Community Foundation for quite some time. A retired pastor and fourth generation Washingtonian, Rufus has been finding ways to give back to his community through The Community Foundation since the mid-90s.
Rufus is a natural connector, something that he uses on a regular basis in his ongoing role as managing partner with Lusk Family, LLC – a real estate firm with strong ties to Prince George’s County.
Unlike some landlords, Rufus loves to interact regularly with his tenants – driving down from his home in Baltimore to Port Towns Shopping Center frequently to visit, hear concerns, and take interest in his tenants’ lives.
You can often find him enjoying pancakes at the Port Towns IHOP or chatting with the cashier at a nearby CVS. These interactions, he says form the foundation for his philanthropic giving.
“I've always felt that any philanthropy that we do needs to come around to producing a better society. That means creating greater prosperity for everybody.”
So when he was invited to join the Sharing Prince George’s Committee, Rufus was excited to get involved.
“What I really enjoyed about Sharing Prince George’s was getting to actually speak with the people on the front lines,” Rufus shares. “We were able to understand something of the background of the nonprofit staff -- as well as the specific needs that they are addressing.”
Like when Hillside Youth Services, a nonprofit supporting youth in Prince George’s County, came to Sharing Montgomery seeking support for their Work Scholarship Connection program.
Upon doing some research, Rufus realized that Hillside’s sister organization in Syracuse, New York was closely connected to one of his tenants – Carrol’s Restaurant Group, the largest Burger King franchisee in the world, with over 1,000 locations. The relationship allows Hillside to partner with local businesses to place and mentor high school youth in entry-level jobs in Upstate New York.
“I asked the Hillside team if they had a similar relationship, here in Prince George’s County,” Rufus says. “They told me they were hoping to develop something like that, but they hadn’t gotten the right introduction. I thought to myself ‘I guess that’s why God sent me to this meeting’.”
As fate would have it, Rufus had just connected with the new District Manager earlier that week. Thanks to Rufus’ introduction, Hillside is now in conversations to implement a new program which could help place dozens of teens in entry-level jobs.
The Sharing Community Funds bring together donors who share our passion for building more equitable, just, and thriving communities. With expert facilitation by Community Foundation staff, donors join together to learn first-hand about the challenges facing our community. Thanks to the generosity of this growing community of givers, together we discover and invest in visionary nonprofits working on the frontlines of our region’s most pressing needs.
Want to get involved? The Sharing Prince George’s Fund Committee welcomes new members. Contact Desmirra Quinnonez (dquinnonez@thecommunityfoundation.org) to find out more about how you can be a part of this impactful fund!