The Nonprofit

Worthwhile Talent, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2024 to facilitate community exchange, connection-building, food sharing, and service work that directly benefits disadvantaged residents while enriching the lives of all Talentonians.

Founder & Executive Director

Tammy Wilder is a long-time Talent resident who started her volunteering life in the days immediately following the 2020 Almeda Fire. She began by delivering hot meals to affected residents and soon became a Neighborhood Coordinator for the Talent Food Project, and then a member of the TFP’s Steering Committee. In October 2021 she learned that the Talent Food Pantry was without formal leadership after the previous manager had lost his home in the fire. She then took on the volunteer position of Manager of the Talent Food Pantry, part of the ACCESS Food Program network based in Medford, which serves multiple areas and more than 30 pantries in Jackson County.

With a ton of help from an adventurous and generous team of volunteers, Tammy led a restructuring of the operations of the Pantry to provide a more dignified experience for food recipients - first by transitioning to a customer-choice grocery shopping model, and then changing the entry queue to operate on a lottery system in order to create a more harmonious waiting environment. She was able to expand the Pantry's free offerings to include donated clothes, shoes, bedding, and books. These changes have created a warm, lively and truly inclusive space where people build social relationships, learn about other resources and services, and receive support and encouragement from fellow community members - all without having to spend a dime.

It was watching the Pantry develop and grow into a small community in and of itself that inspired her to develop a standalone charitable program that she hoped could contribute something of real lasting value to Talent. Now Tammy is merging that volunteer management experience with the skill set she obtained from her 25 year career in Organizational Administration and Business Consulting to serve as Worthwhile Talent's first Executive Director, and to create a new, old-fashioned way to connect people with what they need.

The principles that guided the founding of Worthwhile Talent:

Everyone has something worthwhile to contribute to their community, even those who may not feel like they have anything of value to offer. Everyone does!
Most people who receive charitable services want to be able to give back in some way, and would if they were given accessible opportunities to do so.
More financially secure people want to be able to contribute to the well-being of their community in direct, meaningful and productive ways. They want to participate in a way that helps them feel like they are part of something that actually makes a difference where they live.
The more people you know, the better off you are. Social capital is the springboard for security and stability and a proven-effective pathway out of poverty, and is built by engaging with people of diverse backgrounds and interests in your community.

With those principles in mind, the ultimate goal of the Worthwhile organization is to generate social capital and expand access to resource-stabilizing opportunities among low income Talent-area residents, while providing EVERYONE with a chance to contribute to their own community in ways that truly matter.