The Nonprofit

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

What We're Focused on Right Now

Worthwhile Mercantile - a truly affordable secondhand shop that is also the headquarters of the Community Exchange, the Talent Period Dignity Project, and all the other programs we have in the hopper! We are currently seeking a retail location near downtown Talent and submitting proposals for funding to help with rent, equipment, signage, and other launch costs.

The Talent Period Dignity Project aims to eliminate period poverty in Talent by making menstrual supplies accessible to anyone who needs them. We strongly believe that everyone deserves the right to manage their period with dignity.

Programs in the Queue

With the types of projects we're planning, we think we'll be able to create something really cool that helps local residents connect and meaningfully improve their lives. But we also hope our programming inspires a strong culture of service, generosity, and reciprocity in Talent.

Here's a peek into the kind of stuff Worthwhile is planning:

Pantry Secondhand Exchange
Neighborhood Message Boards
Pantry Box Home Delivery
Sidewalk Pantries
Shopping & Errand Rideshares
Senior Visits
Help Needed/Offered
Tool & Equipment Lending Library
Garden Space/Work Share
School Supply Sponsorship
Dog Walking & Pet Care

Many of these projects are being planned for the Community Exchange once the Mercantile storefront is up and running, but a handful of them are things we might be able to do without the shop fully operational. Independent micro-programs, if you will. Why wait on what we can start now?

If you have any ideas for a project or small program that seems like it would be a good fit for the Worthwhile umbrella please reach out! We'd love to hear all about it and figure out if we can turn your brilliant ideas into a reality.

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 organization's nutrition services based out of Medford.

With a ton of help from an amazing team of volunteers, Tammy led a restructuring of the operations of the Pantry to provide a more dignified experience for food recipients by transitioning to a customer-choice shopping model, and changing the entry queue to operate on a lottery system in order to create a more harmonious waiting environment. She was also 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 available 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 believed would contribute something of real lasting value to Talent. Now Tammy is merging her volunteer management experience with the skill set she obtained from her 25 year career in Organizational Administration and Small Business Consulting to serve as Worthwhile Talent's first Executive Director and to create a new, old-fashioned way to connect and help people from the inside of a secondhand store.

The foundational principles that guided Founder Tammy Wilder as she planned for Worthwhile Talent and the Worthwhile Mercantile Community Exchange came directly from her experience managing the Talent Food Pantry and from research around poverty, charity, and social capital:

Everyone has something worthwhile to contribute to their community, even those who may not feel like they have anything of value to offer. Because they do! Everyone does!
People who receive charitable services want to be able to give back in some way and to not feel like they are a burden.
More financially secure people want to be able to contribute to the well-being of their community in more direct, meaningful and productive ways.
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 make a difference, and don't require writing a check.