While there are still missions to be accomplished and hurdles to leap in the greater Portsmouth area, there is massive progress being made all over by everyday people who are either providing a service, volunteering, serving in office, or donating to good causes. We frequently hear that we are in a renaissance, as new developments continue to pop up, new events are added to the calendar, and progress is made. But why? These things don’t manifest themselves.

In a weekly column, for one year, I plan on writing about a different member of the community who strives to make this renaissance go. I’ll be highlighting business owners, volunteers, faith-based leaders, professionals, and more.

I am column eight into this journey, after highlighting six individuals, one couple, and a set of volunteer dogs. This time, I’m painting a picture of a volunteer I personally adore and look up to in constant awe, someone who is compassionate and thoughtful and always ready to help anyone, especially those in underrepresented communities—I’m writing about Trillium Project’s Amanda Lewis.

I’ve watched Lewis as a friend for many years tackle plenty of topics—food insecurity, homelessness, youth development, art, poetry, and more. She breathes a love from the heart into every mission she tackles with respect for people, but a harsh determination where she doesn’t allow failure. She takes failures personally, because she believes that her work provides opportunities for people’s humanities to shine and be accepted.

Amanda is the marketing officer for WesBanco, as well as the chair of the organization’s Community Development Council for the southeast Ohio, Huntington, and Charleston markets, where she helps the organization serve the community’s financial needs and even volunteers for various causes through the bank. Her most well-known work, however, is in her volunteerism outside of work, especially through Trillium Project, which she founded.

Amanada explained that she has volunteered and voluntold a lot over the years and then blamed the innocent writer of this column for some of that bossy friendship-appointed voluntold work.

Aside from founder and CEO of Trillium Project, Amanda is the current board member for Scioto Literary, former trustee and vice president at the 14th Street Community Center, former trustee and co-founder of Watch Me Grow Ohio, former Red Cross Dancing with the Stars committee member, co-founder of AfterWORD Poetry, and former member of the Portsmouth Unity Project.

Amanda has been shaped and formed by early days in the creek, flipping over rocks to look for creatures to love near her grandma’s house to her university days when she would continue to love Appalachia and creeks through studies from Professor Lane Raiser who often painted them. She also had a special friend who got her involved in the community as she entered the work force.

“I’ve been in this area since I was a kid, growing up on a family farm across the river in Kentucky, out at a place called Schultz Creek,” Amanda recalled. “I graduated from Shawnee State University, and I’ve been volunteering in the Portsmouth community for the last nine years.”

Amanda has raised over $400,000 in recent years for causes she champions, which are dollars that directly impact the community we live in.

“My most notable feats would be co-founding Watch Me Grow Ohio and getting the Fellowship Garden constructed after years of us dreaming about it. Other smaller projects and programs include co-facilitating AfterWORD Poetry with Joseph Pratt, and the initiatives I’ve organized under Trillium Project, such as Appalachian Visual Poetry and now Second Glance. I will say the thing I’m the proudest of is having the opportunity to introduce folks to one another; seeing the relationships and partnerships that develop afterwards is incredible and it brings me a lot of joy.”

As mentioned earlier in this column, Amanda has a wide variety of experiences in assisting a wider gamut of causes. She is the type of person with a heart for good and feels the need to act when there is an opportunity to do something impactful. This has led her to discover many favorite projects.

“Everything I do for the community is my favorite thing. I don’t value one project or accomplishment over any of the others because they’re all connected in some way for the greater good. The best part about what I do is seeing the impact it has on the community. Being able to carve a path forward for those who are limited by social and economic factors and disparities is why we do this line of work. Witnessing the growth that occurs when people are given the respect and resources they need to thrive is indescribable. Seeing how that growth manifests in ways that support others- shew! Its powerful stuff.”

Another majorly important factor in Amanda’s work is receiving community input. While Trillium is led by local artists who create murals, exhibitions, and other outlets, she always includes the community through forums to ensure her work is something the community wants.

“At the end of the day, everything we’re doing is for the community,” Lewis explained. “All of our projects, programs, events, it’s all for the benefit of the greater community. When we start kicking around project ideas, the first question we ask ourselves is ‘Does this benefit the community?’ and, if it doesn’t, we scrap it and start over. For instance, Second Glance might come across as a small-scale beautification effort, but it’s much, much bigger than that. We spent years listening to folks in the community tell us what they wanted. Beautification is just a starting point. With these projects, we’re actively working to supplement lost industry by developing a new creative workforce – one that drives economic sustainability in neglected areas of Appalachia by encouraging innovation, opportunity, and creative entrepreneurship. The goal isn’t to just paint some murals – that’s only one of our strategies. The goal is an empowered and prosperous Appalachia, where small towns like Portsmouth work collectively to take care of their own.”

Another reason Amanda does everything she does, and a reason she got her start, was because of her late best friend, Leanne Kinker-Johnson. The two met when Kinker-Johnson hired her as a teller for Portsmouth WesBanco.

She dragged me all over town, volunteering for different events and activities to support the community. She asked me to sit with her in one board meeting at the 14th Street Community Center in early 2018 and I did, and it was over for me. We both joined the Center’s board and that’s where I fell in love with nonprofit work. You’re surrounded by all these people giving what they have to better the community, and it’s challenging but when you get even a small victory, its magnified by the way it impacts others and it’s beautiful. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if it wasn’t for her.”

Amanda doesn’t have a core memory that stands as her favorite moment in her work, but she says she has a favorite line of work.

“I don’t know that I have a specific memory that’s impacted me the most, but the work I’m doing now with Trillium Project feels more in line with the idea of human purpose than anything I’ve ever done previously. We’re dreamers, right, and we’re always asking ourselves if we’re doing what we’re meant to do, and this work, this collective reimagining feels more right to me than anything else I’ve done. For the first time in my life, I’m not questioning why I exist or what I’m supposed to be doing. I’m right where I’m supposed to be. I’m in line with God’s plan for me and I’m happy here, doing what I love with the people I love, for a community I adore. If that isn’t purpose, I don’t know what is.”

To date, Amanda has funded dozens of murals, created many opportunities for expression for a diverse collection of artists she hopes to keep equitable, and has raised even more funding for work to take place later.

Amanda, as always, gives much of the Trillium success credit to her team and community. She says it takes a large group of active, invested people to accomplish big dreams and advocates for more people to get involved in causes they care about.

“It’s the most important part. You can’t create sustainability on your own. You have to get everyone working together for anything meaningful and lasting to occur. We’ve talked about this for years, right? Everyone has an opinion about what should be done but who’s out here working to make it happen? You have to talk to people and find out what they really want. Don’t assume that your idea is the answer for everyone’s problem. Instead invite people in so they can speak for themselves, then get out there and work for it. Ask people for help, get them excited about being part of something big and fun. That’s how dreams come to light. That’s how magic happens.”

One of the artists who has gained experience thanks to Amanda, and one who will grow to do big things on her own in the future is Riley Galloway.

“Amanda is a great community leader because, like many underestimated areas, she knows with determination and hard work, a major difference can be made in her home and surrounding areas take notice,” student and artist Galloway said. “Amanda never takes a break. She sees opportunity in her community and works relentlessly to get things done whether it’s a grant to be written, project to be proposed, or an artist to be paid. She deeply cares about her community and the artists in it. Because of her, I was able to make my first mural at 18 years old, when I didn’t even know that was possible for me in Portsmouth.”

Dear friend and Trillium member Edwin Martell also had great things to say.

“She leads with empathy, vision and unwavering strength,” Martell said. “To her, community is not just a word, but a powerful movement.”