Throughout this year, the Wayne County Foundation is highlighting several of our donors through blog posts. Their stories demonstrate how philanthropy creates a positive impact in the community. For our fourth donor story, we talked with Roxie Deer who established the Deer Family Fund.
Lifelong Resident and Advocate
Roxie Deer is a lifelong resident of Wayne County. She graduated from Richmond High School and left the community for college. However, Deer eventually made her way back to the area and decided to make it her home.
For Roxie, the community convinced her to stay. As a young woman raised by her mother with support from her grandparents, she always had the help of neighbors and family friends when a hand was needed.
“I never felt like my family struggled because the community really embraced me. I thought every neighbor was a family member. Everyone was an aunt, uncle, or grandparent. That upbringing really shaped who I am and the passion I have for this community.”
Roxie lives that passion through her work as Executive Director at Richmond Neighborhood Restoration. The organization restores old houses throughout Richmond to make them livable for new residents.
“I spend 99.9% of my time thinking about old homes, old neighborhoods, developing them, cleaning them up, and making them livable so that our community can continue to have people moving in.”
Deer Family Fund
In 2017, Roxie’s mother, Jan, passed away from breast cancer. To celebrate Jan’s legacy, Roxie established the Deer Family Fund in 2022 to support breast cancer awareness and prevention initiatives in the community. It is something she has been particularly passionate about.
“If we can use those dollars to prevent cancer or help people going through cancer or be intentional with how we give support, I find that really exciting.”
Funding from the Deer Family Fund has helped support several local organizations with programming. Some examples include:
- Teaching younger generations about early detection and prevention.
- Providing cooling caps to breast cancer patients.
- Assisting local nurses treating breast cancer.
Deer wants her fund to help keep breast cancer at the forefront of people’s minds and keep those conversations about prevention active.
“It’s so awkward to talk about it. People don’t like to talk about it, but we have to. It happens.”
Roxie has also been empowered by younger generations becoming part of this conversation. Through the fund, young people have learned about breast cancer prevention and early detection.
“The fact that I can see the generational conversation happening. I can see young girls realizing this matters, and they need to take it seriously. That work makes me excited and proud.”
Fight Like Jan Golf Outing
In 2018, Roxie started the Fight Like Jan, a women-only golf tournament, to raise money for the Deer Family Fund and awareness of breast cancer prevention. It originally started out as a charity auction but has since morphed into a large component of Deer’s work.
Over the years, it has garnered considerable attention from the community. The 2024 outing raised over $12,000 and was attended by 100 participants and volunteers.
One of her goals is to keep the event casual and fun. People are encouraged to wear pink or other fun outfits. There are also games and other activities offered at each hole, so there is a little something for everyone.
“We try to make it low-stress. If you’re not a golfer, you’ll fit right in.”
Philanthropic Advice
Locally based philanthropy can create limitless impacts on the community. Donors have several options for their charitable giving and can tailor it to their needs. Roxie encourages budding philanthropists to prioritize what causes matter to them.
“If you are really interested and want to get involved, identify your priorities and interests.”
Roxie also advises donors to be intentional with their giving. One strategy she does is creating a list at the end of each year of what causes she cares about.
“Philanthropy doesn’t mean just giving money. It’s giving time, it’s giving talent.”
Deer also encourages people to become involved with the Foundation because of the opportunities for philanthropy and creating change. Additionally, she wants young people to know they should not be intimidated by charitable giving.
She enjoys giving through the Foundation because of community impacts. Roxie views the Foundation as the hub of all things nonprofit and the first place people look to when there is a problem.
“Who steps up in that moment of need? It’s the Foundation.”