There is no telling what a huge impact a grandmother’s teaching moment may have on a young child’s life – and such is the case with this week’s “Woman Who Makes a Difference.”

A long time ago, a young girl named Nicki was sitting with her best friend in a small country church, when they noticed another child who was a little “different”. Overhearing comments between the two, Nicki’s grandmother told them: “You have to remember, girls, that everybody has feelings…everybody wants to be treated the same…”

That thought has reverberated in Nicki Wilson’s life for many years.  It’s the “glue” that keeps her together, the “why” that keeps her going, and the impetus behind continually looking for ways she can help others be “treated the same.”

For the past 12 years, Nicki Wilson has been with Easter Seals of Southern Georgia, the oldest local affiliate in the State, and currently serves as the Director of Family Support Services. These days, most of her time is taken up with overseeing and reviewing budget issues, managing full- and part-time staff, and ensuring that policy issues are addressed in a way that provides the greatest positive impact on the families involved. But it wasn’t always that way…

After deciding that physical therapy wasn’t for her, she changed her major and took a break, working at the Albany Area Community Service Board.  (She later completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Leadership at LaGrange College, and is currently working on her Master’s in Public Administration at Troy University.) Eventually moving to Easter Seals, she started out as a Family Support Coordinator; Nicki fondly recalls the one-on-one time she had with developmentally disabled children and their families, and counts these as special memories that continue to remind her of the importance of her work.  The opportunities she has to get out and about in the community today are usually related to fund-raising events, and she cherishes being there with her 2 children, Laura Grace and Parker.  A highlight of her career was the major role she had in forming Champions for Children, a statewide collaborative program modeled after the Easter Seals’ family- support framework.

Nicki has dreams of what she would like to see in a perfect world…of what the future holds.  She will continue to work on getting the word out about disabilities (citing the statistic that about 1 in 5 Americans have one of some type), and would love for people to learn more about the continuum of care involved in supporting the families of the disabled.  Although the issues she works with daily are neither red nor blue politically, there is still a way to go until people of all political leanings fully understand the value and importance of early intervention. Daily she moves ahead to help create a time when all people can live, learn, work and play in our community, and in all ways be “treated the same.”

Just as her grandma taught…