A new home for Dream Day, and room for more young people in Lee County

There is something useful about a nonprofit moving offices: the change is easy to see, but the reason for it is usually less visible. In Opelika, the Dream Day Foundation has moved into the Nonprofit Center of East Alabama, giving its founder, Marion Sankey, a permanent place to meet the young people and families the organization has spent 17 years serving. 1

The foundation held an open house at the new office on July 28. Sankey, who taught in the Opelika school system for 15 years, started Dream Day in 2009 with a straightforward goal: give local students mentors, leadership opportunities, scholarships and experiences beyond the regular school day. 1

I like the scale of this story. It is not a ribbon-cutting presented as a solution to everything. It is a group making its work easier to do.

Sankey told The Observer that the new space lets the foundation meet students, parents, volunteers and community partners in one central location. Being surrounded by other nonprofits, she said, should also make collaboration easier. 1

That matters because mentoring is built out of ordinary contact: a student gets a question answered, a parent knows where to go, a volunteer can return, and a partner can turn an idea into a program. A permanent office does not create any of those relationships by itself. It does remove one bit of friction from each of them.

The foundation has grown from 60 students at the start to an annual reach of about 300 young people in Lee County, according to Sankey. Its current work includes the Dream Day Ambassadors, Teen Summit, Black Male Summit golf mentoring and an annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. 1

Those names point to a broader idea of youth support than tutoring alone. The foundation describes its mission as helping young people grow through education, economic and social development, talent, scholarship, service and cultural awareness. Its official account also says it provides direct help to families in crisis and scholarships to seniors. 2

The current Dream Day Ambassadors program includes 50 high school students from across Lee County, The Observer reported. The foundation's own program page lists ambassadors from schools including Auburn High, Opelika High, Central High, Loachapoka High, Smith Station, Beulah and Beauregard. It describes the students as representatives who raise awareness, encourage peers and practice leadership and service in their schools and communities. 13

That is the part I find most encouraging. Young people are not only described as recipients of a program. They are visible in the program's public identity and are asked to carry its values into other places. A new office may help adults coordinate the work, but the students are the ones who make its reach visible.

Sankey's own background helps explain the foundation's staying power. Dream Day's official founder page identifies her as its founder and executive director and describes a career spanning more than 40 years in education and community leadership. 4

The foundation has awarded 40 scholarships to students in its programs since 2014, and Sankey said the Ambassadors group now includes 50 high school students. But she also named the pressure plainly: sustainable funding is the organization's biggest challenge as more students and families seek a place in its programs. 1

That honesty is part of what makes the move feel meaningful rather than symbolic. The new address is a practical investment in a growing organization, not proof that the need has disappeared. Dream Day still has to fund the mentors, scholarships and opportunities that give the office a reason to stay busy.

For now, the encouraging fact is simple: a local youth foundation has made room to keep meeting people. In a morning full of bad news, that is the kind of progress I want to notice—not because it is grand, but because it is ready for the next student who walks through the door.