Local impact: Many shapes & sizes of community involvement
By Alice Crann Good / Photos by Kate Treick Photography
It’s not a prerequisite to serve on a board of directors, graduate from a leadership class, or be a nonprofit executive to get involved in your community.
Many simple, impactful ways exist for you to support your local community, agree three Pensacola women who have been around the local involvement block many times, in many ways.
Community involvement comes in numerous shapes and sizes for all ages, stress Whitney Fike, Jessi Truett and Theresa Cserep.
FOLLOW YOUR HEART
“We talk about the unsung heroes, the important people behind the scenes, all of the time,” said Fike, regional communications manager at International Paper/Pensacola and the 2024 Pensacola Area Commitment to Excellence (PACE) Emerging Leader of the Year Award recipient.
“Not everyone wants to be in the front row.”
And not everyone starts in the front row, Fike added.
“As a child, I was super involved with the Escambia County 4-H since I was 8 years old; my sister was four years older than me and got in first,” she said. “We showed animals. We did the whole livestock thing, chickens, pigs and smaller animals.
“But as you get older, 4-H has lots of opportunities for you,” Fike continued. “I ended up serving on the state 4-H board for all of my high school years, whether that was as reporter, historian or secretary.”
It was then that Fike met a woman with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Thanks to the seasoned professional, Fike and a “bunch of high schoolers” learned how to run the show, and a lot about public relations and communications.
Fike said she told the woman that she wanted to follow in her footsteps.
“For me, it all began to align,” she said. “Plus, my mother was very supportive and taking us to volunteer activities. It started that way, and the trajectory still exists.”
Today, when she isn’t at work or spending time with her husband, Adam, and their adorable schnoodle, Fike handles various roles: 2024-2025 University of West Florida Alumni Association president; Escambia County 4-H Foundation vice president; 2024-2025 Leadership Pensacola class project co-chair; and Manna Food Pantry board member.
Some other organizations she supports include Pensacola Little Theatre, Pensacola Young Professionals, IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, and Leadership Florida.
Recalling her early days assisting Fiesta Pensacola, Fike said, “I met so many people there. While volunteering, you don’t realize the network you are creating, the number of contacts you are making.
“When you get involved with your community, you grow personally and professionally,” Fike said. “You and your community intertwine.”
Fike said she simply follows her heart, choosing community involvement opportunities she feels “passionate about,” efforts that she can help improve and grow.
“Pensacola has many nonprofits to get involved with; there is plenty of room at the table,” Fike said. “Also, think about where you are in life, look at your time, look at where you are spending your resources. That can be your company’s resources or your own. And do not let your personal life suffer.”
She stressed the importance of balance.
“Don’t be peer pressured into getting involved,” she added. “Be able to say ‘no.’ Finish the commitments you have before taking on more.”
Laughing, Fike said, “But I am not very good at that! People ask me, ‘How do you have time for all of this?’ I have no idea!”
COACHING LESSONS
Growing up in Florence, Alabama, Jessi Truett started competitive swimming at age 6, and as she got into soccer, basketball and volleyball, she learned along the way how the world of athletes is tied to community service, a strong core principle she still upholds today.
“As a young athlete, serving my community was always a huge part of my life,” said Truett, director of research and development for the Andrews Research & Education Foundation.
“My coaches ensured that all athletes served as role models on the court and in the community. All of the sports teams practiced hard, but on weekends we did all types of community work — read to children, helped clean the schools and highways — with the coaches right beside us helping to support the community.
“That mentality truly shaped my future.”
Truett and her husband, Chet, moved to Pensacola in 2008 and became employed by the Escambia County School District.
“Chet still serves as a teacher at Escambia County School District and the Escambia County Virtual School,” Truett said. “He was awarded Teacher of the Year this year for his amazing leadership.”
The Truetts have five children; three were adopted years ago as teens and two are their biological children.
Throughout the years, the couple devotedly taught their children the importance of community involvement. Their three adopted children (now exceedingly accomplished adults in their 30s) were athletes, too, thanks to the Truetts’ teaching and coaching.
“Just as my coaches taught me at a young age, we taught them to be active members of the community,” Truett said. “I love that now our younger children, Ollie, 15, and Cy, 13, have our older children to look up to.”
As a busy working mother, being active in the community with her entire family allows the cycle of service to continue, Truett said.
“My daughter, Ollie, wrote an initiative this past school year that was awarded $500 for Feeding the Gulf Coast by Michelle Salzman,” Truett proudly shared. “My son, Cy, is always by my side, even in the rain this past year during food distributions with Feeding the Gulf Coast.”
And the children see up close and personal what their mother does.
In addition to her impressive professional experience, research publications and presentations, awards, skills and certifications, professional memberships, and an educational endeavor to teach the community about sickle cell disease, exists an extensive list of community involvement, representing more than 20 organizations/efforts.
But, even so, the spear-carrier of community service and Leadership Pensacola Class of 2023/ Eric Doekler Award recipient, is more impressed with her children.
“When I look at everything my children have accomplished and all of the people they are helping, it motivates me and my husband even more to continue to open doors for them to make a difference in our communities.
“The Truetts just make it a family thing!”
FOSTERING AN IDEA
As an only adopted child growing up in Pensacola, Theresa Cserep watched her mother, a nurse who became passionate about medical social work and hospice, and her father, a probation officer who assisted Special Olympics, the PTA and their church. As she grew up, she learned more and more about caring about others when her parents became foster parents.
“I saw the impact and joy of community service,” said Cserep, coordinator of the University of West Florida’s Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis and Overholtz Center for Leadership. “We had what we needed and wanted to help fill in the gaps. This was seamless and fully integrated into my life.”
Learning how to befriend people when values align, always looking for that “natural fit,” is what motivates her to keep getting involved, said Cserep, whose multi-page resume reveals a dynamic and results-oriented higher education professional with extensive experience in leadership and community involvement.
“It gives me a sense of purpose, a reason to continue to develop,” said Cserep, who received a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard Kennedy School.
“It’s such a win-win. I don’t think there is a right or wrong reason to get involved. We get involved at different stages of our life for different reasons. As a child, you learn a lot from the 4-H, Girl Scouts and various clubs.”
And, from childhood to adulthood, it’s always evolving, she said.
Look under Activities/Interests on Cserep’s resume, and you see a smidgen of what she means: Junior League of Pensacola, Greater Pensacola Chamber/Leadership Pensacola, Baptist Healthcare Foundation Women’s Board, Survivor Led Solutions Board, United Way Ambassador, OneBlood, Beta Gamma Sigma, Delta Sigma Pi, etc.
But don’t be intimidated by someone’s resume, Cserep advised.
“Look at what brings you joy, and ask yourself questions,” she said. “Are you a people person? Are you a behind-the-scenes person? Hone in on you and start out small. Look at your available time.”
Cserep, the mother of three daughters — a high school freshman, sophomore and senior — typically asks a question before signing up for more community service these days.
“My girls are so important to me that I ask, ‘Can my kids come?’”
And if her daughters don’t tag along, more than likely they are busy helping out their way — supporting Make A Difference Day at Catholic High School, CHS summer cheerleading camps for younger athletes, National Junior Honors Society Christmas toy drive, CHS Crusader Workshops for incoming freshman, Project Greenshores, Saint Paul Theater Program, the Thanksgiving canned food drive and more.
“It’s so ingrained in them to become active members of the community,” Cserep said. “As a parent, it’s wonderful to see them involved.”
