Influential Women: Donna Tashik, Giving Homeless Families the Time, Space, and Accountability to Build a Fresh Start

FL, UNITED STATES, November 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Executive Director of Fresh Start for Children and Families, Donna Tashik Leads a Faith-Driven Housing and Education Program That Helps Homeless Mothers and Their Children Move From Crisis to Self-Sufficiency

Donna Tashik is the Executive Director of Fresh Start for Children and Families, a nonprofit organization in Fort Walton Beach that serves homeless families with children through an educational housing program. She has dedicated almost seven years to the agency, which provides housing and education programs with the goal of bringing families to self-sufficiency. Its mission is to provide love and compassion through a vocational, educational, and economic housing program that enables homeless families to achieve self-sufficiency. Twenty families take part in the program, which lasts up to three years. Over that time, mothers can step out of the trauma caused by homelessness, feel safe again, and improve their circumstances until they earn enough to support their families and pay for a home. Donna emphasizes that the organization’s focus is on helping participants move out of chaos and become contributors to society.

Donna brings more than 17 years of nonprofit leadership serving vulnerable populations to her role, having worked in nonprofit fundraising and leadership since 2008. She studied at the University of Southern Mississippi. During her time with The Arc, she helped develop multiple group homes and an education center. That work built her a strong reputation within the nonprofit community, and it was that reputation that led Fresh Start to recruit her. Alongside her role at Fresh Start, she serves as President of the Emerald Coast Foundation, which raises money for children’s nonprofits. She served on the Greater Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors from 2018 to 2021 and on the Emerald Coast Music Alliance Board of Directors from 2022 to 2025. She is also a member of Impact 100 Emerald Coast, 100 Women Who Care, and the Fort Walton Beach Mardi Gras Club.

Donna gives all credit for her success to God, who she says leads her steps and decisions and gave her a passion for helping others. Each of her days begins with a prayer asking to be led toward the decisions for her clients that God would have for them. She looks for practical, no-nonsense solutions to problems and makes a point of being active and well known in her community, so she knows exactly where to turn for the help her families need. In nonprofit work, she has found that connections are everything, and they must be cultivated and maintained with integrity. She was also raised to understand that no one is better than anyone else. To Donna, the women Fresh Start serves are simply mothers who have lost their way, most often through no fault of their own.

Some mothers who come to Fresh Start face generational problems and never had the chance to learn a different path. Others have left an abuser but cannot afford today’s rents. Some had children young and never had the opportunity to pursue an education, while others fought their way out of drug use and are starting over. Donna is moved each time she thinks about how hard it must be for a mother to look around her car and see her children sleeping there, or to pick up the phone and admit that her family is homeless. That image fuels her determination to help families out of trauma, help them feel safe, and help them move forward. She describes fear and trauma as forces that freeze people, and she sees Fresh Start’s role as unfreezing that trauma and giving each family a village.

Donna is confident that the program works and can genuinely put people back on their feet, because it pairs benevolence with accountability. Fresh Start gives generously, but participants must work for what they receive. She and her staff work as hard as their clients do, yet it is up to each mother to take advantage of what is offered by following the rules, attending classes, seeing counselors, and doing the hard work. The program rests on three commitments: time, space, and accountability. Families who are progressing receive up to three years. In the first year, a transitional housing program, each family is provided a two- or three-bedroom apartment. The rules are strict: no visitors in the apartments, weekly inspections, a drug- and alcohol-free commitment, Life Skills classes every Wednesday evening, weekly meetings with a coach, and a contribution of 30 percent of whatever the participant earns, with 20 percent going to fees and 10 percent to savings. In return, Fresh Start provides individual and group counseling, a food pantry, and a road map for moving forward in life.

Years two and three take place in the Step-Up program, where families live in an apartment with set, affordable rent. Participants continue contributing 10 percent of their earnings to savings, keep attending classes, and become eligible for the organization’s scholarship program. Those two years focus on building income and careers so that families are ready to afford life on their own, with a savings safety net and the funds for a deposit and rent. Donna and her team encourage, advise, teach, mother, and lead their families toward a better way. For her, every graduate and every former resident who returns to visit and is doing well represents the greatest reward of all, a feeling she compares to a million-dollar paycheck. She has also come to see that there is a point where money stops being the driving force, and a person is fueled instead by purpose and by God-given talents. Discovering those talents and where they can best be used, in her view, is what leads to real success.

The best career advice Donna has received is simple: love what you do. For young women considering nonprofit work, she offers an honest picture. The work is deeply rewarding but emotionally taxing, so she encourages them to find their passion and pursue it. She cautions against entering the field if money is the primary motivation, because the greatest rewards come from improving and changing lives and putting in the hard work, not from financial compensation. Donna also brings a lighthearted spirit to her leadership, advising others to leave preconceived notions at home and not take themselves too seriously, since everyone is human and even a CEO enjoys a little fun.

Rachel Hutchings, a local realtor, founded a nonprofit called Luxury Life Network to help other nonprofits promote their missions and raise funds, and she dedicated the second quarter of 2026 to Fresh Start. Rachel explained the name to Donna by telling her that, whether she realized it or not, she was already living the luxury life by doing the hard work of serving as the hands and feet of Christ. She agrees that her work is a luxury indeed, because she and her team have a front-row seat to the good in people, meet some of the most generous hearts imaginable, and help raise people up to where they were meant to be.

Donna is clear about the challenges facing her field. Rising housing costs, inflation, and the broader economy make it difficult for families to earn enough income to afford housing after they leave the program. She points out that many mothers work hard yet still cannot earn enough to keep pace with today’s housing costs. No two of her days are alike. She may attend meetings with county officials, then return to the office to unload the food rescue truck into the pantry. On any given day, she and her team care for children, move furniture, give speeches, hire staff, raise funds, write grants, and build community partnerships. She might even spend a few minutes playing race cars on her desk with a three-year-old. She jokes that she can spend one hour in a meeting wearing high heels and the next unloading a truck, still in those same heels.

Unlike many shelters, Fresh Start does not receive government funding because it maintains strict rules for entry. The organization performs background checks and upholds stricter admission standards to protect the children living on campus. Instead, it relies on grants, churches, community support, and its thrift store, Repeat Street, which generates about 60 percent of its income and also furnishes and outfits the program’s apartments.

The values that guide Donna are integrity, honesty, compassion, a positive attitude, and a passion for life. She accepted her Influential Women recognition primarily to promote Fresh Start, bring awareness to its mission, and encourage others to replicate the organization’s model in their own communities. She is quick to emphasize that the recognition is not about her personally but about helping the organization and the women it serves. Away from the office, Donna and her husband, John, share four children and eight grandchildren. Together they enjoy a busy, outdoorsy life in the Florida Panhandle, filled with boating, fishing, trying new restaurants, and spending time with their grandchildren.

Through faith, practical leadership, and a deep belief in the dignity of every mother she serves, Donna has helped turn Fresh Start into a proven path from homelessness to independence. Her work gives families the time, space, and structure they need to heal and rebuild. By offering mothers and children a village and a genuine second chance, Donna Tashik continues to show how compassion paired with accountability can change lives for generations.

Learn More about Donna Tashik:

Through her Influential Women profile: https://influentialwomen.com/connect/donna-tashik or through Facebook, https://facebook.com/donna.a.tashik/

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