Our Story

In May 2018, we lost Maurice Lewis — a student, a friend, a young man full of promise — to an act of random gun violence in Millville, New Jersey.

We refused to let his story end there.

We founded Our Future First to turn grief into purpose. At the heart of our work is Reese's House, a community space named in Maurice's honor — a place where kids and families find support, where local organizations meet and build, and where our community gathers for everything from private celebrations to programs that change lives.

What Your Donation Does

Reese's House isn't just a building. It's where our community comes together for:

Programs for kids and families — a safe space where young people can be themselves, get help with school, explore college and career paths, and find unconditional support
The annual Holiday Toy Drive — making sure every child in our community has a brighter holiday season
The Back-to-School Shoe Drive — sending kids back to class with confidence, one pair at a time
The Jolly Holly Holiday Run & Walk — the oldest 5K in our county, run in partnership with Positive Vibes Community Group
A home for community organizations — meeting space, gathering space, event space, and so much more, open to the people who make Millville and Cumberland County strong

When you give to Our Future First, you're not donating to a budget line. You're keeping the lights on at a place that means something to real people — a place built in memory of a young man who never got to see what the community could become in his name.

Become a Monthly Sustainer: The Promise Keepers

One-time gifts open doors. Monthly gifts keep them open.

Buildings don't take months off. Every month, Reese's House has bills to pay — heat, lights, insurance, upkeep — so the doors stay open for whatever our community needs: birthday parties and memorials, meetings and workshops, toy drives and shoe drives, and a safe place for kids to just be kids.

That's the quiet, unglamorous truth about community spaces: the most important thing we do is simply keep showing up. And that takes steady support.

Here's what a monthly commitment makes possible:

$10/month — help us with utilities, keeping the lights and heat on at Reese's House
$25/month — monthly upkeep and maintenance, so the space is always ready when the community walks through the door
$50/month — insurance and operating costs, the foundation that keeps the doors open year-round
$100/month — long-term stability for Reese's House, so it's there for this generation of kids — and the next

Reese's House is already here. Help us keep it that way.

Every dollar you give does something simple and profound: it keeps a door open in our community — a door that leads to programs, workshops, gatherings, and hope. A door that stands for Maurice.

Give once, and you're part of today. Give monthly, and you're part of every single day after.

Help Build our Community in Reese's House!