For Kelly P. Hodges, service has never been simply a profession. It is something she learned early, carried through more than two decades of nonprofit leadership and now brings to her new role as Philanthropy Officer with the American Red Cross Texas Gulf Coast Region. “I think service has always been part of who I am. It began with my grandparents. We owned a family grocery store, Hodges Groceries. My grandparents always helped families in need, extended credit, and my grandmother always cooked and delivered meals to members of the community,” Hodges said. “I don’t know if I made a conscious decision one day to go into mission-driven work.”
That commitment has shaped a career spanning philanthropy, nonprofit leadership, communications, education, and public service. Hodges has held leadership and fundraising roles with organizations including the Houston Area Urban League, Coast Guard Foundation, National Newspaper Publishers Association and YMCA of Greater Houston, as well as the American Heart Association, Sisters Network® Inc. and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Throughout her career, she has built partnerships, cultivated donors, and helped organizations turn resources into community impact.
But beneath the accomplishments is a philosophy that is remarkably simple: see the person first. “People don’t always need you to solve everything,” Hodges said. “Sometimes they need someone to listen, to advocate, to connect them to the right resource, or just to show up. I try to see the person before I see the problem.” That perspective is part of what drew her to the Red Cross.
“The American Red Cross immediately resonated with me because its mission is so tangible,” she said. “When people are experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their lives, the Red Cross shows up.” In her new role, Hodges will help make that response possible by connecting donors and community partners with the Red Cross mission. It is work that brings together what she has spent much of her career doing; building relationships, raising resources and connecting people to purpose.
Hodges has seen philanthropy “help students remain in school, families move toward homeownership, people find employment, women facing breast cancer access resources and young people pursue opportunities”. Those experiences have taught her to look beyond fundraising totals to the lives represented by them. “We raise dollars, but the dollars are not the story,” she said. “People are the story.”
At the Red Cross, that belief takes on special meaning. The generosity of donors helps ensure the organization can prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. Behind a contribution may be a family recovering from a home fire or a community beginning again after disaster. For Hodges, building support begins with relationships. “Relationships come before the ask,” she said. “I want to understand what someone cares about, what motivates them, what they want to change in their community and where our missions intersect.”
Her belief in relationships extends beyond her professional life. A graduate of Grambling State University and Life Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated®, Hodges has remained active in civic and community service. Her sorority service, she says, has reinforced the power of people bringing their talents and resources together for a common purpose.
That same spirit of collective action is central to the American Red Cross, where donors, volunteers, employees and community partners work together to ensure help is available when people need it most.
As Hodges begins this new chapter, however, she wants to start by first listening. “I want to spend time listening to our team, volunteers, donors, and community partners,” she said. “I want to understand what is working, where the opportunities are and how I can add value.” From there, she hopes to strengthen existing relationships, introduce new supporters to the American Red Cross and help more people across the Texas Gulf Coast see themselves as part of its humanitarian mission.
“Ultimately, I want us to have the philanthropic resources necessary to say ‘yes’ when communities need us most,” Hodges said. For Hodges, success will not be measured only by dollars raised, but by the people whose resources make it possible to serve, and the relationships built along the way.
“I’ve always believed that leadership isn’t about how important you become,” she said. “It’s about what becomes possible for other people because you were there.” It is a belief that now finds a natural home at the American Red Cross where generosity becomes action, relationships strengthen communities and people remain at the heart of the mission.
Story By: Kofo Gbolasere
