Single mother listens to heart, helps children of slain parents

Hollie Taylor just laughs at the question, which tells me she hasn't lost her sense of humor.

Did she imagine what she was getting herself into when she stepped forward more than seven years ago to help four children left motherless by violence?

"What I knew then was that I saw children who needed help," Taylor says. "And I saw four children who the community was eager to give to."

Thanks to Taylor, who organized a charity golf tournament, the community helped improve the lives of Jessica Korschinowski's four children. A 26-year-old single mother, Korschinowski died May 18, 2003, after being struck by a stray bullet as she tried to shield her children inside her apartment. The shot was fired during an altercation outside.

Taylor was a stranger to the slain woman. But as a single mother herself, she wondered who would assist that broken family. She found the answer in her mirror.

Seven years later, Taylor's energy and tenacity have resulted in Jessica's Children Foundation, a volunteer nonprofit dedicated to aiding children of slain parents. Unfortunately, there is a need in this violent valley.

"I never did dream it would be like this," Taylor says. "When we started I was just like, 'Oh well, we'll do something for these kids.' And here we are.

"With the help of the community, it has grown to where we are able to help other children. When I see victims on TV in the same category as these kids, it makes me think, 'Hey, I want to help them, too.' "

This isn't Taylor's day job. She's a Realtor. She makes no money for remaining loyal to Jessica's children. In fact, she estimates she spends hundreds of hours a year to make sure the charity golf tournament goes off without a divot.

"I devote more time to this than to my regular job," she says. "God takes care of my bills. I don't want anything more than to serve. That's what I feel that I'm supposed to do. Serve."

That kind of devotion has come in handy as the economy spirals downward and unemployment rises. If Taylor's frustrated, it doesn't show.

She's proud to report she's already received eight responses to letters she sent a week ago to local casinos seeking in-kind prize donations for her foundation's Aug. 21 golf tournament at Angel Park. The fact that she mailed 153 letters doesn't dampen her enthusiasm. (You can register for the tournament online at www.jessicaschildren.org.)

"It comes in the smallest donations of a person's time as well as larger donations from corporations who still budget for charity events," she says. "It's up to us to go out and ask.

"There's still a giving community and selfless people out there. We all need help getting our bills paid right now. Do unto others, and it will be given back to you. It's a testament. It really is."

In case you were wondering, it doesn't bother her to know some of the children who eventually will be helped by her foundation will have lost parents who put themselves in harm's way through dangerous life choices.

"We can't judge anyone because you never know what led them to be where they are," she says.

Experience has taught her that no child asks to be left without parents.

Jessica's Children Foundation only recently won its official tax-exempt status, but Taylor has already been contacted by a potential client.

"The next test has been given," she says. "We'll rise to the occasion. For anyone who needs help, please contact us because this is what it's set up for: to help children who have been robbed of their parents."

Hollie Taylor listened to her heart, and found the calling of a lifetime.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.