Jennifer Lewis lives in Waynesboro with her husband, Ben, dog, Alex, and four cats.
She began working as a hospital liaison 11 years ago, volunteers for several local organizations, and has run for elected office three times.
“I help folks discharge from our state psychiatric hospitals,” Lewis said of her day job.
Sometimes patients are unable to return to where they lived before their hospitalization, and she helps them find housing and ensures follow-up care is scheduled. She also links them with community resources such as employment opportunities, peer support, or AA or NA meetings.
Lewis volunteers in various ways in the Valley community.
“I definitely got into volunteer work because I couldn’t financially support the organizations I wanted to support,” Lewis said. She believes it is important for everyone to do what they can in their local communities.
She fosters cats and kittens, which she posts frequently about on social media.
She delivers food from Augusta Health and Allegheny Mountain Institute (AMI) to senior members of the community who are unable to get out and shop.
“I think it’s just so great that our local hospital is pushing this local food movement,” Lewis said of the partnership between Augusta Health and AMI.
Every other Tuesday, Lewis delivers food to seniors who have transportation challenges. She said she is their only social interaction every other week, and, for her, visiting with them improved her mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“No matter what I’ve got on my plate that day,” Lewis said she takes time to visit with each senior.
Lewis also serves on the board of the Arc of Augusta, which she said needs more board members. About three or four years ago, she joined the board, which provides day services for adults with special needs in their homes.
“We’ve got to think about what it really means to support the families in Augusta County and Waynesboro,” Lewis said of funding the Arc, and other resources for local community members.
As a weekly volunteer for New Directions, Lewis is on call one night each week between midnight and 8 a.m. Sometimes she speaks with survivors or police or with the emergency room.
Sometimes she goes to Augusta Health at 2 a.m. to sit with a rape victim while a rape exam is conducted.
Other times, Lewis provides support on the phone or provides options for assistance.
“It’s extremely shocking how many folks are in need of their services,” Lewis said.
According to Lewis, through her volunteer work she has seen that local organizations need more volunteers, more paid employees and more funding to meet the community’s needs.
Lewis ran for Congress the first time in 2018 and ran for delegate in 2019. She lost both elections.
“The day of the election, when we lost, and a few days and week that followed I was thinking: ‘I’m never doing this again,’” Lewis said of her loss on November 8 to Ben Cline in her second congressional run.
Lewis said that in the days after Election Day she told herself she was just going to foster cats and grow flowers in her garden, and stay away from political office. But then she was reminded that so much is left to be done.
“How can I use this little bit of a platform I’ve built on issues?”
Although she loves running for political office, Lewis does not think she will run again.
“It’s such an undertaking.”
Lewis is one of four sisters who grew up on a dairy farm, which their parents still live on.
“Nothing in my life story says I should have run for Congress, let alone ever win,” Lewis said.
But diversity and different voices are needed to speak for Americans who cannot speak for themselves. A woman has never held office in the Sixth District of Virginia.
“I think that’s holding us back as a district, as a state and as a country.”
Despite three failed runs for office, Lewis encourages everyone to run for elected office, or think about how to serve in other ways by volunteering or donating. She said that anyone interested in running is welcome to reach out to her for advice and support.
“Running for office is definitely the best decision I made in my life. It gave me experiences I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t run for office.”
Lewis said that despite the sexism she encountered on the campaign trail, she does not regret running.
“The sexism was definitely the hardest part about running,” she said.
She may have lost again this year, but she was able to push her opponent Ben Cline to talk about issues he wouldn’t have otherwise.
And running for office made her more aware of some issues. She said she was always surprised to hear someone’s story and learn how resilient humans can be in the midst of challenges. She did what she could to provide support and make them know someone cares.
“I don’t know what the future holds, but running for office was the best decision of my life,” Lewis said.
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Rebecca Barnabi
