Sheila C. Johnson Game Changer Award Winner

Sharron Rouse: Founder, Kindness for Kidneys

Sharron founded Kindness for Kidneys International, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to educating, encouraging, and empowering kidney warriors and their families. With the community’s support, Kindness for Kidneys has gained national attention for their monthly support groups, kidney education program, and annual holiday drives. Sharron remembers being on dialysis during the holiday season, so Kindness for Kidneys serves over 500 kidney warriors and counting each year. Their annual Holiday Drive has been featured on local ABC and NBC news outlets.

Sharron has been a guest speaker for several national and international educational and business-related conferences. She currently serves on the NIH/NIDDK Safety and Monitoring Board for the System Interventions to Achieve Early and Equitable Transplants (STEPS) study, the Quality Insights ESRD Network 5 Patient Advisory Council, the Bayer FINE-ONE Standing Patient Council, and the Vertex Patient Advisory Board. As an ambassador for the American Association of Kidneys Patients (AAKP) and the American Kidney Fund, she has participated in many patient panel discussions, served as a guest speaker, exhibitor, and Co-Chair for the 2019 and 2020 AAKP National Patient Meetings, was a peer mentor for dialysis warriors at Emory University Hospital, and has represented the state of Maryland for Capitol Hill advocacy days in Washington, DC.

Kindness for Kidneys serves over 500 kidney warriors and counting each year. The annual Holiday Drive provides free meals, blankets, and other items needed while the patients are on dialysis. The drive also sponsors children that are on dialysis at Children’s Hospital. The children provide their holiday Wish List and Kidneys for Kidneys makes the dream come true.

Sharron’s hard work and devotion to serving the community have granted her numerous awards, including the Presidential Volunteer Service Award in 2020 and 2022, Who’s Who in American Education recognition, Honorable Mention for the Lyfebulb/CVS Kidney Care Innovation Challenge, the AAKP Support Group of the Year award, the Second Chance Show’s Prima Award, and most recently, she was selected as a finalist for the 2023 Social Health Community Cultivator award.

Previous Sheila Johnson Game Changer Award Recipients

Dr. Sonya Burton –

Dr. Sonya Burton was the winner of the 2023 Dr. Sheila C. Johnson Game Changer Award from the WNBA Washington Mystics. Dr. Bruton is a philanthropist and businesswoman who is the CEO & President of CCI Health Services. She successfully raised millions for all academic areas of campus by focusing on individual donors in the western part of the state during her 5-year tenure at The University of North Carolina. During a two year period, she was given the charge of raising private dollars to build the Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center on campus. She was assigned athletes and alumni living in Atlanta as prospects for the campaign, which was co-chaired by Deloris Jordan and Maya Angelou. Dr. Bruton not only helped raise the money needed to build the Center, but she also cultivated, educated, and empowered a generation of black philanthropists.

She combines her Clinical Psychology skills with a 30-year career as a nonprofit executive to help people transform from their present state to the next level, so at the beginning of this year she published a book, Finding Your Way in the Non-Profit Sector: Your Portable Mentor for Avoiding Pitfalls and Seizing Opportunities to extend her reach.

About the Dr. Sheila C. Johnson Game Changer Award