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“This fund is so personal for me. It’s a reflection of my way of life, a reflection of the people who raised me,” says Lisa Guillette.

Her father was the founding director of the Northern Rhode Island Collaborative, which grew into a great program for students with disabilities over its three-decades long existence—1987-2023. “It made me think about Foster Forward, and our board established the Foster Forward Endowment Fund in 2021 at the Rhode Island Foundation to promote its success in perpetuity.”

When the idea for the family fund came up, Lisa’s mother said she would like to match her funds. And she suggested that it be called the Guillette Family Legacy Fund.

“She noted how much she was influenced by her mother-in-law, my grandmother Rosella Farrell Guillette. Rosella and my grandfather, Louis, had nine children, including my father, and 42 grandchildren.” Of the nine children, two became doctors, two nurses, one social worker, one administrative assistant, an educational administrator, and one was a noted scientific researcher, author, and businesswoman. (One child did not survive into adulthood.)

Lisa’s dad was a great connector of people. “Every day he would reach out to people —what he called the importance of ‘touching people soul to soul.’ He just always saw people; it was in the DNA of our family.

“We need to find our way back to this ‘soul to soul’ connection within families and communities. It goes beyond foster care and adoption; it relates to the connections of all families. What do parents need to activate this kind of care for their own children, to help them thrive? What do we need to do to support families who are on the brink of having their children removed from them?

“My father used to say ‘there’s never a traffic jam on the extra mile.’ When I was honored with the Murray Prize for Foster Forward in 2024, which provided me with the money to start this fund, it felt like the right thing to do.”  

The entire Guillette family always inspired Lisa to do her best, to pay it forward, to look out for others—to go the extra mile. "They are humble but civic-minded people and they focused on family and community.  This is the sentiment that we want our Family Legacy Fund to convey.”