Jackie Severidt just may be Team Rubicon’s most consistent force multiplier. The independent marketing consultant, book illustrator, and mother of two has been a donor to Team Rubicon every month since before Team Rubicon even existed. Well, except for that one time when her credit card and all her identification went overboard as she was trying to board a boat, and she had to shut everything down. If it wasn’t for one evening in Key West, the longtime Team Rubicon donor would have been giving continuously for more than 175 straight months now. Still, what’s a couple of months’ blip for one lifetime donor?
Severidt’s origin story with Team Rubicon begins in junior high, when she met Jake Wood for the first time. The two quickly became friends for life. Later, when Wood joined the U.S. Marine Corps right after 9-11 and deployed to places like Afghanistan and Iraq, Severidt sent him letters and care packages of things she thought might bring comfort—photographs; a sock monkey; once even a harmonica. That’s the kind of connection and friendship you get when you grow up together.
“I remember phone calls from Afghanistan that were heart wrenching,” says Severidt, “but the experiences prepared him so well for what he saw in Haiti and beyond.”
It was Haiti that caused Severidt became donor number-just-about-1. It was 2010, and Wood had decided to pull together a small crew of other veterans to go to Haiti to deliver aid in the wake of the earthquake. As he readied to deploy, he put out a call for donations that would help the group buy humanitarian supplies.
“I don’t know if it was a Facebook post, or a text, or both, but when I got the message that he was looking for donations to assist with the earthquake, it was so simple,” says Severidt. “I trust him as much as I trust anyone. So I just said, here’s $500. Do what you can.”
At that moment, Severidt, like Wood, was sitting there watching the news, wondering what she could do, and feeling helpless. “You know we’re hearing that nobody can get in, and we’re not sure if our relief is going to get there. There are so, so many layers to it. So it was just wonderful as a bystander to feel like I could do something through him.”
Wood’s trip to Haiti became the origin of Team Rubicon—and the origin of Severidt’s legacy with the nonprofit. She’s given religiously as a monthly donor ever since.
Even after Jake handed off the CEO reins in 2021, Severidt continued to give. To her, it was clear that the Team Rubicon mission wasn’t about her most trusted friend; the mission was the organization. It’s a mission she believes in.
“It goes beyond religion, it goes beyond politics, it goes straight to the source of people who need help. And there’s so much clarity in that. The mission is simple and worthwhile,” says the longtime Team Rubicon donor. “I feel like there’s no better way to spend my money.”
Then, there’s the veteran angle to Team Rubicon that Severidt loves.
“Another reason I am a loyal donor is because the model of having veterans lead makes so much sense, from a skill level all the way to helping with PTSD,” says Severidt. “The best ideas are simple and clear, and the mission of TR is both.”
Today, when Severidt sees a disaster at the local or national level, she feels glad she’s still a donor to Team Rubicon, because she knows her money will get to the source of the need quickly—and stay.
“From my perspective at least, I feel like they’re sticking with it,” says Jake’s oldest friend. “You know, cutting down trees, getting people back in their houses, or just the very simplest of things. When it becomes not glamorous anymore to be there, Team Rubicon is still helping build the community back up in the simplest of ways.”
Backed, it seems, by lifelong friends like Severidt.
