Emma Drybread has been chasing purpose through many experiences over the past couple of years.
This ambition all started several years ago on a family trip to Baja California, Mexico. “We would go out in the streets and see where people didn’t have much, and we’d give them toys,” she said. Drybread and her family carried out numerous service projects for the community in Baja each year.
Ever since those trips, Drybread has felt a constant pull towards Mexico. She graduated from high school early and taught English to a community in Mexico. One year later, she served a mission only four hours away from that location.
“Through my time in school and dealing with that anxiety, I just kept on coming back to Baja, because that was the one place where I felt some peace, some purpose,” she said. Drybread was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder (PANDAS) when she was six years old, leading to severe anxiety and OCD. When she was able to experience the miracle of overcoming a lot of her challenges, she realized the impact miracles could have in other’s lives.
“I believe that miracles can happen and that we’re a part of those miracles happening in other people's lives,” she said. Miracles could be created through public health, which pulled Drybread into the department.
People have doubted Drybread’s ability to create change, but this has never stopped her. “When people tell me it’s not my place to do anything, I typically respond saying ‘Well, if I don’t do anything, then who will?’”, she said.
Drybread worked with a learning program at South Franklin Community Center, through United Way of Utah County, to evaluate its impact on reading scores of children from Title I schools. After analyzing the program's efforts, Drybread and her team gave feedback on what the program could work on to improve.
“Students who are coming from Title I schools are low income and they're disadvantaged in many ways. It's so easy to fall through the cracks if you haven't learned how to read,” she said. Through this opportunity, Drybread was able to chase meaning and create real impacts in low-income communities.
Now, Drybread knows where she needs to go in life. By chasing that purpose, Drybread hopes to create lasting impacts in the communities she’s regularly visited over the past 12 years.
“I want to live my life in a way that I find meaning every day,” she said. While most people after graduating from their masters programs are chasing the money, Drybread is chasing a purpose. She says that it’s not about making a living, but about making a life.
Since graduating from the MPH program at BYU, Drybread has been working full-time at United Way of Utah County for a program called Help Me Grow Utah. This program supports families by connecting them with child development resources online and in the community, including sending out developmental screening questionnaires and faxing results to providers.
Through it all, she is still chasing purpose. “Sometimes I’ll get a message thanking me for my service, and this helps me remember why I took this job and why I decided to stay at United Way a little longer,” Drybread said.
Drybread hopes to return to Mexico in the future to continue spreading her service and purpose to others. At her current position, one of her goals is to get more Spanish-speaking families enrolled in the program so that they can also benefit from the nonprofit's resources.
To learn more about her passion for purpose, listen here: Finding Purpose in Public Health with Emma Drybread
