Johnson’s Jessica Cordero Recognized by the Houston Texans for Community Outreach
The Houston Texans recently named Jessica Cordero, a longtime employee at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and dedicated volunteer at Kids’ Meals (along with other charitable groups), the 2021 winner of the Campeón de la Comunidad Award. In honor of the award, Miller Lite and the Texans are making a $20,000 donation to Kids’ Meals Houston, a nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood hunger by delivering free healthy meals to preschool-aged children.
Cordero, who at Johnson manages the High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) program within the Office of STEM Engagement, was awarded in a ceremony on the field during the Texans home game on Sept. 23 with Texans President Greg Grissom and Mike Lowe, general manager at MillerCoors. The two organizations will support her selected nonprofit, Kids’ Meals, with the $20,000 grant and a community effort with Kids Meals on Oct. 12.
Cordero, who began as a volunteer driver with Kids’ Meals, became instrumental to the organization during the COVID-19 pandemic. With churches halting group volunteer efforts and schools shutting down, getting food to children at home became more important than ever.
Cordero masked up and showed up, spending every Saturday for a year with nearly 100 volunteers per month as Kids’ Meals fed more children during any other time during their 15-year history.
“As the number of children we were feeding skyrocketed due to the pandemic, volunteer numbers were decreasing,” said Cynthia Stielow, chief development director at Kids' Meals, Inc., “Businesses were no longer sending volunteer teams as they switched to working from home, and many individuals were choosing to stay home as well. Without the effort led by Jessica, we literally could not have produced the number of meals required each week to feed this many kids.”
In everything she does — even in her “day job” — there is an undisputed component of selfless giving that attaches to all her activities. Cordero has been at NASA for 30 years, where she not only seeks out students in underserved communities to share free STEM programs, but also co-chairs the Community Outreach section of the Hispanic Employee Rescource Group, working to share NASA with elementary students and beyond.
Images courtesy of the Houston Texans.
Now, learn a little more about Cordero — in her own words!
Q. Tell us what you do at Johnson’s Space Center.
A. I get to manage the HAS program, a free STEM program for Texas high school juniors. Students are making the tough decision during their junior year about what they want to pursue in college. Through HAS, students get to engage with NASA’s people and missions and learn about space exploration and discovery. We have excellent subject-matter experts who share their time and talent with our HAS students and, by the end of the summer, students know the STEM path they want to pursue in college. This summer, two 2020 HAS alumni were hired as interns and supported the Engineering Directorate; both students left a message thanking our NASA family. (Virtually meet Sarah Braun and Iker Aguirre.)
Q. You inspire youth constantly through your day job within the Office of STEM Engagement. Explain your path to Johnson and how education played a role in it. (It’s rumored that you came to Johnson as a high school student in the early ‘90s.)
A. I first heard of the opportunity to work at NASA as a junior at Milby High School, where I was in a Business Professional Program. A friend mentioned she was going to work at NASA, so I told her I wanted to as well. Unfortunately, she said I could not since I was not enrolled in the co-op program. Later that day, I spoke with her teacher, introduced myself, and she handed me the application for NASA on the spot. The rest is history!
My team and I are working hard to share HAS across the state so students can access all that HAS offers, like science elective credit and opportunities for scholarships and internships. As the Hispanic Employee Resource Group Community Outreach co-chair, I regularly loved visiting elementary schools across Houston to share NASA with the students and staff (pre-pandemic). So far, schools aren’t allowing visitors on campus, but there are ways to connect schools to resources, like sharing www.nasa.gov/stem so schools can access NASA’s education and at-home resources, and even taking teacher appreciation gifts to schools.
Special thanks to the International Space Station Program Office for the 2021 calendars and NASA stickers for Teacher Appreciation Week!
Q. You were recently honored with the Houston Texans’ 2021 Campeón de la Comunidad Award for your work in the community and impact to Houston through service and dedication to a local nonprofit. Tell us about some of your volunteerism and why fighting hunger, in particular, is a passion for you.
A. I’ve always helped others, but my heart for volunteering expanded when I went on my first international mission trip to Nicaragua in 2016. We built a water well for a community in extreme poverty. We also shared the gospel and did arts and crafts with the children and women of the community. When I returned, I regularly supported monthly service projects in Houston. In 2020, I was getting ready for my fifth international mission trip when the pandemic hit and the world went on lockdown. So, I decided to do missions work in my city since there were so many needs.
Many churches were shut down and backed down from serving, but my church, Hope City, never stopped serving, and we stepped up and supported service projects throughout the city. I was already attached to Kids’ Meals, Inc., an organization with the mission to end childhood hunger in Houston. I’d been a volunteer driver and delivered food to children in the 3rd and 5th Ward communities since 2018. These neighborhoods are some of the poorest communities in Houston. I also created and supported many service projects across the city — even a food distribution near JSC at St. Paul’s Catholic Church. I’ve supported homeless hygiene kit collections, Christmas cards for seniors in nursing homes, care packages for girls aging out of foster care, served food to the homeless, baked cookies for a men’s prison, hurricane relief efforts, delivered food to the medical staff during the height of the pandemic, home makeovers for single parents, back yard makeover in 3rd Ward, etc.
My favorite service project of them all is meeting a family through a service project. I fell in love with the children and have been mentoring and spending time with seven children for the past year, celebrating holidays and birthdays with them. These are just a few projects that are close to my heart.
I am blessed to have led teams of people at over 160+ service projects since the pandemic. Fighting hunger is important, because I received food as a 10-year-old child when my mother, a widow, lost her job right before Christmas. A family intentionally brought hope, love, and food to my home, which planted a seed in me. Food is a basic human need, so it just makes sense to help others access food. We can intentionally connect people to resources, like food, water, or STEM; the desire to help others access resources is the same.
Q. A little birdy told me to ask about the time you went to dig wells and the country experienced a takeover. What’s the long story short? 😊
A. In November 2017, I went on my second international mission trip to Honduras to build a water well and share the gospel. The day before departure, there was civil unrest and rioting across the country, and all flights out were canceled. We tried to make it to the airport the next day — when our van was held up at gunpoint. Men with masks, guns, and machetes entered our van, and they wanted to rob us. One of our team members told the men that we had just built a water well in their community, so they did not harm or rob us.
I signed up for my next mission trip in February 2018 and went to Nicaragua to build my third water well. I’m led by faith, not fear, so I did not let that incident keep me from following my heart to help others.
Q. Part of your recent award centers on you being a leader in the Latino community. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, tell me what your heritage means to you and how it has shaped you into who you are today.
A. My father, who was an immigrant from Saltillo, Mexico, passed away when I was 2 years old, so I’m not as traditional as some families — but the traditions that my mother instilled in me are to be kind, work hard, and love others. Loving others meant always sharing what you have, even if what you have is very little.
Q. The pandemic has certainly added uncertainty and bleakness to the world that didn’t feel as commonplace before. You, from what it seems, dove into service projects and volunteerism with your church. Explain how the pandemic has (or hasn’t) altered you.
A. The pandemic put our fast-paced lives in slow motion, and distractions fell silent. Church doors closed, and everyone was teleworking. The new, slower pace gave me more time to see the problems, hear the heartache, and listen to the whisper to answer the many calls to help.
We are all called to serve, love, give … and some of us are called to go! I love the city of Houston, so my heart is to help others. This November, I leave with a team of friends to Uganda to take love and hope to a country in need. Some think it’s too dangerous to go to Africa, but I’ve seen a quote that states, “When faith and courage meet, the world changes.” I choose to be a world-changer through my small acts of kindness, and hope that others take steps to do the same.
Now, on to the less serious:
Q. Cats or dogs?
A. Dogs … obviously!
Q. If you have a free afternoon, in a perfect world, how do you like to spend it?
A. Relaxing on the patio listening to the pool waterfall, or at the beach hearing the crashing waves.
Q. On your travel bucket list, what place/country would you most like to see?
A. I would love to go to Greece!
Q. What’s your ideal Halloween costume?
A. Poppy from Trolls. She brings so much joy!
A more "suitable" costume there never was.