Finding Hope Between Dialysis and Doing Good: The Manors Foundation

On his 42nd birthday, Donivon Duffy’s life changed overnight — literally.

Donivon Duffy at the LF Kidney Ball, hosted by The Manors Foundation.

“I woke up the morning of a wedding and had doubled in size,” he recalled of a trip to New Orleans to celebrate a friend’s big day in 2023. Fluid had built up in his body and lungs. “I could not lie down. The only thing I could do was sit up. And because the blood pressure was so high and there was so much fluid on my lungs, I couldn’t do anything but sit down. It felt like something was crushing my lungs, cutting it all off.”

What followed was a whirlwind: lab work, alarming charts and a flurry of messages from a close friend who happened to be a vascular surgeon. “By the time I got out of the shower, I had dozens of calls and texts from him all saying the same thing, ‘Hey, get to Baptist now. ER is awaiting you. Do not stop anywhere.’”

That crisis led to a new reality: dialysis four days a week and, unexpectedly, to a new purpose.

For Duffy, the story of the Manors Foundation begins with realizing that even small acts of help can change someone’s day, and sometimes their life.

He traces it back to a moment in a clinic waiting room, when he overheard a young woman struggling to afford her balance. “I was just being a good Samaritan,” he said. After a humorous misunderstanding, Donivon quietly stepped in. “I covered the cost. It was only a difference of 37 bucks.”

Seeing the happiness that $37 brought stayed with him. “That felt good, because I saw the joy it brought them. And I was like, “Wow, 37 bucks can bring somebody joy. Then let’s just keep doing that.’ Here we are.”

Seeing the Gap: Getting to Treatment

As Duffy adjusted to his own dialysis schedule, he began to see the critical barriers many kidney patients faced and knew something could be done.

Through conversations with the Mississippi Kidney Foundation and social workers at dialysis clinics, a clear need not being covered emerged: reliable, safe and affordable rides to treatment.

A social worker at a clinic told Duffy about “a young lady who was having trouble getting from Utica to the facility in Clinton, and she would take Uber Health,” he said. While services like Uber Health can offer discounted rides for health care, they’re not always dependable, especially for rural areas. “It’s just at your own peril, so it can be canceled at any point. Sometimes it may not show up.”

“I do dialysis four days a week, I know just how important that is,” he said. “Missing treatment isn’t an option.” His response? Build a community of goodwill drivers dedicated to getting patients where they need to be.

“If I can just develop a community of drivers, instead of just these drivers that are trying to pay bills, we can give them ‘good deed pay.'”

As the Manors Foundation’s first initiative, he envisions recruiting drivers who already have strong ties and trust in the community, from highway and sheriff’s associations to first responders, medical professionals and retirees. “They already have established community trust by simply having the badge and the uniform,” he said. That trust, he believes, helps address the concerns that can come with other transportation models.

Connecting with the Community Foundation for Mississippi

With a clear mission and a defined gap to fill, Duffy says partnering with CFM to create the Manors Foundation Fund and Manors Foundation Endowment Fund gives donors and partners confidence that their support would be handled responsibly and for the long term.

“Everybody can go out there and say they have a nonprofit. But I think with the legacy that Community Foundation has, not only in the community but throughout the state of Mississippi, is something that you just can’t put a price tag, so to speak. There is legitimacy.”

That structure and reputation now give Duffy a powerful message when he talks with potential sponsors and grantmakers.

“It feels good now when I’m writing letters, because when I’m applying for another grant, and it feels good to be able to tell them, ‘Hey, your money will be managed via the Community Foundation.'”

With an ambitious ultimate fundraising goal of $1 million and a more immediate goal of raising $100,000 this year, plus recruiting 50 to 100 drivers, the foundation is building towards its next phase.

For Duffy, the Manors Foundation is about much more than rides or fundraising targets. “The Manors Foundation really is the story. While it is about giving, abating and helping people, the message we want to give out is hope and motivation,” he said. “If I can do it, anybody can do it.”

In just two years, he has turned personal crisis into community-centered action. Now, with funds at the Community Foundation for Mississippi providing a trusted home for charitable support, Donivon is poised to help kidney patients across our region not just get to treatment, but find hope along the way.