Serving Communities With Heart Every Day
Hope Begins With Caring Neighbors
Founded to uplift individuals and families facing difficult circumstances, Better Days Are Coming Inc. works throughout its community by offering essential assistance, supportive programs, health initiatives, and meaningful connections to local resources. Every effort reflects a belief that brighter days are possible. Visit our About page to learn more about our story and mission.
Supporting Stronger Communities Through Compassion
Small Acts Create Lasting Change
Community support creates stronger neighborhoods where individuals, families, and seniors can access encouragement, essential resources, and opportunities to move forward. Every meal served, connection made, and helping hand offered can change a life. Explore our community programs to see how we work together to make a meaningful difference.
Committed To Serving Every Neighbor
Dedicated to Lasting Community Impact
Better Days Are Coming Inc. remains committed to serving the community with integrity, consistency, and genuine care. By responding to everyday needs and building meaningful relationships, the organization continues to create opportunities for hope, stability, and growth. Learn more about the values and commitment that guide every program and service.
Our Roots And Mission
Founded in 2024 after Crystal's cousin died, we built a community anchor grounded in hope, dignity, and steady presence.
Personal Loss
One cousin's overdose shattered our hearts and opened our eyes, so we created a lifeline for silent suffering.
Growing Programs
We grew into a 24/7 nonprofit offering meals, outreach, peer support, health checks, and supervised community service.
Community Partnerships
Healthcare providers, local businesses, and neighbors stand with us, sharing resources so fewer people slip through cracks.
Hope Ahead
Each meal served, screening offered, or hour volunteered writes another line in our story that says better days.
Crystal Wooden
Founder & Executive Director
After losing my beloved cousin, Ashley Haywood, I witnessed firsthand the devastating impact that mental illness and substance use addiction can have on an individual and an entire family. Her struggle opened my eyes to the many people who suffer in silence, often without the support, resources, or compassion they need.
Rather than allowing that loss to define me, I chose to let it inspire me. I founded Better Days Are Coming Inc. to honor Ashley's memory by helping others who are facing homelessness, addiction, mental health challenges, and life crises. My mission is to provide hope, practical support, encouragement, and connections to resources that empower people to rebuild their lives.
Every meal we serve, every person we encourage, every family we support, and every life we help is a reminder that Ashley's legacy continues to live on through this work.
Our organization exists because we believe everyone deserves compassion, dignity, and a second chance. No matter how difficult today may seem, we want every person we serve to know that better days are coming.
Alecia Reeves
Board Advisor
Alecia Reeves brings 10 years of legal experience to the board, with a practice grounded in advocacy, sound judgment, and a deep commitment to the communities she serves. Her background in law equips the organization with valuable insight into governance, compliance, and the kind of careful decision-making that protects both mission and members.
Beyond her professional expertise, Alecia is dedicated to using her skills in service of causes larger than herself. She believes that access to justice and access to opportunity go hand in hand, and she brings that conviction to every board discussion — helping guide the organization with both legal clarity and genuine care for the people it exists to serve.
Rae Whitely
Board Member
Rae Whitely
You have probably felt Rae Whitely’s reach without knowing his name. He has spent decades getting churches and neighbors in Palm Beach, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties to work the same problems together.
Rae was born in George’s Valley, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica. He is a first-generation American. He started preaching at age ten, stutter and all. That testimony still shapes how he leads. He believes he was made for a specific purpose: to impact this generation. Faith and work are not separate things for him. They are one.
Rae serves as Lead Organizer for Faith in Florida. He founded Trinity Counseling Center, which builds coalitions around substance use and co-occurring disorders and trains churches to become recovery-ready congregations. TCC currently runs Project Engage, a multi-year opioid recovery initiative funded through Palm Beach County.
Rae also chairs the county’s Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorder Board.
He created therapeutic spaces for Black men, places to sit down and be heard, built to address an epidemic of loneliness that too many men carry alone. If you know a man who needs a room like that, Rae has already built one.
His approach never changes. Listen first. Bring people together. Take action. Reflect and improve.
He is married to Bethan Dawn Whitely. They have eight children, five daughters and three sons, and seventeen grandchildren.
Stay focused. That is his motto, and his life.
Charles Ridley
Board Member
Charles Ridley brings 30 years of senior management experience in community-based organizations, with a lasting focus on youth services and grass-roots organizing. Widely regarded as a senior community organizer, he has spent his career building political infrastructure that gives marginalized urban communities a real voice and a real stake in their own future.
Mr. Ridley currently chairs UNIFY Palm Beach and the West Atlantic Redevelopment Coalition (WARC), two grass-roots organizations dedicated to building power for Black people and Black communities. His decades of hands-on leadership bring the board a rare depth of organizing experience and an unwavering focus on community-driven change.
April Cochran
Board Member
April Cochran | Motivational Speaker • Encourager • Woman of Faith
I don't just speak—I inspire transformation.
My mission is to encourage, uplift, and remind people that no matter what they've faced, their story is not over. Through faith, perseverance, and purpose, I empower others to rise above adversity, embrace their worth, and walk boldly into the life they were created to live.
Having overcome life's challenges, I speak from experience, not just inspiration. Every message I share is rooted in hope, resilience, wisdom, and the belief that every setback can become the foundation for an incredible comeback.
Whether I'm speaking to women, youth, families, entrepreneurs, or communities, my goal is simple: to leave every person stronger, more confident, and believing in themselves again.
My message is clear:
"Your past does not define your future. Your pain has purpose, your voice has power, and your greatest days are still ahead of you."