Moving to Michigan from Northern Virginia to train for ice dance, I was officially a Midwesterner and discovered America’s best-kept secret: majestic lakes and farm stands heavy with September abundance. But behind those same generous smiles, farmers carried crushing debt and the fear of losing land their families had worked for generations—too worn down to ask for help. I didn’t have words for it until I learned about Michigan’s farmer mental health crisis and the shuttering of the state’s suicide prevention program that had been saving lives.

For a farmer, losing that program isn’t a singular hurt—losing the farm means losing a legacy, an identity, a reason to continue. And resources that are hardest to find when you have the least energy, confidence, and most to lose aren’t really resources at all. What struck me most was that the system existed, but when the funding ran out, so did the lifeline.

I wanted to build something that could save a farm, save a life, and never run out of funding. PallyWally.org connects people to food, housing, mental healthcare, SNAP, Medicaid, and career assistance, using AI to summarize complex benefit notices and draft appeals. When I saw the same design failure playing out on college campuses, I added PallyWally U to connect students to campus and public resources.