September 1, 2026
It's an exciting time at Canopy. We're celebrating our 2026 Markens Mutuality Award recipient: Sarah Aasheim, a leader whose life and work are rooted in a simple but powerful belief: we are stronger together than we are alone.
When our Senior Marketing and Communications Manager, Alejandro Alfaro, sat down with Sarah to talk about the award, she didn't start with a title or her resume. She began with people.
"Our biggest strength is our humanity," she said. "In order to do your best work, you need to connect. And in order to connect, you need to be human."
For more than 30 years, Sarah has carried that belief into her work and her life. As Director of Community Programs at Access Care Partners, she has spent much of her career advocating for individuals with disabilities and their families. It's work she understands personally. As the mother of two children with disabilities, Sarah said she has learned more from her kids than from any other experience in her life.
That perspective shapes the way she shows up for others. She meets families where they are, listens without judgment, and stays with them long enough to help them navigate the next step.
A Mission She Refused to Let End
That commitment is substantially clear in Sarah’s volunteer work with the WillPower Foundation, which provides small, direct grants to Western Massachusetts families raising children and supporting loved ones with disabilities.
Twice, the organization came close to closing. Donations slowed. Volunteers, including Sarah, were stretched thin. Twice, the board considered ending the mission. Twice, they decided they couldn't.
"The WillPower team recognizes that we can’t solve everything," Sarah told Alejandro. "But the modest grants we give can make one thing easier for families. And that's really important."
Sarah has seen just how much “one thing” can matter. “Sometimes that one thing is what parents and families need to do the next thing, and then the next thing, and just keep going,” said Sarah. She remembers a family who used a WillPower grant to hire a skilled respite provider for a few hours, just long enough to attend their other child's Little League game and cheer them on.
"A little bit can go a long way," she told Alejandro.
To keep that kind of support going, Sarah helped design a transition that few could have managed with such care. She guided WillPower’s grantmaking to Multicultural Community Services (MCS), preserving the heart of the mission while directing more resources to families. Under her leadership, the WillPower mission has distributed more than $500,000 directly to individuals and families across the region.
“That transition would have not been possible without MCS and its Executive Director, Karen Fletcher, whose willingness to take on the grantmaking responsibilities kept the WillPower mission alive,” Sarah shared.
For the families who rely on it, the transition was meant to feel seamless.
"It doesn't really create change for families," she said. "It actually provides continuity."
Stronger Together
Sarah thinks a lot about connection. She also thinks about a word our culture doesn't always know what to do with: dependence.
To Sarah, mutual dependence, the kind where people truly need, support, and care for one another, isn’t a weakness. It’s a strength.
"When people take care of one another, when they recognize that they need each other, that can actually be a sign of strength," she said.
It's also what she hopes to leave behind.
"If I can leave behind positive connections between people, and then they go on to build more, I would feel really good if that were part of my legacy," she told Alejandro.
Why Sarah
The Markens Mutuality Award honors the legacy of Ben Markens and celebrates the fiber of connection that strengthens our communities. Each year, it recognizes a leader whose work reflects the belief that we grow stronger together. The award also includes a donation to a nonprofit chosen by the recipient.
Sarah chose the WillPower Fund at MCS. This year, we're proud to direct a $1,000 gift there in her honor, supporting the families whose futures she has worked so hard to protect.
"To be recognized for contributing in some way toward mutuality and connection in our community here in Western Massachusetts means a great deal to me," she said.
At Canopy, we can't think of anyone who reflects the spirit of this award more clearly.
Congratulations, Sarah, and thank you for showing us what connection looks like in action.