What do you do?

I serve as the director of our Kids Hope USA partnership with Eastbrook South Elementary School. Adults from UCC are paired, one-on-one, with students in grakes K-6. This is an opportunity for church members to be "Jesus with skin on" in the lives of children who need a caring friend for an hour each week.

What do you love most about your job?

I love watching as relationships form, as God uses His children here to extend His love, to form caring relationships with children in the community. While I was in the classroom, with more than 100 students through my room each day, I often wished that I could do more than just teach the curriculum. Kids Hope allows me to help empower others to offer the one-on-one attention these students long for.

A little bit about your background?

I became a Christian in 1984 and as I have followed Christ along the way, life has held a number of adventures. After graduating from Taylor University in 1994 with a degree in elementary education, I spent three years teaching sixth grade science at Frankfort Middle School. The month we moved to Upland in June 1997, I was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As my husband T.R. and I continued to learn from challenges here, I worked to complete my Masters degree in Education at Ball State University. After five years as an adjunct professor at Taylor, I was thrilled in 2006 to be able to step in as Kids Hope USA director at UCC. T.R. and I are the proud parents of twin daughters, students at Eastbrook Junior High, and they never fail to keep us on our toes!

Favorites?

Books - The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Anne of Green Gables (and other works) by L.M. Montgomery, A Wrinkle in Time quadrilogy by Madeleine L'Engle, The Wingfeather Chronicles by Andrew Peterson (and too many others to list...can you tell I enjoy children's literature?)

Movies - Up, Secondhand Lions, The Sound of Music, Shawshank Redemption, Princess Bride