PERSON OF INTEREST

PEOPLE

Cheryl Cole

Sumter’s own fairy godmother makes special occasions magical for makes special occasions magical for local women and teens in need. local women and teens in need.

INTERVIEWER: ROXANNE BROWN ≈ PHOTO: NICOLE HAMEL

VITALSTATS

• Family includes three kids, six grandkids, and five great grands. • Enjoys spending time with family and friends, traveling, the beach, shopping, and watching Florida

Gator softball and football.

• Lives in Bushnell. • Employed by the Sumter County • Enjoys spending time with family School Board – currently as a and friends, traveling, the beach, professional learning technician shopping, and watching Florida – and the State of Florida for 32 years.

• Lives in Bushnell. • Employed by the Sumter County

School Board – currently as a professional learning technician – and the State of Florida for 32 years.

Tell me about Cinderella’s Closet of Central Florida and Cinderella’s

Bridal Blessings? A friend at church told me I should start a Cinderella’s Closet ministry. I found out there is a national headquarters in Kentucky and that you could become a part of their national ministry. I spoke with my pastor and Cinderella’s Closet of Central Florida, a ministry of the First Baptist Church of Wildwood, was born in March 2015. In December of 2020, Cinderella’s Bridal Blessings came about after a building was donated to house some wedding gowns we had at the closet to make room for the 2021 prom event. Four days later, a bridal shop called and asked if I wanted $50,000 worth of new wedding gowns to give away. I knew right away that was God wanting me to enlarge my territory and I said yes!

Your mission? We want every girl to feel like Cinderella for their high school prom without looking at a price tag or worrying about the nancial burden to their parents. We want to do the same thing for young women getting married

by giving them the wedding gown of their dreams.

Favorite food? My

grandmother’s coconut cake and my mom’s homemade biscuits.

What part of the experience your ministry creates touches you most?

When I watch the girls see themselves in the mirror and they smile and begin to cry because they feel so beautiful. We all cry with them, hug them, and tell them how beautiful they are. How can people help? We take

donations of new or gently used prom dresses ( ve years or newer) and wedding dresses, and always appreciate monetary donations to purchase the size gowns we do not have enough of.

Name a person you admire greatly

and why? My mother. She was a Christian lady who loved unconditionally.

Guilty pleasure? Buying fresh owers, especially sun owers and roses, for myself.

If you could choose anyone, who

would you have dinner with? My mom

and dad. My mom passed in 2013 and my dad in 1984. I miss them.

Know a person of interest? Tell us! Email your recommendation to roxanne@akersmediagroup.com