Stimpson pours lifetime of skill, compassion into Welcome House refugees

By Marv Knox

Refugees who resettle on the western edge of North Carolina’s Research Triangle benefit from the same passion and commitment to excellence Delores Stimpson provided Fortune 500 companies throughout her long career as a director of information technology programs.

They also receive blessings from her deep well of compassion, empathy for overcoming challenges and belief that Jesus meant what he said about loving your neighbor as yourself.

Stimpson became manager of the Welcome House Community Network’s Triangle West region, which provides temporary residences for newly arriving refugees, Jan. 1. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Kim and Marc Wyatt founded the ministry in Raleigh, N.C., in 2015. Stimpson serves through Global Service Corps, a CBF Global Missions program that offers mission opportunities to young college graduates and post-career volunteers, who serve alongside field personnel.

Stimpson manages the ministries of Welcome Houses in Chapel Hill, Durham and Hillsborough. She became affiliated with Welcome House when she helped Temple Baptist Church in Durham, her home congregation, open a house in 2020. Then she started coordinating work on the west side of the Research Triangle as a volunteer in 2022.

Stimpson was celebrated and blessed as CBF Global Missions personnel regionally to buy you a new wardrobe, send you money or pay sorority dues.’ I so appreciated that honesty.”

She chose Winston-State University, one of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities and “right down Highway 67 from where I grew up,” Stimpson said. “I had professors who understood what it was like to be me, who related to me, and I enjoyed it.”

She married her high-school sweetheart, Jerry Stimpson, a U.S. Army officer, and became a military wife and mother, living on bases alongside other military families during the Vietnam War.

When he left the military, Jerry accepted a position with the federal government and eventually transitioned to state and local levels to minimize frequent moves to multiple locations. Eventually, they settled in Durham.

Along the way, “I started teaching myself about computers,” she said. That led to an entry-level job, but she kept learning, compounding her self-education with formal courses.

Delores’ love of technology led her to working with information technology specialists in delivering complex technology solutions, and she pursued certifications in program management. She achieved certification as a program management professional, was published in the organization’s monthly magazine and was a member of the committee that updated the candidate examination to include risk management. Delores also completed several advanced courses in leadership, adding to her capabilities to manage large-scale teams and multi-million-dollar budgets for large corporations.

As her career expanded, Delores spent years as a weekly commuter, managing programs based in the United States and across multiple foreign locations, including India, France, South America, London, Paris and Rotterdam. Delores worked at Two World Trade Center in New York, and decided to make a career change after losing hundreds of colleagues on 9/11.

Despite her success, her path was a challenge. “As a woman of color, I heard my share of queries about my qualifications,” she acknowledged. “I turned them into long-lasting friendships.

“For example, I walked into a board room in Florida, and the CEO said to me in front of everyone, ‘You’re Black.” He just didn’t expect a Black woman in my position. I saw an empty chair next to him and knew that was where I was going to sit. I determined to turn hurtful situations into something that would develop into a friendship. And to be successful, you have to gain the trust and confidence of the people you’re working with.”

Such confidence bore fruit at the height of her career, when the CEO of Fidelity Investments chose her, out of 40,000 employees, to manage complex programs costing more than $100 million, she said.

Toward the end of her career and especially after retirement, she poured her energy and skill into Temple Baptist Church, where she served as a Sunday school teacher, treasurer and deacon chair. And Temple’s Welcome House residents snuggled up close to her heart.

When Marc Wyatt recruited Stimpson to expand beyond Temple’s house and coordinate Welcome Houses on the west side of the Triangle, he mentioned CBF’s Global Service Corps as a “post-career opportunity.”

“I said, ‘There’s no such thing as post-career,’” she reported. “I’ve had a full career, and I’m still working. It’s just a different career. Now, I have the time to do things I wanted to do years ago. I could not turn that down.”

For his part, Wyatt is delighted Stimpson accepted the challenge.

“Delores is right for this task because she has succeeded in life, both professionally and personally, during a time when being a confident, well-educated and purpose-driven woman of color has been nothing short of heroic,” he said. “She’s a person whose faith has been forged through life experiences I never will fully understand.

Stimpson’s appointment will extend the reach and ministry of Welcome House, Wyatt added.

“By encouraging the hospitality and housing ministries of local churches in Durham, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, this new field appointment will empower, mobilize and train volunteers, develop resources and give a platform for creative ministries to grow and flourish,” he explained. “This mission effort is a call to reclaim the Christian practice of hospitality in churches and in the homes of church members.

“Delores gets it! All the refugees she meets quickly know they are loved. That’s transformative. That’s whom we identify as a disciple of Jesus.”

Wyatt also hopes Stimpson’s example will inspire others. “At a time when the mission field is ready for a great harvest, God has answered our prayers for more workers,” he said. “That prayer is also for the many—even a hundred gifted and experienced persons like Delores—to follow her example and say: ‘Here am I, Lord. Send me!’”

To learn more and support Stimpson’s ministry, visit www.cbf.net/stimpson.