10 minute read
THE POWER OF GIVING
LEADERSHIP THAT CHANGES LIVES
BY KIMBERLY BALLARD
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It’s easy to think of women making a difference in the corporate or entrepreneurial world. Not often do we think of how woman make an impact in the non-profit world, but Huntsville and Madison County abound with examples of women who are changing people’s lives for the better. Many 501 c-3 organizations in the Tennessee Valley owe their success to women who give their time and heart to provide much needed services in the areas of education, the arts, corporate giving, community services, and charity work.
FACES takes pride in shining the light on four outstanding women who have brought remarkable leadership to the nonprofit organizations they run, and who have made significant contributions to the community and the people they serve during their time with their organizations.
Kids to Love
Lee Marshall, founder and CEO of Kids to Love is one of those people. During her time as news anchor for WAFF Channel 48, she produced a video segment about recruiting adoptive families. Marshall was herself adopted out of foster care at age two and grew up with a loving family. As she met with many of the kids in the segment, she became aware of how fortunate she had been. Many of the children she featured fell short of having even their most basic needs met.
Marshall founded Kids to Love in 2004 and has served as its CEO ever since. She launched programs like More Than a Backpack to provide school supplies for foster children; Bibles For Kids; See Meth Stop Meth; and Christmas For the Kids. Seeing a new calling, Marshall left television news to dedicate her life to foster children.
She admits it was not easy building
The Power of Women
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come from the Christmas For the Kids or More Than a Backpack program, but she believes the KTECH program and Davidson Farms group home for girls tangibly changes kid’s lives the most in the long run.
The Arc of Madison County
When Susan Klingel took over as Executive Director of The Arc of Madison County 25 years ago, she found it in shambles. Not only was the organization struggling financially, but The Arc was on the verge of losing state certification. The organization had gone through four directors in a five-year period; the Board of Directors was borrowing money to meet payroll and staff morale was in the tank.
Right after she took over as Executive Director, one of the members of the Board of Directors handed her a Request for Proposal (RFP) to apply for a $5,000 Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs Energy grant. It was a small environmental grant and Klingel said she had no idea what to do with
relationships with the Department of Human Resources (DHR) and establishing a strong and honest community presence so donors trusted them with gifts. But through sheer tenacity, she said, she built a group of volunteers excited to help her carry out their programs.
She and her father filled backpacks with school supplies from her garage until Louis Breland, a local property developer whose wife Patti was also adopted out of foster care, donated a 13,000-squarefoot building to warehouse, assemble and distribute the backpacks and school supplies.
The building also houses the administrative offices and operations for 10 additional programs designed to meet the needs of thousands of foster children every year; and KTECH, Marshall’s workforce training initiative for children aging out of foster care, to prepare them for the workplace.
“I don’t take no for an answer,” she said. “I am persistent in the sense that if something is going to make a difference for a child, I am not going to give up. They depend on me. This is my purpose and my passion because had I not been adopted my life could have been lived in the uncertainty of foster care as well.”
Kids to Love now operates four campuses across North Alabama and Southern Tennessee. They accept no state funding and are debt-free. The most heartwarming letters she receives Above: Lee Marshall, founder/CEO of Kids to Love. Right: Susan Klingel, Executive Director, The Arc of Madison County.
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Today, The Arc has five large facilities and provides recycling and shredding services for over 450 individuals with disabilities every month. Programs have been expanded and they now employ more than 200 people.
“I am personally extremely goal oriented and I think that is a quality that helps lead our organization,” she said. “But I am only as good as those around me make me look. I have been very blessed with positive, determined, innovative people who really care about people with disabilities. The catalyst is their collective mindset for setting and achieving goals.”
Above:Lee Ann Madole volunteering at Manna House. Below: Toyota volunteers working at the Manna House hydroponic garden
it. After much thought, she came upon the idea of expanding a floundering inhouse recycling program and if they got the grant, she would use the $5,000 to pay individuals who had never been employed because of their disabilities, to pick up paper, plastics, and cardboard materials at local businesses for recycling.
That vocational training opportunity for people with disabilities kickstarted what has become a role model throughout Alabama. The Arc has received every top agency award in the state. Klingel’s efforts have brought national certification through the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)
Manna House
Fran Fluhler founded Manna House 16 years ago to help Huntsville families who had experienced layoffs or decreased employment hours, or for families going through chemotherapy or dialysis and couldn’t work. Her mission is simple: provide food, resources, and hope to as many people as possible. She also operated Manna House as a simple organization for five years before she realized the benefits of becoming a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization.
That designation enabled her to connect with local pastors from multiple churches, companies, and organizations who were willing to come together and serve more families in need. At no time was that more significant than when the Huntsville community learned three children had died due to starvation. Deeply distressed by the news, a local financial planner named Steve Mann told Fran about a program in Houston called Weekend Backpack Bags for Elementary School Students.
She went to the school those children attended and asked permission to offer to fill backpacks with kid-friendly, readyto-eat food the children could take home every Friday and have food to eat over the weekend. It was the first program of its kind in Huntsville, as well as in the entire state. Today, thousands of students now get nourishment on weekends instead of a stark outlook of hunger.
“My Faith in the Lord to provide peo
The Power of Women
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ple and financial resources; my faith in other people to bring gifts and to help other people going through really tough times; my faith in our community that comes together to help in times of crisis and create an even better place to live – that is why I have been successful,” Fluhler said. “I feel so blessed to live in a community that truly cares!”
305 8th Street
Andrea Williams began as a volunteer at 305 8th Street in 2007 and became its director shortly thereafter; but she and her family have been involved with the organization since she was a child. In 1979, her Great Aunt Irene bought the building at 305 8th Street and turned it into a group home. Both of her grandparents were directors and as a little girl, the resident were her friends.
After Williams graduated from college and returned to Huntsville in 2007, the condition of the home and the wellness of the residents had deteriorated such that there were 21 disabled adults living unsupervised in abject squalor. No one took them to doctor’s appointments and the building had a leaky roof, holes in the walls, and sewage leaking into closets.
Williams wanted to restore her grandparents’ name and to love back the people they considered family, so she creatively borrowed an idea from the Department of Mental Health called MOMs (Medication, Observation and Meals) to create a host of events around food, karaoke, and dancing. Residents now live independently in their own apartments, but receive services like case management, meals, and activities at the center.
“I relied on faith, took the hugs and love and rolled with the punches,” she said. “When you are loved as a child and those people leave this world, their lessons still live in you.”
The agency, she said, has survived 40 years because of the need. “As long as Huntsville continues to grow, it is my responsibility to answer the needs that grow with it.”
MARY LYNNE WRIGHT
FROM NURSE TO PRESIDENT
Madison Hospital President Mary Lynne Wright is a rare example of a hospital executive who started out as a bedside nurse. In 1981, she was the first surgical staff nurse chosen for Huntsville Hospital’s then-new cardiac surgery team. After proving herself in that role, Mary Lynne was promoted to numerous leadership positions at Huntsville Hospital: director of outpatient services; director of quality management; corporate compliance officer; surgical service line administrator; and finally vice president of surgical services. In 2011, Huntsville Hospital tapped her to run the new Madison Hospital – including overseeing construction and hiring a staff of about 350. Today, Mary Lynne is helping plan a major expansion of the hospital to 120 patient beds. She is also a past president of the Madison Chamber of Commerce, leads an Alabama Hospital Association advisory group of North Alabama hospital executives, and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
