During last year’s program year, LA Class XXXII visited Kids to Love, a nonprofit dedicated solely to meeting the needs of children in foster care.  Its dynamic founder and LA member Lee Marshall (Class XXIX) presented an engaging and very comprehensive view of the many initiatives that are Kids to Love’s foundation, from training and licensing foster care parents, to providing a communal home for young girls and a community of houses for those who age out of the system, to providing backpacks for 5,600 children, to facilitating “shopping” for families during the holiday season to creating one of the most successful training programs, KTECH, for connecting students to jobs in the Huntsville area. 

Jo Bonner, president of the University of South Alabama and a member of Class XXXII, was so moved by the work being accomplished – all through donations and gifts without any government subsidies – that he invited Lee to Mobile so that he could introduce her, her team and their incredible work to USA’s School of Social Work and to a wide spectrum of Mobile leaders and potential partners.  He hosted an informational breakfast in the President’s boardroom at USA and invited area LA members and other community leaders.  Ken Brown, South Alabama Market president of First Horizon Bank and a XXXII classmate of Jo’s, orchestrated a Business After Hours event at the Gulf Quest National Maritime Museum to share the critical need and accompanying services targeted for Mobile to support children in foster care and to recruit, train and license foster families.  Graciously hosting the event were The Honorable Sandy Stimpson (Class II)/City of Mobile, Ken Brown/First Horizon Bank, Jeb Shell (Class XXXI)/Hargrove Engineers & Constructors, Eliska Morgan (Class XXXII)/Thompson Engineering and Jo Bonner/University of South Alabama.

Since visiting Mobile, partnerships and sponsorships have been formed that are allowing Kids to Love’s presence in south Alabama to grow at a rapid pace.  The foster parenting training class held its orientation the first week in August, office space has been secured in Mobile and Baldwin County and the assembly of “Team South” has begun.  Kids to Love now has social workers strategically placed across the state to serve its children and families in foster care as needs arise.       

This is a new feature that highlights the transformative work of LA members connecting throughout the state. Do you have a success story built from a relationship or connection made in Leadership Alabama? We would love to hear about it and share with members in a future newsletter!