Sarah Cormendy is our board president. She came to us when she was volunteering with Disability Advocates of Kent County. Her supervisor at the time was our board president and she recommended that Sarah looked into Alternative Pathways for her sister with autism. After meeting her, we asked her to join the board and she was so excited at the opportunity to “serve for such a great organization,” she told us. She also says that she is always impressed at the relationships our staff members have built with our clients to make sure we keep their best interests in mind and serve each person in the best way we can. Sarah’s favorite activities to join are our kickball games at Mulick Park in the summer. Larry and Nancy Faulman came to Alternative Pathways through their daughter JoAnna when she was a client in our program in 2006. Both Larry and Nancy have the majority of their AP experience with Jane, but they have gotten to know the rest of us pretty well too. To them, the caring they see from the staff, is what stands out about AP. Both Larry and Nancy participate in every activity they can with us—they both love to go on the camping trip. Larry says his favorite part of camping with us, is seeing the fun everyone has. On our trip just last year, Nancy said taking the clients sailing was her highlight. Mike Bigelow is a SCORE counselor and heard at a meeting that Alternative Pathways was looking for someone to help with financial planning and budgeting efforts. He became truly interested and joined the board after reading a bit about us and our clients. To Mike, the community that the clients and staff have built together make Alternative Pathways unique. Mike is often a behind the scenes part of things we do. He takes pictures at our talent shows and holiday parties and does a lot of the prep work and clean-up when we have large groups of students scheduled to volunteer. His favorite thing about our get-togethers is how much fun the clients have. Frank Lynn is another board member who came to us through Disability Advocates of Kent County. He is the housing advocate there and was asked to come help us because of his knowledge of some of the issue that can arise. To him, it is very unique that Alternative pathways combines in-home support services with allowing clients to own their own homes and rent out rooms. He feels it is a model that works well and should be replicated. Like most of the people who have seen one of our talent shows, Frank enjoys those most out of the activities he’s been a part of. Like Mike, Frank also enjoys helping out with our volunteer projects because they deal with maintenance in the homes. Tim Noordhoek joined our board with an interest in finding new fundraising options for our program. Tim does property management in the same area our community is in, and he noticed quickly that this isn't your average neighborhood. His first direct involvement with us was providing a rental home to some of our clients. Since that initial involvement, Tim joined in our weekly cookouts over the summer where he enjoyed getting to know everyone in a casual setting. He is looking forward to bringing his patience, understanding and sense of humor to the board. He hopes to share his knowledge of home repair to help us identify and eliminate any problems in client homes. The ultimate goal of his fundraising and home repair is to use his gifts to improve the lives of others. Scott Sanders is our newest board member. He is Program Director and Professor of Social Work at Cornerstone University. He joined us for our golf outing in May 2013 shortly after joining our board. He has been a valuable addition to the board because of his background in social work, not to mention he keeps the meetings on track. |     |