NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group Rev. Elaine Y. Sanford
Founder/Executive Director
HER Faith Ministries, Inc.
Memphis, TN
Ministry degree in Leadership and
Health Ministry by next spring.
Prior to accepting a Call to
Ministry, Elaine managed a career
as a broadcast journalist, as a
healthcare marketing and public
relations professional, and as an
entrepreneur providing these
similar services.
HER Faith Ministries, Inc.
http://herfaithministries.org
Our Mission: To empower
homeless and needy women, to
protect children, to strengthen
families, and to thereby, change
lives.
Our Vision: To be the ministry that
• understands and assists impoverished women and children in Memphis in addressing their basic needs for food, clothing, shelter and transportation; • offers well-­‐‑defined programs and services that enable impoverished women to make measurable progress toward improving their lives and the lives of their children;
• empowers homeless and needy women to become self-­‐‑
sustaining through mentoring programs, education and spiritual guidance.
• forms alliances with like-­‐‑
minded agencies and Elaine Sanford is executive
director of HER Faith Ministries,
Inc., a ministry that partners with
homeless and needy women and
children to assist them in
achieving their goals to become
self-sustaining. Elaine is married
to Otis L. Sanford and is mother of
four children. She is an ordained
minister in the TN Disciples of
Christ (Christian Church) where
she has been active in preaching,
teaching, and other duties. Elaine
earned an undergraduate degree
in Biblical Studies from Victory
University, a Master of Divinity
(M.Div.) degree in Theological
Studies from Memphis Theological
Seminary, and is currently
working to complete a Doctor of
1 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group serving individuals with
disabilities. In his spare time Mark
enjoys running, traveling and
attending St. Louis Cardinals
baseball games. Mark is a third
generation member of The
Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) and is active in Central
Christian Church in Fulton,
Missouri. Mark had been married
to Deb for 26 years and they have
a 7-year-old Shu-Tzu names
Gracie.
organizations to measurably reduce homelessness in the city and county.
• exists as a Christian organization which serves all people, particularly women and children, and which extends the love of Jesus Christ by fulfilling His mission [in our communities] and in the world. Woodhaven
http://www.woodhaventeam.org
C. Mark Palmer
Chief Executive Officer
Woodhaven
Columbia, MO
Our Mission:
Woodhaven – a caring team
advocating for those with
disabilities:
•Enhancing lives
•Respecting individuality
•Providing quality opportunities
for choice
•Promoting community
membership
Our Vision:
At Woodhaven, our mission is not
just about providing supports, it is
about working toward a
fundamental shift in how the
community perceives people with
disabilities. We know that change
isn’t going to happen just by
talking about all of the things the
individuals supported are capable
Mark has been the CEO of
Woodhaven in Columbia, Missouri
for close to 20 years. Mark
graduated from Iowa State
University and has attended
numerous national professional
trainings to advance his skill set in
2 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group of. Real change happens when the
men and women with
developmental disabilities we
support have the opportunity to
SHOWCASE their abilities – and
they ARE – they’re shopping for
their own groceries; they’re
working at community jobs;
they’re playing sports and going to
the gym; they’re active in their
churches; and volunteering
throughout the community. Every
day, the men and women we
support are living full,
independent lives as active
members of our community. With
every shirt they buy, hour they
work and life they touch through
volunteering, they’re changing the
face of ability.
Don has worked at CCH since 1979
and has served as president and
chief executive officer since 2007.
Don completed his undergraduate
degree at Phillips University in
Enid, Oklahoma and his master's
degree from Oklahoma State
University. He is also a Certified
Property Manager. He has taught
many workshops, seminars and
classes on affordable housing and
has received multiple honors
including the National Affordable
Housing Management
Association’s (NAHMA) “Pioneer
in Affordable Housing” and the
Affordable Housing Management
Association’s (AHMA) coveted
“Pamela E. Stroud” award for
leadership in the field.
Don has lived in senior housing as
a child and has held nearly every
level of job within the company.
He enjoys a unique background
and an unusual ability to blend the
multiple disciplines required to
effectively operate a broad and
diverse organization.
Established in 1961, CCH is a nonprofit organization that has been
building and managing affordable
housing communities with
supportive where seniors can live
and thrive in the comfort of their
own home. Having served over
100,000 seniors over 50 years,
CCH has now grown to 53 caring
communities that are “More Than
a Home” to residents in seven
states.
Don Stump
President/Chief Executive
Officer
Christian Church Homes
Oakland, CA
3 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group planning and giving. At 21, she
felt obligated to drop out of college
to become guardian of 5 siblings at
their mother's death. This also
marked my leaving the church.
Work alcoholic, unresolved grief,
emotional, physical and sexual
abuse, ADHD lead to and a series
of jobs, unhealthy relationships
and geographic moves. Eventually
a cycle of self-medication-smoking weed daily, snorting
cocaine and drinking weekends
became the norm. I expected that
getting my degree was going to be
the answer to all my hurts and
hang-ups, but God had another
plan. July 1984, I accepted the
Lord at Victory Temple Church of
God in Christ, Seaside, CA.
Christian Church Homes
www.cchnc.org
Our Mission:
Providing Affordable Quality
Housing in Caring Communities
Our Vision:
Transforming communities by
fostering human dignity, mutual
respect, personal independence,
and supportive environments
Rev. Milele Hobbs, MSW
Executive Director
Gomer’s House
Portland, OR
I plunged myself into 'being at the
church, finding any way to serve,
cleaning walls and baseboards,
washing dishes or ushering. An
illness brought me back to
Portland where most of my
siblings lived. A visiting minister
prophesied that I was called to
minister to 'the outcasts and
rejects' no one else wanted to
touch when I didn’t even know
what a prophesy was. I joined a
women’s prison ministry, served
them for 12 years. This lead to the
original Gomer’s House providing
housing for some of the ladies
returning to Portland (19952003).
Milele grew up the eldest
child/cousin of 11, with
responsibilities that set the stage
for leadership, organization,
4 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group Milele became a licensed minister
at Everlasting Baptist Church in
February 2004 and continued to
lead the Overcomer’s Recovery
group. In April, 2007 Trees of
Righteousness Church was
launched and Gomer’s House
reopened to provide a safenurturing environment for people
to heal from growing up in a lessthan-nurturing environment.
Sabrina Porter is President and
CEO of Juliette Fowler
Communities, a Dallas, Texas
nonprofit, faith based organization
providing senior citizens a home
with continuum of care and
services, foster care homes,
housing and services for girls
aging out of foster care and
services and housing with
employment opportunities for the
NBA XPLOR residents.
Approximately 400 residents, 300
employees and 4000 volunteers
serve in the 23 acre community.
The organization was founded 124
years ago by its namesake, Juliette
Peak Fowler, as a mission of the
Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ). In her role at Juliette
Fowler Communities, Sabrina is
responsible for the oversight of the
organization and the mission.
Gomer's House
(an integrated auxiliary of
Trees of Righteousness
Christian Church)
http://www.treesdisciples.org/#!p
age3/cee5
Our Mission: Gomer's House is a
peer lead space to heal from the
effects of growing up in a lessthan-nurturing environment and a
transitional home offering stability
for recovery.
Our Vision: We share our love,
experience, strength and hope to
support healing.
Over her forty year career in
healthcare, retirement and youth
services, Sabrina has served both
for profit and not for profit
organizations in various roles from
a nurse’s aide, activities director
administrator, Stephen Minister
Sabrina R. Porter
President & CEO
Juliette Fowler Communities
Dallas, TX
5 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group Leader, spiritual life coordinator,
executive director and vice
president of operations. Prior to
onboarding with Juliette Fowler
*Homes (rebranded in 2013 to
*Communities) in January 2012,
she was vice president of resident
and community relations for a
faith based NFP community in the
DFW area for twelve years and a
for profit organization for nineteen
years prior.
Our Mission: To provide choice,
community and connection for
those we serve.
Our Vision: We envision a life of
fulfillment for all generations.
Rev. Kimberly Weir
Chaplain/Executive Director
Florida Christian Center
Jacksonville, FL
Sabrina is a member of the Cedar
Hill Church of Christ, has been
married twenty-two years to Joel
Porter who serves as an elder in
their church, and has three
children, Rachel and Mason in
college and Caleb a junior in high
school. Sabrina has served on
several boards, Big Brothers Big
Sisters, Boy Scouts of America and
Peace Through Business in the
past. Has served on Hope
Mansion, a home for girls in crisis
pregnancy since 2010, Bridges
Safehouse, a home for women and
their children coming from a
volatile situation since 2014 and
the NBA as of 2015. The Porters
reside in Cedar Hill, Texas, on
acreage, where they enjoy their
horses, chickens and bird dogs.
Kimberly was born in Dayton,
Ohio but has lived in Jacksonville,
FL since 1979. Her parents live
here as well. She has two boys,
ages 13 and 16. She worships and
was ordained at Riverside Avenue
Christian Church. Kimberly is the
chaplain/Executive Director for
the Florida Christian Center, a
ministry to seniors in subsidized
housing.
Juliette Fowler Communities
www.fowlercommunities.org
Florida Christian Center
http://www.flchristiancenter.org
6 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group congregations and other directcare providers to deliver services
to those in need.
A social worker by profession,
Mark has devoted his career to
meeting the medical and mental
health needs of others. He
previously served as Programs and
Operations Director for Ronald
McDonald House Charities in
Kansas City, Missouri, an
organization that provides
temporary lodging and support
services for children, who are
receiving medical treatment, and
their families.
From 2000 to 2008, Mark was the
Executive Director of Kansas City’s
SAVE Inc., a nonprofit housing
agency serving people living with
HIV/AIDS and other disabilities.
With responsibility for the overall
vision, financial management,
resource development, staffing
and programming of SAVE Inc.,
Mark oversaw tremendous growth
in the organization’s services and
visibility while ensuring its fiscal
soundness and focus on its
mission. Mark has also worked as
a clinical social worker and a
family therapist.
He is a graduate of Phillips
University in Enid, Oklahoma, and
holds a master’s degree in social
work from Washington University
in St. Louis. He has taught courses
in social work at the University of
Kansas and the University of
Missouri-Kansas City. He has
Our mission: "We are called by
God to serve older adults and
persons with special needs as a
living witness and response to our
Christian faith."
Mark Anderson
President/Chief Executive
Officer
National Benevolent
Association
St. Louis, MO
Mark D. Anderson is President
and Chief Executive Officer of the
National Benevolent Association
of the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ), a call he accepted in
January 2011. In this role Mark
leads the NBA in living out its
mission of “creating communities
of compassion and care” – a
mission that NBA fulfills by
utilizing a network of ministry
partners and by equipping
7 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group served on the General and
Administrative Boards of the
Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ), as well as held several
positions on the local and regional
levels. Some of his favorite
memories were as a youth sponsor
at his home congregation in
Kansas. He is a native of Peoria,
Illinois, and is a third-generation
Disciple. Mark is a member at
Union Avenue Christian Church in
St. Louis, Missouri.
Feliberto Pereira
Founder / Executive Director
Southwest Good Samaritan
Ministries
Los Fresnos, TX
National Benevolent
Association
www.nbacares.org
Our Mission: Following God’s call,
the National Benevolent
Association exists to inspire and
connect the people and ministries
of the Christian Church (Disciples
of Christ), to accompany one
another in the creation of
communities of compassion and
care, and to advocate for the wellbeing of humanity.
Feliberto Pereira is founder and
executive director of Southwest
Good Samaritan Ministries, a nonprofit organization based in Los
Fresnos, Texas that serves
refugees and the poor at the
Texas-Mexico border. A refugee
from Cuba who entered the United
States on a Freedom Flight in
1969, Feliberto has spent nearly
40 years giving back to the country
that rescued him and “paying
forward” to help thousands of
refugees to America acquire their
U.S. citizenship. Through
Southwest Good Samaritan
Ministries, Feliberto offers
Our Vision: Creating communities
of compassion and care
8 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group refugees food, clothing, shelter,
counseling and resettlement
funds.
to host church mission groups who
come to the Texas-Mexico border
for volunteer projects, such as
building housing for the poor…
Since 1979, Feliberto has assisted
refugees from more than 40
countries and of all religious
backgrounds. Feliberto believes
that the success of refugees in the
United States depends greatly on
the welcome they receive when
they arrive. He considers his
ministry a full partner of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security
to help those seeking freedom
from persecution and
oppression. The U.S. Department
of Homeland Security's ICE
Division routinely calls on
Feliberto to assist with the
settlement of Cubans seeking
asylum at the International Bridge
at Matamoros/Brownsville. Once
initially processed, Cubans are
paroled to Feliberto's
custody. Feliberto is an inspiring
and compassionate individual
whose life experience as a refugee
uniquely qualifies him to assist
other refugees as they seek to start
their lives again in the U.S.
Pereira established the Good
Samaritan Project in Los Fresnos,
Texas, to assist refugees and
became its first executive director.
Simultaneously, he established a
new congregation in Los Fresnos,
Ebenezer Christian Church, where
he remains the senior minister
today. Feliberto is a member of the
Board of Trustees of Brite Divinity
School, a seminary of the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ),
whose General Minister and
President, Sharon Watkins, was
asked by President Barack Obama
to deliver the sermon at the
traditional Inauguration National
Prayer Service.
In June, 2008, the story of
Feliberto's life and
accomplishments was released as
a first-person autobiography, I
Was A Stranger: Hope For A
Hidden World (Brown Books,
2008). Married to Micaela Pereira,
Feliberto has three children.
Feliberto's mother, his brother,
and many other relatives, still
reside in Cuba.
Through gifts and time/talent
contributions from mainly Texas
churches, Feliberto has built a
five-acre facility called "Casa
Compasión" (House of
Compassion) in nearby Bayview to
receive and temporarily house
asylum seekers and refugees and
Southwest Good Samaritan
Ministries
http://www.swgsm.org
9 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group Our Mission: The Mission of
Southwest Good Samaritan
Ministries is to teach the love of
Jesus Christ by building a renewed
sense of wholeness and dignity
and by standing with those who
are broken, especially among
refugees and those who are
disenfranchised and
displaced. The Good News of
salvation is lived out by addressing
spiritual and material needs,
including emergency shelter and
food, clothing, transportation,
legal aid, advocacy and job referral
through a cooperative effort with
other agencies and religious
organizations.
2015. Debbie grew up in Iuka MS
and had left when she was a junior
in college to finish her degree in
Texas. She had been hoping to
return to Mississippi and was able
to do so last year. Debbie holds a
Master of Education degree from
Texas Tech University and a
Master of Science in Social Work
from the University of Texas at
Arlington. She has spent almost
forty years working with children
and youth that have been abused,
neglected and abandoned. Before
she returned to Mississippi, she
was the Executive Director of a
residential program for homeless
women and their children.
Southern Christian Services
for Children and Youth
Debbie Dobbins
Executive Director
Southern Christian Services
for Children and Youth
Jackson, MS
http://www.scscy.org Our Mission: In response to the
love of Christ, Southern Christian
Services for Children and Youth,
Inc. serves and equips vulnerable
children and youth, assisting them
in the process of becoming selfsufficient and contributing
members of society.
Our Vision: To be an organization
that has a positive, recognizable,
long-term impact on ALL children
and youth in our care by providing
professional, cost-effective and
timely services.
Debbie Dobbins has been the
Executive Director of Southern
Christian Services for Children
and Youth, Inc. since March,
10 NBA / DHM Disciples Care Exchange 2016-­‐‑2017 Executive Leaders Peer Group Southern Christian Services for
Children and Youth, Inc. provided
almost 10,000 services to children,
youth and families last year. They
provide an array of services from
ages birth to those aging out of
foster care. Their programs
provide Therapeutic Foster Care,
Therapeutic Group Homes.
Independent Living Services,
Adoption Support Services, Home
Studies for foster homes, Adoption
Recruitment and Retention
Services and a training conference
each year for
professional. Established in 1988,
Southern Christian Services for
Children and Youth, Inc. now
serves the entire state of
Mississippi.
11