“I grew up on the west side of the mountains, dreaming of one day moving to New York City. A bit like the Little Mermaid, I wanted to be where the people are! I majored in psychology with a minor in communications at Seattle Pacific University. As an undergrad, I had the privilege of interning at a group home for young women and I fell in love with social work. I spent some time living in Seattle before I started graduate school at Northwest University for counseling. That’s where I met and married a kind man named Brian Wood from North Dakota. I’ll probably never move to the big city now but being partnered with Brian for 20 years has taught me how to appreciate the beauty all around me. We share a strong faith and love for people. For some time, I worked as a domestic violence victim advocate with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and he worked as a high school teacher. After starting a family, we moved to the east side of the mountains where babies #3 and #4 were born, and we also started hosting foreign exchange students from Europe and Asia. When Brian was offered work as an administrator with the Lake Chelan School District, I knew it would be a beautiful place to grow roots and continue investing in people. 

One of my favorite quotes is by a guy named David Augsburger. He says, “‘Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.’ 

It doesn’t matter whether I’m playing a game with my own kids, working with a young person from overseas, helping a student in the school, or leading a group of young people for a mission trip, I’ve found the same thing. In the past seven years of being in the Chelan Valley and throughout my life, I’ve found the language of love to be universal. I believe kids need to be seen, heard, and loved. They need a place of belonging.

I am very excited to be working with Thrive as it continues to grow and meet the needs of Chelan Valley youth.”