Why I Support the Mission of Sheffield Place

by Julie Lattimer, Board Treasurer

I became involved with Sheffield Place in 1997 as a placement through the Junior League of Kansas City.  I chaired a committee that volunteered with Project Hope.  Each week, I would go down to Project Hope and work as a tutor, help with craft projects, or just read stories to the little ones. 

It was while reading a story that a little boy, Ronald, announced to me that living here was the first time he had a bed.  A bed?  I thought everyone had a bed!  I asked him where he slept before he lived at Sheffield Place; and he said on the floor, the grass and in Mommy’s car.  Ronald was so cute and loveable, and so very proud of that bed.  It was then that I knew this was an organization with which I needed to be involved.  I joined the Board of Directors where I have served as Treasurer, Vice President and President. 

The work Sheffield Place does every day is amazing.  The lives that are changed for women and children gives them the opportunity to have a life with a job and a home—a life they can be proud of with healthy and happy children.  I am proud to be a part of such an incredible organization.

Why I Support the Mission of Sheffield Place Skyler Phelps, Board Vice President & Secretary

I have a lot to be thankful for and frankly felt selfish for not recognizing it by helping others.

My business partner was transitioning off the Sheffield Place Board of Directors to serve the community in other capacities and didn’t want to leave without identifying a replacement. He introduced me to Sheffield Place’s mission “To empower homeless mothers and their children to heal from their trauma and help them become self-sufficient”. I visited the facility to learn about their programs, staff and the families served and decided to apply for a position on the Board. My application was accepted and I began serving in January 2006.   

I confess that my involvement in the beginning was kind of mechanical. I was “giving back” because it was cosmetically the right thing to do. I know…not a great character testament, but it’s the naked truth. What I was not expecting was to be blindsided by an intense feeling of belonging to something bigger than myself and using my time to join others in making a meaningful difference in the lives of those in desperate need of healing and opportunity.

My breakthrough with the organization happened several months after I began serving. To better connect the Board of Directors with the organization’s mission and the families served, time was set aside during board meetings for Sheffield Place clients to share stories about their lives including where they came from, how they were raised, how they were traumatized, how they became homeless and how Sheffield Place’s programs were helping empower them to break the generational cycle of abuse and homelessness. Those stories galvanized my commitment to the mission of Sheffield Place and the mothers and children we serve.

Many of us have a lot to be thankful for. My encouragement to all is to celebrate it by getting involved in making someone else’s life better. Being a part of Sheffield Place is very rewarding and really has changed my life. I invite you to join our struggle and celebrate each success.

“It is raining still... Maybe it is not one of those showers that is here one minute and gone the next, as I had so boldly assumed. Maybe none of them are. After all, life in itself is a chain of rainy days. But there are times when not all of us have umbrellas to walk under. Those are the times when we need people who are willing to lend their umbrellas to a wet stranger on a rainy day. I think I'll go for a walk with my umbrella.”
— Sun-Young Park