Page 6 - Scene Magazine September 2023 48-09

Did You Know?
BY KATHY BANFIELD SHAW
sion to help others. “I am blessed to have this staff. They have the passion and heart to do the job and make a difference in the lives of others,” Lisa Foley, the Family Division Coordina- tor for the Haven’s Inasmuch House told me.
Lisa is a native of Union City and after working for several years after high school decided she needed to further her education. She did that at Kellogg Community College, for an Associate degree in human services,
at Sienna Heights, for her Bachelor’s degree, and she earned her Master’s degree in Human Services at Spring Arbor University. All that while work- ing full time, raising her two children, Rikki and Keeton, and being married to Scott (they’ve been married 33 years). “The kids and I would sit at the dining room table doing homework at night and then I’d get up at about 5am to study while everyone else slept,” she told me. “My father was an advocate for education, and I believe it rubbed off on me.”
people which she found attending KCC and took a Human Services class as an elective. “I really felt a connec- tion with the content of the class,”
she told me, “I made up my mind to change from Business Administration to Human Services. One of the things I Iearned in that class was the differ- ence between sympathy and empathy – empathy empowers people, and that can mean so much to someone who’s homeless and feels invisible to the world.”
In addition to supervising and scheduling her staff, she also works on training them to have empathy for the people they serve. “What I look for in prospective staff members is if they have heart and a passion for this work,” Lisa told me. “It’s most im- portant to meet people where they are. When I see people succeed in learn- ing how to take control of their life it makes me have goosebumps.”
When I asked Lisa why she changed her life from owning her own business to working at Inasmuch House she
told me she has a passion for helping
Before Inasmuch House Lisa also taught fifth grade at Ann J. Kellogg. One of her memories is impressing the boys to help gain control in class and prove she was someone they could respect. “I told them we would go outside and throw footballs. If I could
When she’s not working at Inas- much House, Lisa takes time to serve on the KCC Human Services Commit- tee, Post Foundation board and Com- munity Action Agency to name just a few. “I love playing golf. I play on a league at Turtle Creek and there are four of us women who play weekly in the summer. It’s so much fun,” she said with a big smile. In addition to golf and her family (five grand children at this point), her family enjoys traveling. “I love Van Morrison,” Lisa told me. “We are going to Las Vegas soon to see him in concert again.”
Did You Know Inasmuch House at the Haven is looking for at least two people to hire, for full time or part time, who have a pas-
throw the furthest, then they had to listen to me,” she told me grinning.
“I knew I could throw because I had six brothers and they insured I could throw great spirals. Once I showed I could throw the football the farthest, those boys respected me the rest of the semester.” She says what makes her feel the best about that time is when she sees one of her students outside of school and they remember her name and tell her how much they learned from her. “I found that what those stu- dents needed was structure” she said. “They had to know that they had to be accountable for the work they were as- signed and to let them know they were expected to show up every day ready to learn.”
Lisa Foley
269-965-2979
www.shawcommunication.com
T. R. Shaw Jr. Co-Founder / CEO / 269-209-5555 cell / TRSBCMI@gmail.com Kathy Shaw Co-Founder / President / 269-209-9719 cell / KSBANFSH@gmail.com
She told me, “I get to do God’s work everyday with the whole family unit.”
Lisa can be reached at (269) 788- 0968 or lisa.foley@thehavenbc.org She’s always in need of volunteers
and donations of money and standard household goods such as laundry soap, paper towels, and African American and children’s hair products.
6 SCENE 4809 I HEALTH ISSUE