Giving Back

For Community Service, I am a member of CPAAN, the Citizen’s Police Academy Alumni Association. I am a graduate of the Norman Citizen’s Police Academy. CPAAN helps to build relationships between the community and the Norman Police Department. Last year I volunteered to chaperone at a program where police run a camp for kids. Each year we have a fundraiser called Back the Blue that I participate in. In the fall, we have an activity where we ride along with police officers and visit various neighborhoods where folks visit with their neighbors and we stop by to build relationships. These are just a few of the activities we help with. There are many more. 

 I am on the board of LifeMissions. It’s a non-profit based on accepting people where they are with love, compassion and empathy. Since we live in Norman, and I work at the university and our founder is a student at OU, we are connected to folks at OU. We have mentored students who were suicidal—helping them to find the help they need. We have talked to alcoholics who are not yet ready to become sober, but who need friends who continue to encourage them to seek help. We have taken home-schooled students under our wing and helped them adjust to life on a big campus, and we’ve helped a family struggling with a child’s mental health issues. Mental health issues are hard on the family, not just the person who is struggling. 

 My friend who is LifeMission’s founder, is also an athlete. A professional athlete. We just opened a gym named GetFit where we do remote coaching, providing daily nutrition and workouts to those who sign up for our service.. Our goal is to help anyone who wants to become healthier, but a main focus is to build relationships—especially with those who might never go to the gym because they’re embarrassed about being seen there.