New Orleans - Day 2, Part 1

The partners: Randa El gayar, Sally Carlson,

Sadoni Leon (Director of St. Vincent’s), Tom Landry II,

Kathy Korge Albergate, Scott Albergate,

Sonya Yencer at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church–Lakeview

So, how does one condense 14 pages of notes from our last 2 days in New Orleans into a blog post or two so as not to put our readership into a coma? Well, here is our feeble attempt.

Wednesday, 9/15 – Our second day in New Orleans with Fr. Sadoni was very fruitful. Our meetings spanned the entire day. We learned much about each other as individuals as part of our respective organizations, and about the organizations themselves.

A common passion for children

We introduced you to Fr. Sadoni, Director of St. Vincent’s, in our previous post so we’ll introduce everyone else briefly and how we are all connected.

Kathy, President of The Red Thread Promise (TRTP), is passionate about the well-being of children and has been working with kids since her teens. She is one of the co-founders of TRTP and has been dedicated to the organization since day one. Kathy is currently overseeing the Haiti Task Force for the Diocese of Louisiana while she juggles her “real job” and all of her volunteer work for TRTP. (We secretly suspect that Kathy has been given more hours in her day than the typical 24 based on the volume of work she can do in a short time!)

Sonya, Vice President of TRTP, connected with Kathy 15 years ago in her professional career as a brand specialist and graphic artist. Sonya has been involved with TRTP since its inception in 2003 and has been using her skills from her business to spread TRTP’s messages through all print and digital media. She has many adopted family members and friends and a huge soft spot in her heart for the health and education of children.

Tom and Randa are both business owners and interior architects who volunteer their time and innumerable talents to TRTP and the disadvantaged children we serve. They are especially interested in our re-building efforts at St. Vincent’s where their areas of expertise, including accessibility, safety and sustainability, will be most useful.

Erin is a special education inclusion consultant and works with all teachers to develop strategies to support even the most challenging children in their educational environment. She is TRTP's Child Advocate and board member and will work directly with St. Vincent's teachers to create individual educational plans so that every student can be successful both in the classroom and in their communities

Last, but certainly not least, is Sally, Deacon at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Seattle. Sally heads the bishop’s task force to help rebuild Haiti in the Diocese of Olympia, Western Washington. Her passion is improving the lives of the children in our world. The Diocese of Olympia supported St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Lakeview as it worked to rebuild following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina five years ago. Sally was first responder to Louisiana out of Olympia after the storm, and has spent a considerable amount of time at St. Paul’s. The relationship between the Diocese of Olympia and St. Paul’s in Lakeview continues to grow as they work together to support the children of St. Vincent’s.