Kimberly Shadur

Some people show that they care about an organization by volunteering their time. Others demonstrate their commitment by generously donating money and resources. Kimberly Shadur has done both for Orchard Place for nearly 15 years, and now has made it her personal mission to tell her friends and associates about the work of the organization and show them how easily they can become involved. The results have been priceless.

Shadur's background in pediatric nursing and health care consulting led her to volunteer as a strategic planner with Orchard Place in the early 1990s. Six months later, she was recruited to join the Operating Board of Directors, and she served in that capacity for ten years.

A self-described advocate for children, it wasn't a lack of interest that caused Shadur to resign her position in 2003. Rather, she decided that there were many things she could do for Orchard Place aside from being a board member. "I knew I would be a life-long supporter of the agency," she says. "I decided I could do more by enhancing its name recognition and increasing the number of people who give to Orchard Place. In giving up my seat on the board, I hoped to give someone else a chance to get to know and care about Orchard Place the way I do."

Shadur immediately began spreading the word. For her fiftieth birthday, she decided to host a party at the Campus and ask her guests to bring children's books for the Campus Library in lieu of gifts. "I expected to get maybe 100 books," she smiles. "We ended up with closer to 1,000."

This past September, Shadur again took the opportunity to remember the children of Orchard Place during a special time in her life. While celebrating her Bat Mitzvah, she asked her friends and relatives to make gifts to Orchard Place, and used the inside of her program to publish a list of in-kind gifts such as clothing and personal hygiene products needed by the kids and young adults living at Campus. Again, Shadur's efforts paid off.

"I think something about Orchard Place strikes a chord with people," she says. "For me, it's the pain I see in the children's faces. Their eyes show how tired and hurt they are. And I believe it's up to us to help them. The only way these kids can ever possibly become well-adjusted adults is if we increase our philanthropy to ensure that organizations like Orchard Place can provide the programs and services they need."

A member of the Social Action Committee at the Temple B'nai Jeshurun in Des Moines and President of the Project Elijah Foundation (an organization that cares for abused, neglected, and abandoned Jewish children in Argentina), Shadur has committed herself to helping children around the world. "I would eventually like to become a mentor to a child at Orchard Place," she smiles, "once I settle down and am not traveling so much."

For now, the children at Orchard Place are lucky to have Shadur as a friend and advocate. She has already touched many of their lives and continues to inspire others in the community to become involved in different ways.

"Children with mental illness and those who have been neglected or abused are the ones who are too often forgotten," she says. Fortunately for all of us, Shadur continues to make them the focus of her life's work.