KidWorks Blog
KidWorks is honored to welcome three new members to our Board of Directors. They join a diverse and talented team of leaders who help set our strategic direction, governance and oversight.
We also deeply thank departing board members Ethan Kay, who now serves on our Advisory Council and Jimmy Mai, who served the maximum of three three-year terms prescribed by our bylaws.
We mourn the loss of longtime KidWorks champion, Madeline Swinden who passed away last week. As one of KidWorks original champions, she served on the KidWorks Board of Directors and was responsible for introducing a whole new generation of champions to KidWorks.
“Madeline was an instrumental volunteer and Board member for KidWorks during our early growth years. She was passionate about KidWorks and will be greatly missed.”
“Ms. Kyle, can you stay a little longer?”
“Ms. Kyle, can you come back again tomorrow?”
Kyle Team, our December “Volunteer of the Month,” gets those questions all the time from the dozens of KidWorks elementary school students who have come to rely on her for homework help and spiritual development since she first began volunteering nearly four years ago.
“Two core principles guide me to do my best with the kids,” Kyle says. “First, I do everything I can to recall all their names and call them by name. That makes such a difference; they know you personally remember them. Second, I’m consistent. Students really appreciate it when you are there on a regular basis. Oftentimes, their lives have many challenges, and they truly appreciate reliability and dependability.”
Kyle is also a member of the KidWorks’ board of directors, where she is highly valued for her strategic thinking skills and long-term vision for our growth and financial sustainability.
Says Lisa Gels, Manager of Partnerships & Donor Relations: “Kyle can always be counted upon to follow-through on her commitments, and she has been very instrumental in bringing new partners and volunteers to KidWorks, and in deepening the involvement of others who are already engaged with us.”
Kyle enjoys her dual role as a board member and tutoring volunteer.
“The contrast is that as a board member you prepare in advance, review agenda items and make certain to be very organized,” she says. “For a tutoring session, I just bring myself, remaining flexible to whatever a particular student may need during the 90 minutes we are together.”
Kyle has been especially effective in developing and strengthening the partnership between KidWorks and St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Newport Beach, where she is a church leadership elder.
KidWorks is honored to be one of about a dozen ministry partners selected by the church. She works closely on that partnership with Lisa Gels, along with church member Joe Cristina, also a KidWorks volunteer and leader of our Avanti Music program.
Kyle is married to David, a real estate developer. Their children are Jordan, 25, who works in corporate public relations and Brian, 22, who is employed in the computer technology field.
“We love to ski and have probably been on every mountain range in California, Colorado, Utah and Idaho,” Kyle says. As part of her very active church life, Kyle also conducts Bible studies for new or expectant mothers, and invites friends over to her home for Bible lessons and discussions.
We are very grateful for Kyle’s leadership as a member of our board and for her enduring positive impact on every KidWorks student she helps each week. Congratulations on being named December “Volunteer of the Month,” Kyle
By Glenn Leibowitz, volunteer writer
