From the Desk of Ashley Opliger, Executive Director:
I am excited to announce that our administrative volunteers have new titles to better fit their roles within the organization. Amanda Farris and MaKayla White are two of the most selfless people I know. They are invaluable members of our team, and we couldn't be more grateful for their humble service to grieving families through the ministry of Bridget's Cradles.
As our team has grown and changed over the past year, we evaluated Amanda and MaKayla's roles and felt that their titles no longer reflected what they were actually doing on a daily and weekly basis.
Amanda, who has served as our Director of Operations for the past five years, began to shift into working on projects specific to communications and marketing (to our bases of volunteers, hospitals, donors, and bereaved families). In 2020, right before having twin girls, Amanda trained MaKayla on many of the day-to-day operations she previously had handled.
MaKayla quickly learned our systems and processes and began taking on higher-level tasks. Previously our Administrative Assistant, she became the backbone of our local operations team during the 2020 pandemic.
We wanted to honor MaKayla's loyalty and commitment and give her the title of Director of Operations, and change Amanda's title to Director of Marketing and Communications. We feel these titles better reflect their unique skills and the tasks/projects they frequently work on.
I am incredibly honored to serve with each of these amazing women of the Lord. They are smart, kind, loving, and generous. Bridget's Cradles is beyond blessed to have them on our team. I would love for you to hear from each of them about what they do in our organization and why it is so important to them!
From the Desk of Amanda Farris, Director of Marketing and Communications:
When I joined the Bridget’s Cradles team five and a half years ago, I never could have imagined all of the plans that God had in store for the organization (and for me as well)!
In the early days of the ministry, in my initial role as Director of Operations, Ashley and I worked together to grow our volunteer and recipient hospital bases and establish many of the behind-the-scenes systems and policies for our volunteers and hospitals.
I was also blessed to be involved with the planning of each Wave of Light event since 2016. During my time as a volunteer with Bridget’s Cradles – from serving less than 50 hospitals to now over 1,100 hospitals - I’ve seen God work in incredible ways!
In 2019, Ashley and I redesigned the Bridget’s Cradles website and rebranded all of our digital and print documents. During that time, I found a passion for graphic design and was able to create our first-ever Annual Report.
Fast forward to 2021: I am blessed to be a mom to twin girls. Serving God and grieving families through the mission of Bridget’s Cradles continues to be extremely important to me. But as you can imagine, I have less time these days!
In my new role as Director of Marketing and Communications, I am focused on website/graphic design, email communications, and marketing for the organization. Though my role as a volunteer for Bridget’s Cradles has changed, I feel honored to continue serving bereaved families and hospitals under Ashley’s amazing leadership and alongside the kindest and most generous volunteers in the world!
From the Desk of MaKayla White, Director of Operations:
I have been serving at Bridget’s cradles for over a year, and I am honored to serve grieving families in my role as Director of Operations.
My role consists mostly of cradle processing and volunteer correspondence. I process cradles coming in from all our nationwide knitting/crocheting volunteers, as well as cradles that have been finished and tagged by our local volunteers.
I also process hospital donations and communicate with hospitals who request the finished cradles. Other tasks include processing donations made to Bridget’s Cradles along with other various administrative projects.
One of the things I love about my role is seeing how many people, both locally and across the nation, are so committed to serving grieving families through this ministry.
I have seen hundreds of lovely and unique cradles created with such care for these families and their sweet babies. I am honored to be a part of a process that provides such a gift of hope to these families.
Left to Right: Amanda Farris, Ashley Opliger, MaKayla White
Bridget's Cradles is beyond blessed to have such amazing women serving in administrative roles within the organization. We wouldn't be where we are today without Amanda and MaKayla's dedication to our mission of serving bereaved families.
Will you join me in thanking Amanda and MaKayla for their volunteer service to Bridget's Cradles in the comments below?
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