For The Vista

Kids on the Rise (KOTR) have made recent changes to their administration. Donna King has been employed as the Executive Director effective September 4, and Mary Coates has been elected to the Board of Directors effective immediately.

Donna King comes to Cumberland County from Hardin County  (Savannah, Tennessee) where she began her career in education. She taught kindergarten, 1st grade, Title 1 Program, and K-5 Gifted Program for several years. She served as principal of an Elementary School for seven years before being named Director of Elementary Education in 2007. She retired from Hardin County Schools after 35 years of service on August 31.

Donna holds a B.S. in Elementary Education, a Master’s in Early Childhood Education and a Master’s in Leadership and Supervision. She is very excited to become the new KOTR Executive Director. She made the following statement after a short time in this position:

New Administrative members of KOTR are new board member Mary Coates, left, and new Executive Director Donna King.

“I have been extremely impressed by the generosity of the businesses, civic organizations, churches and individuals in Cumberland County who support Kids on the Rise in all kinds of ways. For example, I was looking at the list of donors for the annual Silent Auction fundraiser that was held in May and was amazed at the quality and quantity of items that were offered for sale.”

She continued, “KOTR appreciates everyone very much who gives so willingly of his or her time and resources. We are all about kids in Cumberland County and could not provide a quality program for them without this support. We thank you all very, very much.”

New Board member, Mary Coates, and her husband Barry moved to Cumberland County from Frederick, Maryland in 2007. Mary’s professional background is human resource management.

Mary and Barry were KOTR mentors for three years and found the experience very insightful and rewarding. Mary currently works part time for Avalon Center as the coordinator. She and Barry are anxiously awaiting the birth of their first grandson.

Mary Coates joins the following members on the KOTR Board: President Josh Stone, Vice-President Deanna Magdich, Secretary John Sohmer, Treasurer Ben Whitson, Board members Dave Farney, Art Gernt II, Patsy Thompson-Horst, Suni Nelson, Gene Skipworth, Ken Steadman and Andrea van Rekom.

Please call Executive Director Donna King to learn more about how you can help at 459-2388.