Front Row: Bonnie Stevenson, Aurora Hynes, Teresa Carter, Cheri Liggett, Sandy Culver, & Barb Flynn
Back Row: John Flynn, Rev. Mike Gray, Pastor Brad Cooper, Amanda Bowers, Tracy Liggett, Brandon Whipple, & Shannon Barnes

Executive Director Shannon S. Barnes

Shannon and her husband Steve were married in 1978 and have three children. She graduated from Kansas University School of Nursing in 1984, and worked from then until March, 2009 as a Newborn Intensive Care staff Registered Nurse. She served on various committees in the hospital and participated regularly in process improvement activities to support improving patient care.
Shannon additionally graduated from Kansas City Kansas School of Mortuary Arts in 1998 with an associate degree in Mortuary Science. She worked in standard mortuaries in Wichita and Valley Center then founded Agape’Care Cradle, a nonprofit mortuary and Christian ministry specialized to intensively care for families who have suffered the loss of a baby family member. She is currently the Executive Director of the organization, and continues to directly deliver program services that support families through this most difficult life situation through education, advocacy, and resource acquisition including access to emotional, physical and spiritual care. Shannon holds current RN, Kansas Funeral Director and Embalmer licenses and when not working, enjoys activities with her family, periodic volunteering with children’s ministries at church and occasionally volunteers for health service organizations. Her hobbies include horseback riding and driving in harness, art projects, writing and reading.

Amanda Bowers

Amanda and her husband Josh were married in 2003 and have five young children which includes one deceased child born in 2005 and only surviving a few hours before her untimely death. Amanda graduated from Wichita State University in 2002 with a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and a minor in Economics. She worked from 1997 to 2003 for Wichita Canteen Company as an office assistant and worked with AIG SunAmerica in 2003 to 2005 as a certified financial representative. In 2005, she was nominated and selected to be a part of Leadership Wichita.
Currently, Amanda and her husband own their own lawn care/landscaping business in which she handles all the bookkeeping/accounting. The raising of her children plays a major role in her life right now and her experience with the death of an infant motivates her to have a hands on approach with the success of Agape’Care Cradle.

Teresa L. Carter

Teresa L. Carter is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a BS in Accounting and Marketing. As WMREF Controller, Teresa is responsible for the financial business of the Foundation, from the day-to-day accounting operations, preparation of monthly financial statements to oversight of the Foundation’s investment portfolio for the Board of Directors. Teresa came to WMREF, in 1995, as a part-time staff accountant. Teresa also serves on the Foundation’s Educational Grant Review Committee which has responsibility for the Foundation’s educational funding priorities. Prior to working at the Foundation, Teresa was an Accounting Manager at Koch Industries for 14 years. Teresa also holds a CPA certificate from the State of Kansas.

Pastor Brad Cooper

Brad Cooper and wife Robyn have been married for 31 years and have two married daughters, Taryn (husband Jeff) and Tristyn (husband Greg). Brad’s three year old grandson Gabriel (Tristyn’s child) welcomed a new baby sister Jenny who was born January 28, 2009.

Brad began his career in 1979 working as an Advertising Representative and then General Manager and Publisher of daily newspapers in Bonham, Texas and Alva, Oklahoma from 1979-1983. Before becoming a full time minister in 1996, he served as Regional Vice President of Emergent Business Capital, a small business lending company headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina and worked 13 years in the financial services industry in commercial lending and marketing.

Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Tabor College in 2001 with a Bachelors of Science, majoring in Christian Ministry and founded Cross Road Fellowship Bible Church in 2002 at 7315 W. 13th St. in Wichita. Pastor Brad serves as senior pastor at Crossroad FBC now serving 650 members. Prior to this Pastor Brad served from 1996 to 2002 as Pastor of Business and Finance at Central Community Church, Wichita. Prior to founding Crossroad FBC, Brad served on a variety of Boards over the past 30 years.

Sandy Culver

Sandy and her husband Lorin married in 1974 and have 3 daughters and 8 grand children. Sandy became the Administrative Assistant to the Youth Pastor at Wichita First Church of the Nazarene in August 2005. Before that Sandy worked at Wesley Medical Center in the Neonatology office where she became acquainted with Shannon Barnes, who worked in the newborn intensive care unit at Wesley, and worked with Shannon when AgapeCaré Cradle was still just a dream for her. Sandy became reacquainted with Agape’Care Cradle again after Shannon contacted one of the pastors at the church. The organization especially needed administrative and printing support then. Sandy stepped in and assisted, and since then has regularly volunteered providing these and other types of support and assists regularly helping with details needed for events.

Barb Flynn

Barb Flynn is currently a resident of Wichita, KS., where she has lived for a little over 6 years. She has three children; Nicole is 30 years old, married and lives in New Jersey. Nicole has blessed Barb with 2 beautiful grandchildren (Brayden and Noah). Lindsey is 22 years old, a recent graduate of Wichita State University and employed by a hospital group in Philadelphia, PA. working with cardiac rehabilitation patients. Jake is a sophomore at Kansas State University majoring in history, and is on an ROTC scholarship with aspirations to be an Army Ranger Officer.
Barb is active in the community and church. She is participating in a weekly bible study group through Westlink Christian Church and has been involved in mission work in New Orleans, LA. with Saint Elizabeth’s Catholic Church. Barb volunteers her time with the Special Olympics and is also a very active member of the Luca John Foundation, a foundation which helps support families affected by the loss of infants. The Luca John Foundation is named after Barb’s grandson Luca, who passed away at birth. Barb has also recently volunteered with the Agape’Care Cradle fundraising activities.

John Flynn

John Flynn is currently a resident of Wichita, KS., where he has lived for a little over 6 years. He has three children; Nicole is 30 years old, married and lives in New Jersey. Nicole has blessed John with 2 beautiful grandchildren (Brayden and Noah). Lindsey is 22 years old, a recent graduate of Wichita State University and employed by a hospital group in Philadelphia, PA. working with cardiac rehabilitation patients. Jake is a sophomore at Kansas State University majoring in history, and is on an ROTC scholarship with aspirations to be an Army Ranger Officer.
John is employed by Cargill and is a Vice President of Sales. John is involved in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, Lose the Training Wheels program (teaches handicapped children how to ride a 2 wheel bicycle), Special Olympics program, and is on the Board of Directors of the Luca John Foundation, which was formed after John’s grandson Luca passed away at birth. John has also volunteered to support fundraising efforts for the Agape’Care Cradle.

Rev. Michael Gray

Michael has pastored the Rivercrest Free Methodist Community Church since 1996 and has served in ministry since 1972. He and his wife, Leila, have been married forty years and have two adult children, Matthew and Michele. Michael has a bachelor’s degree in Religion/Philosophy and two graduate degrees in Christian Ministries and Social Gerontology. He has volunteered in several community organizations, e.g. Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Love INC. Michael is glad to serve on the Agape’Care Board of Directors as he is passionate about giving hurting people a clear demonstration of hope and love given by Jesus Christ.”

Aurora Hynes

Aurora Hynes is the mother of 2 children and a child (named Marisela) who was born on November 23, 1973 but unfortunately died just five days later on November 28. Aurora also has 5 grandchildren. She worked as a phlebotomist for 15 years in various hospital settings and clinics. Aurora grew up in South Texas, leaving the Valley in 1989 and moved to Wichita.

In Wichita she worked as a phlebotomist at St. Joseph Regional Hospital then on request from pathologist join their group as an assistant, where she worked with frozen sections and assisted with autopsies. While working in these settings, she planned finish nursing classes however chose to not complete due to demands of single parenting two young teenagers.

Aurora re-married in l996 and went to live in Germany with her husband there for several years, traveling back and forth to the States to visit her children, who were by then having children of their own. She appreciated learning different cultures and different languages. On returning to the States, Aurora chose not to continue in the medical field but went to work for Raytheon Flight Safety as an admin and within a (5) year period, working in several positions, one of them bing an interpreter to the Latin American and German pilots. It was thru this avenue that she asked her boss to provide her with flying lesson so that I could have a better understanding of how an airplane works and flies and therefore be a better translator in the avionics field. Through this she achieved getting her private pilot’s license.

Aurora was layed off but hired later on with Cargill in 2002. She took several roles there, starting out in the Beef Internationl transportation, and decided to finish school, graduating from Friend’s University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s in Business Management. Later she had the opportunity to move to Louisiana and took a job there as Inside Sales with Cargill Salt, working there almost 1 1/2 years until her daughter got sick and she had to move back to Wichita. She took a job with Oilseed as an Account Manager trading and selling oil for Cargill until being laid off again July, 2009. She then hired on and is presently working in the IT department for Koch Industries. Aurora looks forward to where the Lord will take her from here.

Cheri Liggett

Cheri Liggett and her husband Tracy were married in 2006. They have experienced the loss of two children, a girl and a boy, both of whom were born prematurely and served by Agape’Care Cradle. They have four living children, three from Cheri’s previous marriage. Cheri is currently a stay at home mom working on finishing her AA in Business Administration degree at the end of 2010, as well as studying for her Assistant Funeral Director’s license. She has been a volunteer with ACC since 2007 and looks forward to serving at a greater capacity. She has previously worked in the Commercial Insurance Industry, as well as owned and operated her own home daycare. She has been involved in many different areas of her church including, small group leader, children’s Wednesday night leader, Sunday school teacher, BSF and MOPS. She served as Girl Scout leader for four years and was a member of Toastmasters. She enjoys reading and spending time with her family.

Tracy Liggett

Tracy and his wife Cheri have been married since 2006. They have four children, Kristian, Emily, Joshua and Olivia. They have also lost two children, Annie Grace in 2007, and Thomas William in 2008. He and his family attend Central Community Church where he enjoys being a part of small groups. Tracy attained an AS degree in Computer Science with honors from Pace University where he achieved membership in the Alpha Chi honors society. He also earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Systems from Friends University where he is currently attending the Masters of Management Information Systems Program. He is employed at Coalition Computing Corporation as a Consultant/Analyst. Prior to his current position, he was employed at AT&T for nine years. Tracy has volunteered for Agape’Care Cradle since the loss of their daughter Annie Grace and would like to expand his services to the organization. Some of Tracy’s hobbies include deer hunting, taking his wife on their annual “honeymoon” turkey hunt, volunteering as a coach on their son’s baseball team and doing projects on their home.

President Bonnie Stephenson

Bonnie Stephenson is the current President of the Board of Directors for Agape’Care Cradle, Inc. Her involvement with Agape’Care Cradle began when she was recommended by a Professor of Friend’s University to help Agape’ Care Cradle develop a business plan. In May 2004, Bonnie obtained her Master’s Degree in Business Administration at Friend’s University and was one of the top students in her graduating class, carrying a 4.0 grade point average. She is also employed full-time by Cargill Meat Solutions in Wichita, KS, as the Transportation Services Manager responsible for overseeing all Customer Service, TMS Systems and Claims management for all CMS locations within the US, Canada and Mexico. Bonnie has been employed with Cargill for 28 years and has held several different management positions within the beef, pork and turkey product lines that were all related to customer service and transportation operations. She served two terms on the Cargill Women’s Council and is a Six Sigma Champion within the Cargill organization. She has organized and led many different teams and committees within Cargill to successful completion. She was a member of Toastmasters for 3 years which helped develop her speaking and writing skills, and even won a local competition in giving a humorous speech. She placed third in regional competition.

Other than extensive transportation and customer service skills, Bonnie’s talents and skills include strategic planning, teambuilding and organization, people development, financial accounting, analysis and time management skills, and is able to motivate others to successfully complete goals. Bonnie has owned, operated and sold a successful vending machine business while being employed by Cargill.

Outside of Cargill and the volunteer work that she does for Agape’Care Cradle, Bonnie is a member of Ascension Lutheran Church and has been a volunteer in the Stephen Ministry Christian Care-Giving program since 1999. She has been a volunteer in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program since 2008. She also volunteers to teach cake decorating classes for the Kechi, KS 4-H club and has assisted them as a judge for their cake decorating contests. She is married and has four married children, three of which, live in Oklahoma and Texas and a stepson serving in the US Air Force. She also has fourteen grandchildren. Her hobbies include enjoying the outdoors, reading and cake decorating. She specializes in wedding cakes, but enjoys creating artistic works of art with any cake.

Brandon Whipple

Brandon Whipple is a graduate of Wichita State University, where he received a Bachelors degree in Sociology with a Minor in Psychology as well as a Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies which focused on Cross-Cultural Studies and Public Administration. He has also obtained a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (post-Masters degree) in Educational Leadership from Plymouth State College. While a student at WSU, he worked in the social services sector as an advocate for at risk students. During his final semester of his MA, Brandon worked at the Cloud Forest school in Costa Rica, teaching local students and studying the community development implications of the school. After this he performed Ecological research with the diverse populations of Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama. From this experience he authored a paper comparing the health care policies of these Central American countries.

Brandon is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Arts in Leadership and Policy Studies at Franklin Pierce University. His research focuses to promote an increase of under-represented population in Higher Education, particularly students with ADD/ mild learning disabilities. Brandon spent the last year teaching Social Sciences and Liberal Arts at Hesser College. He is now on sabbatical as he completes his Dissertation and looks to further his commitment to community service through political action. He is currently running for the Kansas State House of Representatives in the 96th District.

Brandon and his wife, Chelsea, are proud owners of a miniature pinscher named Nala and are enjoying their first house purchased in October of 2009. Brandon knows firsthand of the emotional impact the loss of a child can have on a family as his sister has had six children with only one living. He has personally handled the funeral and burial services of one of his nephews and from that experience has prompted him to be more involved in ACCI.