Charlene’s drive to create healthy communities has deep roots.  She has now come full circle in being able to use her diverse skills & experience in her current work on the Smart Coast Healthy Coastal Communities Initiative. Charlene grew up riding horses and experimenting with how many flips in a row she could do on her backyard trampoline. Her interest in athletics led to her first job after graduating from Auburn as a physical education & health instructor in an Atlanta high school. Coaching the high school varsity gymnastics team led to 15 years of directing a gymnastics school and coaching teams. Next, she spent a number of years directing adventure therapy programs in adolescent psychiatry and alternative juvenile justice settings.  Also, she facilitated experimental team building sessions for clients ranging from adult & youth leadership groups, nonprofit, corporate, to elected officials.

 She spearheaded a year-long project that culminated in over 3,000 people joining together for one week to build an incredibly creative community park in Fairhope that has since been duplicated in a number of other communities.  The park was designed, paid for, and built totally by the grassroots efforts of volunteers. Thousands of children & their families visit the park each year. Now Charlene’s passion is to reestablish a culture of students walking to school once again and to foster communities’ being safe for everyone who wants to walk or cycle.  Smart Coast has a goal to establish a daily Walking School Bus program that can then be replicated by other communities.

Carla  moved to the Alabama coast in Sept 2009 from Maine where she grew up.  She taught high school history for almost 19 years and raised a family while pursuing her other many varied interests.  She loves the outdoors and she and her husband took up hiking in 2004.  She is also a bit of a fitness “addict” and runs, bikes, and plays tennis on a regular basis.  She became acquainted with Smart Coast just before the inaugural LuLus Smart Ride in 2010 and when a job with AmeriCorps Vista opened up, decided that she wanted to help Smart Coast in its endeavors. After fulfilling her year with AmeriCorps, Carla has become the Program Director for the Green Coast Council, a Smart Coast initiative.  She lives in Daphne with her husband and youngest daughter while her oldest daughter resides in Maine.

Smart Coast Volunteer Coordinator: June LaVernway

June has lived and travelled through much of the United States. She became involved in volunteer management in 1986, when she was Director of Volunteers, Youth, and Senior Services for the Greater Miami American Red Cross. Smart Coast and the area are blessed that June has now settled in Fairhope and brought her valuable experience with her. She is well qualified to be Smart Coast’s Volunteer Coordinator as she comes with a diverse background of helping people to engage in their communities.  Her resume includes recruitment, training and directing volunteers in numerous settings, including health care centers, hospitals, foundations, senior centers, and community organizations in such locations as Florida, Baldwin County, Mobile, and New Mexico. When June is not busy coordinating volunteers, you can find her creating beautiful gardens spaces, reading, doing genealogy, creating art or writing poetry.