Linda Glover, 2010 Woman of Achievement

   

After years as an educator and community volunteer, Woman of Achievement Linda Glover says she still thrives on working with people to create unique solutions to challenges.  “To find creative solutions while building on one another’s ideas to achieve a good solution is exciting and inspiring,” she says. Born and raised in Montana, Linda is one of four children. Her father, Albert, was an optometrist. Her mother, Phyllis, was a community volunteer.  After graduating from the University of Montana, Linda earned a master’s degree in education degree at the University of Idaho.  After teaching second grade for twelve years, Linda became an elementary school principal in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. In 1995, Linda and her husband Jay moved to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to their daughter, Blakeley.  Linda soon followed in her mother’s footsteps, volunteering as a board member for Learning Avenues Childcare Centers.

To download a high-resolution photo, right-click the image above and choose "Save Target [or Link] As."

 

There, her experience as a teacher and principal piqued her interest in being involved with an organization that provided quality childcare on a sliding fee basis for underprivileged families.

Linda stepped up her volunteer activities by working at the Holiday Shop, a seasonal retail store which, during its 10 years, raised more than $574,000 for regional nonprofit organizations. 

In 1998, as she became more involved in the store, Linda was asked to join the Holiday Shop Executive Committee. That committee then established the Gifts For Our Community nonprofit with a purpose of providing education and resources for local nonprofits.   

In an effort to raise funds to benefit more nonprofit organizations Divine Consign, a year-round furniture consignment store, was established in 2005.  Today, Divine Consign houses several programs operated by Gifts For Our Community, a nonprofit organization that provides community resources in the areas of human services, education and the arts.  Linda serves as its executive director. She is also vice president of Vancouver’s Downtown Association.

Linda believes that “Our community is fortunate to have so many strong, effective nonprofit organizations with talented, dedicated people providing quality services for their clients.”  With demand for services at an all-time high, Linda says “It is important to provide resources and support to those organizations so they can carry out their critically-needed services.”

Linda’s volunteer service extends to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Vancouver, where she served on the Vestry (Board of Directors) and as Senior Warden (Board Chairman).   During Linda’s time on the Vestry, one nominator wrote, “The church engaged a diversity consultant who guided the congregation through conversations about racial, ethnic and economic diversity…and changed the way the church thought about its calling to serve those in its diverse neighborhood.”

Linda believes that her greatest personal accomplishments -- and what she values most dearly in her life -- are her cherished 40 years of marriage and her relationships with her family and treasured friends.

One of her nominators wrote: “Linda is a rare and inspiring leader. She can dream of a project, enlist a team of volunteers who will work hard and have such a good time doing it they’ll come back again and again.”

Linda, in turn, pays tribute to those volunteers. “I’m so proud of the wonderful group of devoted volunteers that I work with who come together with such generosity of spirit each and every day,” she says.  “They do it with such joy and respect for one another and with the warmhearted feeling that comes from serving those less fortunate in our community.”

Linda adds, “Together, we can accomplish so much more than one person working alone.  In the end, we will have created something greater than any of us could have imagined.”