Published: June 25, 2009 03:39 pm      

She's fantastic: Sims-Verheyen honored for work with area children

Frost pick for Volunteer Service Award

Cynder Sims-Verheyen didn’t like school when she was growing up in Wisconsin.

Sims-Verheyen says she took a lot of teasing during her younger years because she was overweight. Not until she spent some extra time listening to the wisdom of a middle school homeroom teacher who convinced her she could eventually create her own destiny did Sims-Verheyen begin to enjoy school again.

“I was a kid that didn’t like school, and now my job is to work with kids who don’t want to go to school,” she said.

A Tunnel Hill resident and social worker for Whitfield County Schools, Sims-Verheyen was recently honored with the Louise Eddings Service Award by the Local Interagency Planning Team of Whitfield and Murray Counties, formerly the Troubled Children’s Council. The council is made up of representatives from various services agencies who collaborate to help students who are struggling with behavioral or emotional problems get social services that allow them to stay in their communities whenever possible.

“Cynder’s fantastic,” said David Moeller, president of the interagency planning team and court administrator for Whitfield County Juvenile Court.

Moeller said Sims-Verheyen made a deep impression on him during his first year as a probation officer in 2004 when she attended meetings that weren’t required to better connected with the families she served.

“She taught me what the standard was,” he said.

Sims-Verheyen has been a social worker for Whitfield County Schools for 18 years and has been a social worker for 32 years. She’s assigned to Westside Elementary, Westside Middle, Tunnel Hill Elementary, Varnell Elementary, New Hope Elementary and Dug Gap Elementary.

The planning team helps children who received therapeutic services outside the community smoothly transition back in. It also tries to secure services for children locally so that they’re sent outside their home communities only when absolutely necessary, Sims-Verheyen said.

“For years now, the goal has been to try to keep them in the community,” she said. “The kids win. Families win, and our community wins when kids get the right services and can be successful and function in the community.”



Volunteers vital



Chatsworth resident Merinda Frost was an easy pick for the organization’s Volunteer Service Award, Moeller said.

“When somebody starts up their own organization in order to help children and families in times of crisis and need, that’s something you’ve got to look at,” he said.

Frost founded Angels @ Heart Inc. in October 2006. The organization assists Murray County residents who need help with rent and utilities bills, emergency shelter and medical services.

Frost is also an American Red Cross volunteer, a member of Murray County Family Connection, member of the Murray Against Meth Task Force, chairwoman for Murray County Community Christmas, works with Habitat for Humanity in Murray County, and is active at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church.

Frost said she brings her 5-year-old son, Landon, with her to volunteer opportunities as often as possible. Her husband, Jeremy, is also supportive, and Frost plans to take her 18-month-old son, Brayden, along when he’s older, she said.

“I’m just very passionate about dealing with the issues in your own backyard,” she said.

Frost said her mother, Teresa Silvers, took her as a young child on trips to deliver groceries to local residents who needed help.

“We didn’t just do it at Christmastime,” Frost said. “We did it year round. If there was a need, then my family always helped. It was just part of growing up.”

Frost also works with KidsNet Georgia, a statewide program that assists individuals 6-21 who have emotional disorders and addictions. Her work involves helping coordinate meetings for the planning team.