Shelley worked fifteen years as a special friend, teacher’s aide, librarian, and substitute aide in special education. Her interest in child behavior and alternative methods of response for in-school and at-home discipline, lead to her library becoming a go-to-place, incorporating positive interaction with necessary intervention as it related to children who had experienced trauma. Shelley was a school liaison for youth-to-senior programs, and participated in the Tuolumne County Teen Pregnancy Program, organizing and transporting groups of students to do volunteer work at elder care facilities and to help teens in need. In 1991, Shelley became an advocate for children with life-threatening illnesses. Today, she remains involved with health care concerns, homelessness, is a founding member of Resiliency Village and the RV Secretary/Treasurer. Shelley is also a writer, the focus of her work being social and environmental consciousness in both fiction and nonfiction genres. She has published four books and contributed short stories to various literary journals.
Director – Jamestown Family Resource Center, Resiliency Village and Blue Mountain Radio, Storyteller, Drummer, Radio Show Host, Community Activist. Mark has served children and families on the margins for over 25 years. Mark has been the director of the Jamestown Family Resource Center for the past sixteen years. He is also the homeless and foster student education liaison for the Tuolumne County Superintendent of Schools, a trustee for the Vallecito Union School District Board and a founding director of Resiliency Village. He is a trainer and motivational public speaker on the topics of trauma informed education, homelessness, community activism and related subjects. Mark has toured the country and the world as the drummer in his family band, Clan Dyken for over thirty years. Using music, stories and the power of the drum in service to the causes of peace and social justice he brings people together with a strong heartbeat, whether he’s setting the pace for the full rock band in front of a crowd of thousands at a music festival or in a solo performance in a small intimate setting. He is the host of the weekly radio show Heart and Soul on Blue Mountain Community Radio, a station he helped to found and build in Calaveras County. On the show he explores a theme or topic every week with music, stories and a variety of media.
Colette Such has spent her life in service to her community. Thirty years as a heath care professional, including twenty years in management at Tuolumne General Hospital, then to VNA-Hospice as Palliative Care Program Administrator. In these roles Colette learned fiscal responsibility and her compassion only deepened; she learned that those with less would often need more from us and that no matter how divergent a person’s beliefs, we can find a shared humanity. After retirement, a new chapter at the Columbia College Foundation where she found a love for the work and its daily miracle. She currently is serving her eighth year on the Columbia College Foundation board, having served four of those eight years as board president. Colette was elected to the Sonora City Council in 2018, never considering that pubic office would be a part of this introvert’s life journey and is only grateful for the opportunity to grow and stretch and, again, to serve. It’s been the culmination of her life’s work and a call to action.
Colette will bring the same dedication, integrity and heart as she serves on the Resiliency Village board. It, too, is a call to action.
A quote included in Colette’s Resiliency Village Board application that resonates deeply…
“When wealth is passed off as merit, bad luck is seen as bad character. But poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live.” (Sarah Kendzior)
Robert Gelman is an entrepreneur, author, editor, musician, interactive media developer, and producer of large events, including conferences, trade shows, and festivals. He has also held senior marketing positions and consultancies with leading publishing and software companies. Among Robert’s achievements were significant management positions in the Expo group of Cahners Business Information, and Director of Development for Miller Freeman Expositions. He co- founded the CyberArts International Festivals, produced several Digital Be-ins, and played a key role in the Wholelife Expos, including creating the spectacular “Sephira, Cirque of the Soul” at Wholelife Expo 2013 in Chicago. As an Internet entrepreneur, he was responsible for the development of hundreds of pioneering websites, including AOL (with musician Thomas Dolby) in the 1990s and early 2000s. He is the main author of the groundbreaking book, “Protecting Yourself Online,” (Harper Collins). Since relocating to Sonora, he has produced numerous community-wide events, including the Spirit.Mind/Body Expos, plus several for the Foothill Collaborative for Sustainability (FoCuS), as well as concerts and dance performances.
Joseph is the treasurer on the Chicken Ranch Rancheria Tribal Council, and has been a part of tribal government all his life. This role allows him to get experience from a number of different industries, including; government policy, economic development, cultural preservation, and community outreach. He also serves on the Mathiesen Memorial Health Center’s board of directors as chairperson, which is a nonprofit clinic owned by the tribe providing compassionate and high quality medical care to its community.