The kids have a nickname for Kendra Hayes, the new Program Manager at St. Vincent de Paul Louisville’s Family Success Center (FSC).

“They call me principal. That’s so funny,” said Hayes, a mother of two teenage daughters. “I guess they call me that because they see me handling and doing everything at the FSC.”

By starting just before summer programming and then promptly launching into SVDP’s after-school program, Hayes hasn’t had a lot of downtime.

“Kendra hit the ground running with summer and after-school programming, meeting vendors, making schedules, and managing her staff,” said Julio Anthony, SVDP’s Associate Director of Community Support. “With her background in youth development, she has been able to implement her own style of grace and purpose. The summer is typically the most demanding season, so she stepped up to the plate and picked up where I left off. We are blessed to have her.”

Hayes sees so much potential for the FSC to come alongside parents and students because the ripple effect of a strong family is a flourishing society.

“I just want the kids to feel like this is a place that they would want to come to,” Hayes added. “I’m stern with them, and I do have the whole mother tone and look … I was worried that they wouldn’t feel comfortable around me, but they give me a hug every day and say, ‘See you tomorrow.’”

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Source: St. Vincent de Paul Louisville October 2023 Good Samaritan Newsletter