2
3
1

Meet The Leaders

Gina Ruark
Chicktime Grand Rapids Managing Leader
grandrapids@chicktime.com

 

Why I serve a leadership role with Chicktime:
I’ve been working at an organization that serves kids in residential treatment and foster care for most of my career.  While my role is in technology, I’ve always enjoyed opportunities to interact with the teens and mentor them. I started serving with Chicktime because I loved the premise of women sharing their gifts with children who need strong role models.  I’d seen the impact that safe adult mentors have on the kids I already serve, and the joy that comes from seeing kids from broken situations have the opportunity to be kids.  (Sometimes that includes the adults as well.). I accepted a leadership position with Chicktime when the need arose, but I firmly believe every volunteer is a leader in her own right.

 

My passion and gifts:
I am passionate about helping people know the love of Christ. I’m passionate about getting things done well and encouraging the best in people.  I’m also a technical superhero.

Hobbies and interests:
Some of my hobbies include martial arts, web design, traveling, hiking, and photographing my favorite bands. From a young age, I’ve been a huge music fan.  I play several instruments and can name most classic rock or Christian songs within one measure.  I also love creating art, critiquing art, and pretending to be an artist.

 

 Jacquelyn Ducat
Chicktime Grand Rapids Co-Leader
ducatj@cooley.edu
616-550-7325

 

Why I serve a leadership role with Chicktime:
I have always had a heart for serving others and I came across Chicktime as a volunteer opportunity through work. After my first volunteer event with them, I knew I wanted to become more involved in the work that Chicktime strives to do. I myself am a survivor of abuse and I have come to find in my own healing process that serving others and giving back to the community fills my cup up. I have a strong desire to make a positive impact in others lives and Chicktime helps me fulfill that purpose which is why I chose to accept a leadership role with them.

 

Hobbies & Interests:
My hobbies and interest include playing with my five year old son and soon to be step-daughter who is four. I like staying active, mostly by working out and running. I enjoy reading and being outside. I like to volunteer my time to things bigger than myself.

 

Passions & Gifts:
My passion is the law. I just graduated from law school and have aspirations once I am licensed to be an attorney for criminal law and family law. I am also a strong advocate for mental health and using nutrition, fitness, and therapy to improve and create a strong mind. I’ve taken what I’ve learned with my own mental health struggles and turned it into a platform to try and help domestic violence survivors see that there is life beyond abuse and that it is possible to rebuild your life after bad things happen as long as you use and choose the necessary resources.

 

Michaele Lockard
Chicktime Grand Rapids Co-Leader
michaele.lockard@gmail.com
616-644-6603

 

Why I serve a leadership role with Chicktime:
My daughter asked me the other day, “When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?”  I told her, “I wanted to be a mom.”  She didn’t understand at first that I did not want a specific career or anything like that, my desire was to be a mom.  I wanted to run a foster home with a dozen children at a time and invest in the lives of the ones who feel forgotten and unwanted.  Well, I am a mom and I LOVE it.  I’m the Amazon Prime mom, not the Pinterest mom.  My life did not go as I planned at ten (shocker) but I do look for ways to still invest in people’s lives.  Chicktime gives me the opportunity to invest in kids who may feel ‘less than’ and do not trust that someone actually cares about them.  I hope to shine just a little bit of light into their life.

 

Hobbies & Interests:
I enjoy a good spa day, fiction novels, horseback riding, boating, and traveling.

 

Passions & Gifts:
My passion is investing in others, so I spend a lot of time building relationships.  I am naturally gifted at leading people and helping solve a problem.

 

Chicktime Grand Rapids:
Volunteer Coordinator- Gina Ruark
Facebook Manager- Jacquelyn Ducat
Website Monitor- Jacquelyn Ducat
Calendar Manager- Gina Ruark
Treasurer- Michaele Lockard
Rising Managing Leader- Jacquelyn Ducat