ABOUT US
The Rockwood Center emerged from a 2016 vision to impact the Rockwood community in meaningful ways. In the winter of 2017, a team of people, largely from Gresham United Methodist Church, began to transform Rockwood United Methodist Church into the Rockwood Center. The Rockwood Center built on the relationship established by the Rockwood United Methodist Church and continue the mission to reach into the community with love.
Gresham United Methodist Church, the Rockwood United Methodist Church, and the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference provided initial funding to establish the Rockwood Center. Numerous volunteers assisted the transformation of the space and the upgrading of the building.
Rockwood United Methodist Church had already established a relationship with SnowCap, an east county food program that is located on the back of the property. The church’s spirit of giving has now enabled two wonderful ministries to be present in the Rockwood community.
The central vision of the new Rockwood Center was to engage the growing needs of the community for venue space, art and music programs, entrepreneurial opportunities and educational programs. We continue to work with our community and leaders to respond to the needs of the Rockwood community.
The Rockwood Center is stewarded by Gresham United Methodist Ministries (GUMM), which is a religious non-profit, 501 (c)3 organization.
MEET OUR TEAM
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
We have a team of diverse, passionate, and faithful leaders who serve alongside our neighbors in Rockwood.
Staff
Audrie Klawuhn
Venue Coordinator
Audrie started off as a Marketing Intern at The Rockwood Center and has transitioned to the role of Venue Coordinator. Alongside this position she is pursuing a degree at Mt. Hood Community College in Business Management: Mobile Application Development and Marketing.
About Audrie
Jesus Ayala
Janitor
Avimaela Tello
Director
Avi is passionate about serving her community and investing in the next generation. As a Certified Community Health Worker and Children’s Sunday School and VBS Director, she is dedicated to making a meaningful impact alongside others who share her heart for service.
She is married and a proud mother of three beautiful children. Avi enjoys staying busy with creative and hands-on activities that reflect her love for learning and creating.
About Avimaela
Board
Adam Jenkins
President
Adam's life's work is to develop creative housing options, providing youth with choices when they need housing services. They are a theologically trained, interdisciplinary thinker who continually learns. Adam also enjoys fishing, hiking, camping, and snowboarding with their wife, Abbie, throughout the greater Pacific Northwest.
About Adam
Ali Conant
Secretary
Ali is one of the newest board members of the Rockwood Center. She brings with her a background in finance, human resources and non-profit fundraising. Ali was driven to support the Rockwood Center by her faith and the family values. She is a single mother of a toddler boy and believes that a community is the foundation for a child's development.
About Ali
Sandra Hernandes
Board Member
Dr. Sandra Helena Hernandes, Ph.D., M.Ed.,
Founder of Doulas Latinas International, Oregon Community Doulas Association (ORCDA), ACHE' Alliance for Childbearing and Collective Health Equity. She is a psychologist, Popular Educator and Theatre of the Oppressed director with a vision for equity humanized birth on Perinatal Psychology (APPPAH). Co-creator of OHEA Oregon Health Equity Alliance (former POCHEC) and CHARLA, Collective Health Advocacy for Radical Latinos and Africans, has served at Oregon Governor's Commission, and the THW Commission. Currently she is researching with Latino and Black communities, and partners, on issues of trauma, perinatal and postpartum depression to create the ATRIZ-MATRIX curriculum aiming to prevent intergenerationalepigenetics on human health.
About Sandra
Laurie Monnes Anderson
Board Member
Retired public health nurse and Oregon State Senator, Senate Pro Tempore, Chair of Oregon Senate Health Care Committee, Senate Chair of Veterans Committee, Senate Business and Labor Committee, and Senate Human Services Committee, Housing Committee, Oregon Child Care Commission, Oregon Women’s Commission, Public Health Advisory Committee, Oregon Child Abuse Assessment Advisory Council, Gresham/Barlow School Board and a Grandmother of Andrew and Rachel, and Mom to Dusty, my cockapoo
Loves Oregon Coast
About Laurie
Michael Vest
Trustee
As a retired professional engineer, Mike still enjoys solving problems and building things. Now he has shifted to volunteer work, not only with the Rockwood Center, but also with his local church and neighborhood. Mike believes investment in people is the best investment of all. He fully supports the Rockwood Community Center’s work to connect with the local community and provide the needed resources to show God’s love and support for all.
About Michael
The Founders
Early in 2017 LaVerne Lewis, Adam Jenkins, Stephan Ross, and Steve Lewis met to form Gresham United Methodist Ministries (GUMM); the non-profit that stewards The Rockwood Center. Shortly thereafter the remaining members of Rockwood United Methodist Church (RUMC) voted to transfer ownership of their former building to the newly formed organization for creative community engagement and a vision for 21st century ministry. Steve Lewis became the first president of the organization, LaVerne Lewis served as its treasurer and later as the first director, and Adam Jenkins served as its secretary. The 21st-century ministry vision was largely that of Steve Lewis, encouraging fellow organizers to think of the center as a laboratory of learning and a new model for mainline denominations to follow. That vision is continued today by the current president, Adam Jenkins, serving alongside the amazing staff who make it all happen. We build a better Rockwood, together.
