Meet Our Staff and Board

Corinne received her MSW degree in August of 2014 from Southern Adventist University. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services from Tennessee Wesleyan College. Corinne has served as a social worker in the Bradley community for over 15 years. Corinne seeks to engage individuals and communities across socio-economic barriers to help families and children move beyond poverty. She seeks to serve others in a way that reflects love and compassion for all, striving to be obedient to scripture such as 1 Peter 4:10, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Jamie has been married to Cleveland native, Lesley Avery since 1996. They have two sons, Judah and Noah.

Before coming to The Caring Place, Jamie served as Senior Pastor of Parkview Church of God in Natchez, MS. He has been honored to serve in various capacities in both ministry and administration. Through his experiences he has been able to learn and develop many leadership and administrative skills. His desire is to empower others to accomplish their goals while fulfilling the mission and vision of The Caring Place.

One of his greatest passions is to see people come to know and grow in their relationship with Christ.

Sidney was drawn to social work from the moment her parents became licensed foster parents when she was in high school. Since then, she has pursued both education and employment within the non-profit field. As the Director of Case Management at The Caring Place, Sidney values the opportunity to walk alongside neighbors who are looking to reach stability goals while also helping with basic needs. She believes that this is a critical part of “meeting needs with love” as the Gospel consistently depicts Jesus meeting both spiritual and physical needs.

During his time at Lee, Ethan was involved with a number of student leadership opportunities and clubs such as the Pro-life club, the Student Leadership Council, was a student mentor for Lee’s Center for Student Success, as well as a transfer student transition mentor. Ethan has also completed two Summer internships as a United Way VISTA at the Lee University Leonard Center and the Museum at 5 Points in downtown Cleveland.

In his free time, Ethan enjoys spending time in nature, especially hiking. He also meets with friends regularly to play tabletop games.

She was employed at CPQ Professional Imaging for 37 years, most of which was spent as Customer Service and Special Accounts Manager. Most recently, Kay was employed for 4 years by Santek Waste Services, LLC as HR Admin and Risk Manager.

Kay started serving the Lord at a young age, singing in a Gospel trio with her sisters, traveling around to churches in Tennessee and surrounding states. Kay has also served in her local church as Teacher and Choir Director and various other positions down through the years.

Kay has always appreciated The Caring Place Ministry and has participated in local food drives for The Caring Place. She is thankful that the Lord has “opened the door” for her to be here at this time and feels honored to be a small part of this great ministry that is changing lives every day.

In addition to serving the local church, Dr. Smartt is a part-time professor of business ethics at Lee University, an adjunct professor of bioethics for the School of Theology at Grand Canyon University, and has been a visiting professor of marriage and family at the Kiev Theological Seminary in Kiev, Ukraine. He also serves as a hospital chaplain for Tennova Healthcare. He and his wife Cheryl have four adult children, three daughters-in-law and four grandchildren.

Bio Coming Soon

Tom is the Director of Produce/Floral Operations for Cooke’s Food Store, and Fresh n’ Low Cost Plus. Tom has worked in the grocery business for 40 years and is a Cleveland, Tennessee native. A graduate of Bradley High School, he also attended Cleveland State Community College. Tom has been married to Shirlee for 29 years, they attend services at The International House of Fire Church in Cleveland. They have four wonderful children and 2 lovely granddaughters.

Bio Coming Soon

Antoinette “Toni” Miles has over three decades of business and leadership development experience with for profit and not for profit organizations. She is the founder of Transforming Greatness where she offers faith-based principles coaching, facilitation and speaking engagements. In addition to her private coaching and consulting practice, Antoinette “Toni” Miles is a mentor/coach for Judy Jacobs Tuttle’s International Institute of Mentoring.

She holds a BA degree in Theology from the Life Christian University, Tampa Florida and a BS degree in Public Relations from Western Kentucky University. Antoinette also holds several certifications as a Noble Design Coach, Discovery Purpose Specialist, FriendRaising Expert and Faith Career Advisor. But her greatest roles are Mother and Daughter.

Bio coming soon.

Gary L. Riggins completed his doctoral studies in Educational Psychology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with post graduate studies at the University of Florida and the University of Louisville. He is a long time professional educator with experiences in the classroom in three states and 17 difference countries. For the last 26 years, he has been a Professor of Educational Psychology at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. He has written four books (one of which won the Charles W. Conn Award for Historical Writing) and has published widely in his field. He has also served as president of the Tennessee Conference of Graduate Schools (2011-2012), and he co-founded Backyard Tutoring, a free service at Lee that pairs college students with some of the city’s most at risk students. Other “community” service includes time on the Board of Directors of Olive Branch Ministries in Chicago (the second oldest rescue mission in the United States) and frequent speaking engagements for schools, businesses, and churches. He and his wife Jodi have two children, Zach (Loes) and Andi (Mat)