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Meet Our Staff and Board

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works (Heb 10:24)

Our Staff

Corinne Freeman

Corinne Freeman

Executive Director

About Corinne

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 Avery

Jamie Avery

Director of Operations

About Jamie

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 Barham

Sidney Barham

Director of Case Management

About Sidney

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.

Blake Young

Blake Young

Getting Ahead Program Coordinator

About Blake
Blake lives in Bradley county and is a Southeast TN native. He is married to his wife, Lauren, and they have one child together.

Blake attended Cleveland State Community College prior to moving on to East Tennessee State University where he received his Bachelors Degree in Human Services with a Social Work minor in 2013. While attending ETSU, Blake worked for a non-profit serving vulnerable families. His passion for serving people grew during this time and he has pursued that path since then.

Blake joined The Caring Place in February 2020 and strives to serve our neighbors with compassion and love. His service is influenced with scripture from Psalm 62:7-8, “On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”

Angel Quimby

Angela Quimby

Clothing Department Manager

About Angela
Angie believes that God has her blessed with a great ministry. She has been involved with The Caring Place since 2013. She started as a volunteer and while searching for a job, God open the opportunity for her to join the Caring Place team in our custodial position. As time moved on, she moved in the Clothing Manager position in 2017. She and her husband have been married 24 years and they have 3 beautiful children and 3 grandchildren.They attend Shenandoah Baptist Church. Angie is in the choir, helps with Bus Ministry and helps to clean the church. Angie states, “I Love doing what God has allowed me to do, The Caring Place is a great place to be.”
Ethan Coombe

Ethan Coombe

Food Warehouse Manager

About Ethan
Ethan Coombe is a recent graduate of Lee University with a degree in Pastoral Ministry. Originally from Minnesota, Ethan moved to Tennessee to pursue an education that would allow him to fulfill God’s calling on his life to become a Pastoral counselor. He lives his life with John 14:12-13 always in mind, wanting to not only reflect God’s works in the world, but magnify them.

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.

Kay Baxter

Kay Baxter

Administrative Assistant

About Kay
Kay lives in Calhoun in McMinn County along with Jerry, her husband of 46 years. They have two sons and daughters-in-love and three grandsons, ages 16, 13, and 1, whom they adore. She graduated from Calhoun High and Cleveland State Community College with an Associate of Science Degree in Secretarial Science. While attending CSCC, Kay held offices in Student Government, Circle-K, Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature and was also in Who’s Who in American Jr. Colleges and Universities.

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.

Nolette Rose

Nolette Rose

Intake Records Management

About Nolette
Nolette comes to The Caring Place with degrees in Education and Human Services. After more than 20+ years combined in the education field and single-parent ministry, she joined The Caring Place team. Her heart for service is shaped by Isaiah 61:1-3. Nolette is a single parent with 2 wonderful children. In her free time, Nolette enjoys spending time with her children, traveling, and enjoying the outdoors.
Jim Hindman

Jim Hindman

Sac Pac Coordinator

About Jim
Jim spent 26 years in the beverage sales and distribution business and 10 years as the owner of a lawn care business. He feels truly blessed to be a part of a wonderful team at The Caring Place, serving as the Sac Pac coordinator. Having a soft spot for children, he is grateful to be able to serve them. Jim loves spending time with my 5 grandchildren soon to be 6. Matthew 19;14 But Jesus said,” let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Not Pictured

Julie Landberg – Executive Administrator

Bonnie Lemons – Custodian

Our Board

Steven Smartt

Chairman

About Steven
Dr. Steve Smartt serves as the senior pastor of Westwood Baptist Church in Cleveland, TN. A graduate of Lee University, Dr. Smartt received his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. After ten years in banking and management, Dr. Smartt entered pastoral ministry to serve churches in TN, FL, KY and GA.

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.

Terry Denniston

Vice Chair

About Terry

Bio Coming Soon

Dewayne Thompson

Treasurer, Finance Committee Chair

About Dewayne
Dr. Thompson is the Dean, School of Business at Lee University. Besides being an active of the Chamber of Commerce and serving on the Caring Place Board, he is on the boards of the Family Resource Agency, the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), ATS: The Bridge, and Habitat for Humanity Finance Committee. He has also served on various United Way distribution panels and the Bradley County Audit Committee. Dr. Thompson attends Westmore Church of God.

Sarah Coleman

Development Chair

About Sarah

Sarah is an attorney from Cleveland, TN

Desha Conn

About Desha
Desha is a Cincinnati native but relocated to Cleveland over 6 years ago to help run her family’s business, TriCon, Inc., a General Contractor/ Design/Build firm. Desha is a graduate of Lee University and holds a BA in Business. She has served on the Lee Alumni Board as well as served as President for the Delta Zeta Tau Alumni Board. She enjoys taking part in the Restavek Freedom Foundation which her parents started, to help end child slavery in Haiti. When free time allows Desha loves outdoor adventure, traveling near and far, and spending treasured time with family and friends. She loves volunteering as a registrar at The Caring Place where the people feed her soul.

Tom Harris

About Tom

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.

George Nerren

Personnel Committee Chair

About George

Bio Coming Soon

Paul McCord

About Paul

Bio Coming Soon

Antoinette “Toni” Miles

About Toni
Antoinette Miles is a caused driven bi-mission professional. Antoinette “Toni” Miles is passionate about giving value to individuals and organizations. She founded Transforming Greatness to empower people and organizations to discover, develop, and dominant in their original design.

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.

Jonathan Kraft

About Jonathan

Bio coming soon.

Gary Riggins

About Gary

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)